AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT AN INDUSTRY LEADER
AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA – A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 02
AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA’S VISION IS TO BE VALUED AND RECOGNISED AS AN INDUSTRY LEADER IN THE PROVISION OF SAFE AND INNOVATIVE SERVICES TO THE AIR TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY. ITS CIO, CHRIS SELLER, TELLS NIKI WALDEGRAVE HOW ITS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS DOING JUST THAT WRIT TEN BY
NIKI WA LDEGR AVE PRODUCED BY
ANDY TURNER
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irservices Australia is the country’s air navigator provider, managing 11 per cent
of the world’s airspace while providing air traffic control, aviation rescue and firefighting services. Owned by the Australian Government and governed by a board of directors appointed by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Airservices Australia manages domestic and international air traffic operations for more than 154 million passengers on more than four million flights annually. The industry and workforce have faced increasing 04
disruptions over recent years, driven by new airspace entrants, continual growth in commercial aviation, new business models and digital technologies. As a result, Airservices – which has a $1.08 billion turnover and owns and operates a number of systems and services that are connected both internally and externally – reintroduced the role of chief information officer in May 2016. Chris Seller, who has more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry in some of Australia’s largest organisations including Westpac, Qantas and Jetstar, got the role, and established the Information Management and Data Services group in 2016. “This was a key message to customers, stakeholders and staff of Airservices’ commitment to move towards to customer-centric information service delivery,” Seller, who leads a 400-strong
“ AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA’S VISION IS TO BE VALUED AND RECOGNISED AS AN INDUSTRY LEADER IN THE PROVISION OF SAFE AND INNOVATIVE SERVICES TO THE AIR TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia
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POWERING YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
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ASG GROUP’S GROUND-BREAKING PARTNERSHIP WITH AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA “The largest move to the cloud in Australian Government history” will be completed at the end of 2018 thanks to ASG Group’s five year contract with Airservices Australia. The positive project update is a result of the engagement with ASG Group as its IAAS partner to deliver its corporate information technology services as a managed service. It provides these services via Vault Cloud, a platform certified by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). “The first stage of the technology overhaul has been to migrate the support for all the technical infrastructure that runs the business side – email, the agency’s systems of record, the desktop environment etc to an ‘as a service’ model,” says Chris Seller, Airservices Australia’s chief information officer. “ASG Group was awarded this infrastructure as a service contract and partnered with an Australian cloud services company – Vault Cloud. The migration to Vault’s secure private cloud environment has occurred over the last six months resulting in one of the largest and most successful cloud migrations undertaken by an Australian Federal Government agency to date.” The migration, which includes around 88 servers and 130 applications including SAP core ERP systems is largely complete, with all systems serving around 3500 staff relocated from Airservices’ Canberra offices to both the Canberra Data Centre and the Vault Cloud platform. ASG has demonstrated capability at managing large scale, mission critical and highly sensitive tasks for government customers, including providing Victoria’s Department of Justice & Regulation (DJR) with a secure platform for the cloud hosting of selected applications. By partnering with ASG, the move to cloud has delivered significant performance improvements for Airservices, and ASG’s Chief Operating Officer, Dean Langenbach, says, “As we have proven in the past, and once again through our work with Airservices, ASG is the genuine alternative to Australia’s traditional Tier 1 providers. “We have brought to Airservices our trade mark commercial model, which has agility and flexibility at its core. And, with that, our proven capability in cloud transition and business transformation.” “We’re local, we have the expertise, and we are invested personally in every project. Our parent company NRI – one of the world’s largest business consultancy and technology solution firms – has made enormous financial and resources commitments to ASG’s mission. We are more enabled and ready than ever before.” - Dean Langenbach, ASG COO
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE ORGANISATION FOR THE FUTURE Along with its cloud migration, the transition to a managed services delivery model provides Airservices with a number of benefits, including improving service quality and availability, reducing overall information technology operating costs, enhanced information security and increasing service flexibility. ASG’s five-year contract includes the delivery of a solution encompassing several key components: •Cloud Services Provision of ASD certified cloud computing capability (provided by Vault Systems) with industry best practice security, redundancy, and failover capabilities. ASG’s cloud services will also deliver both public and private capability allowing for segregation of secure and protected workloads. •Consumption of services ASG provides with a range of services on a consumption basis with monthly service costs based on Airservices’ actual consumption of key services. •Transformation A significant component of the journey to cloud capability is the transformation of ICT Services from on-premise to cloud, upgrade of end user computing, rationalisation of server infrastructure, and optimisation of the server and data layer for application performance improvement. •Innovation and Continuous Improvement As a strategic partner, ASG has been engaged to assist Airservices to identify and execute initiatives to improve business efficiency and agility, while seeking to drive down operational costs. Supported by a jointly managed Innovation Fund, ASG and Airservices fund key initiatives across the business.
“ WE ARE MODERNISING AND SIMPLIFYING OUR ENTIRE TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT. BASED ON EMERGING AVIATION INDUSTRY TRENDS, IT IS CLEAR THAT WE WILL NEED TO PLAY A BROADER ROLE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ALL AIRSPACE FOR POTENTIAL USERS” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia 08
team, says. “We are modernising and streamlining our entire technology environment. Based on emerging aviation industry trends, it is clear that information driven services will need to play a broader role in the management of all airspace for all current and future users.” He insists key programs to refresh the organisation’s telecommunications network, cybersecurity capabilities, technology infrastructure, corporate and business support systems are critical enablers to support its business agility ambitions. “Our strategy has focused on driving new and innovative technology outcomes, both internally and by working with industry partners to enable new operational efficiencies and customer services,” he adds. Airservices Australia’s partners include NEC, Nokia, Telstra, Optus and SITA for telecommunications, Vault Cloud and ASG Group for technology infrastructure, SAP for business systems, and organisations like Saab, Frequentis, Metron, Ingegneria Dei Sistemi (IDS) and Thales Group for its air traffic management (ATM) systems. Airservices is fundamentally transforming its information and technology services by integrating its Operational (Engineering) and Enterprise (ICT) capabilities to ensure it capitalises on the significant engineering and
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘24 HOURS IN AUSTRALIA’S AIRSPACE’ 09 safety-critical design capabilities within
performance-based operations –
the organisation, while introducing more
delivered through system and informa-
contemporary ICT skills and techniques.
tion integration based on a modern,
Five strategic imperatives have been defined that will shape the development of Airservices Australia’s information and technology roadmap: 1. Customer focused Information
scalable, and standardised enterprise architecture. 3. Automation and digitisation – designed to enable business agility and improve information capture,
Management – secure real-time
processing and human-to-system
information exchange across customer
interactions.
and stakeholder groups through the
4. Modernised, secure and agile
implementation of contemporary
ICT services – that support evolving
information management, analytics
business needs through the implemen-
and reporting practices.
tation of modular, scalable, commod-
2. Modernised ATM capabilities for
itised technology infrastructure and w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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C OMPA N Y FA C T S
Airservices Australia: • Has a $1.08 billion turnover • Is the county’s air navigation provider • Is owned by the Australian Government and governed by a board of directors appointed by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
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• Manages domestic and international air traffic operations for over 154 million passengers on more than four million flights in a region covering 11% of the world’s service • Provides air traffic control, navigation and aviation rescue, aeronautical data and firefighting services • Reintroduced the CIO role and established the Information Management and Data Services group in 2016
“ O UR STRATEGY HAS FOCUSED ON DRIVING NEW AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY OUTCOMES, BOTH INTERNALLY AND BY WORKING WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS TO ENABLE NEW OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES AND CUSTOMER SERVICES” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia
telecommunications with isolation for protection of regulated safety critical components. 5. Cyber Security enhancements
a digital organisation, with a focus on information management and more contemporary technology to support a more efficient, agile business. “One of the biggest things that we did, was to sit down and map out what our priorities are,” he says. “How do we take an organisation, which is one of the most highly respected, and arguably one of the best air navigation providers in the world, to actually build on that capability, to make it better, and take it beyond the capability that we’d already achieved?” That work spawned an ambitious 5-year technology roadmap. “This roadmap sets out a digital transformation strategy essential for us
– to detect, prevent, protect, resolve
to achieve our ambition. The first thing
and respond, enabling strict compli-
that was clear, was that when you’re
ance requirements for critical national
coming from a very asset centric
infrastructure while ensuring future
engineering organisation, you need to
developments can occur at a pace with
start looking at the culture, and move
confidence and trust in the integrity,
away from being an owner/operator,
confidentiality and availability of our
someone who builds things and oper-
information and systems assets.
ates them, to somebody who can
Seller claims one of the biggest
identify how to source fit-for-purpose
changes to the organisation has been
solutions, whether they be internal or
the shift in the thinking from being an
externally provided, and integrate them
engineering organisation, focused
to solve business problems.”
on asset management, to becoming
The first stage of the technology w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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overhaul has been to migrate the support
The next stage of the infrastructure
for all the technical infrastructure that
transformation will be to modernise the
runs the business side – email, the
agency’s complex telecommunications
agency’s systems of record, the desktop
infrastructure.
environment, etc. to an ‘as a service’
“Our operations are highly dependent
model. ASG Group was awarded this
on reliable and resilient telecommuni-
infrastructure as a service contract
cations. Our network covers much of
and partnered with an Australian cloud
the Australian continent and has grown
services company — Vault Cloud.
organically over many years to meet
“The migration to Vault’s secure private
the needs of our air traffic operations
cloud environment has occurred over
and business systems. We have recently
the past six months resulting in one of
done a full review of our future telecom-
the largest and most successful cloud
munications needs and how future
migrations undertaken by an Australian
space-based services will integrate
Federal Government agency to date.”
with our terrestrial services. We have
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
Chris Seller has over 30 years experience in the IT industry and his career has included senior executive level roles with accountability for technology strategy and transformation, infrastructure and operations, enterprise architecture, strategic sourcing, organisational change management, program management, and applications development with industry experience extending across financial services, aviation, commercial software development, and cartography. Chris’ role as CIO for Airservices is ensure the right technology systems and organisational structures are in place to prepare for the changes occurring in the global air navigation services industry. w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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“ O UR MAJOR POSTURE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT WE’RE A VERY SAFETY-ORIENTATED ORGANISATION, AND WE ARGUE THAT WE ARE ONE OF THE MOST SAFETY CONSCIOUS ORGANISATIONS IN THE COUNTRY” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia 16 begun the work on this modernisation program which will take about 2 years to complete.” Another big driver for the digital strategy is the ambitious Digital Information Program, which will deliver enhanced information management capabilities and a broader information driven strategic direction through to the end of the next decade and beyond. “That’s our ability to aggregate the data from a myriad of sources across our operational world, and our back office, into a standardised platform that then allows us to securely and efficiently process and distribute that
information, both internally and externally,” Seller explains. “Previously, we hadn’t thought about how we might apply analytics beyond our basic operational needs but we believe we have the capability and know-how to add value way beyond what we have traditionally done. Much of the data that we manage in our environment, if we apply the right analytics, and the right transformation processes, becomes valuable – helping our customers and partners work smarter and perform better.” DIG I TA L S T R AT E G Y
The five strategic imperatives defined to shape the development of Airservices Australia’s roadmap and portfolio of initiatives are: 1. Customer focused Information Management — this requires secure real-time information exchange across customer groups and the development of master data management, analytics and reporting processes.
“This platform, and the transformation in our information management capabilities, are two really big priorities that we’re working on at the moment. The organisation is very keen for us to drive those initiatives as fast as we can.” When modernising such an environment with more contemporary capability, security threats are a real issue. As a consequence, Airservices Australia is undertaking a major cyber security programme. “Our posture has always been that we’re a very safety orientated organisation, and we argue that we are one of the most safety conscious organisations in the country,” he says. w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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Commitment beyond technology.
The height of air traffic management.
At Saab ATM, we are dedicated to creating aviation systems and services that enable safe, predictable and efficient operations. We deliver innovative solutions to air navigation service providers, airports and airlines at over 100 locations in more than 45 countries. As a global provider of ATM solutions, we transform operations, turning innovative ideas into reality.
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“But we’ve started to introduce the concept that, ‘can we really be sure it’s safe if it’s not secure?’ If we’re going to aggregate this data and distribute it, people will want to know that that is being done securely.” “That gives us the best chance of delivering secure industry and customer outcomes more flexibly and faster than we’ve been able to do in the past.” he says. Another major initiative that builds on the capabilities being delivered by the digital platform is the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) program. “Airservices has been an industry leader in the Collaborative Decision-Making concept, where Airservices, Aircraft Operators and Airports work together through the
“ W E THINK THAT THE SUPPLIER AND THE MANUFACTURER OF THESE SYSTEMS IS OFTEN BETTER PLACED TO DO THE LEVEL TWO AND THREE MAINTENANCE” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia
exchange of real time information to optimise air traffic network operations.
international flights into its demand
Significant benefits for the industry
and capacity program that manages
and travelling public can be achieved
traffic flow efficiency at all of the major
through implementing A-CDM which is
aerodromes across the country.
aimed at taxi time and air traffic flow management delay reductions.” Airservices Air Traffic Flow Manage-
“This is another example of an information based collaborative decision-making system”,” he explains.
ment program will be another world
“We have a system that looks at the
first, using software built by Metron, the
runway demand, weather and other
company will soon be able to integrate
operational constraints to calculate how w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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www.frequentis.com
Rethinking ATC towers Frequentis is actively driving the evolution of digital towers
Frequentis customers benefit from more than seventy years
across the world through involvement in major research
of experience in mission-critical air traffic control solutions.
programs such as SESAR, and by driving standardisation
The desire to innovate and develop technologies that solve
through working groups like EUROCAE, to enable safe
safety, capacity and efficiency demands is at the core of what
operations.
we do.
FREQUENTIS Australasia Pty. Ltd. 1 / 425 Nudgee Road, Hendra QLD 4011, Australia
many aircraft can land safely at any
to integrate international flights into the
particular time at a particular aerodrome.”
same programme. This will allow us to
“This morning, with very heavy fog in
provide real time network information to
Sydney we would have had to signifi-
the airlines so they can make trajectory
cantly reduce arrivals or departures
adjustments during the most efficient
for a period of time. What we do is run
part of their flight to best fit in with the
a demand simulation that sets the safe
domestic operations at their destination
movement numbers and we work with
aerodrome.”
the airlines to assist them to figure out
Another exciting development is
the impacts across the network and
the investment in Digital Aerodrome
what options they have if they can’t land
Services. The opportunity is to use
in Sydney. Do they cancel? Do they
multiple high definition camera arrays
delay? What are the operational and
to provide a digital view of operations
customer impacts across the day etc?”
at an aerodrome. This means air traffic
“We’re currently building the capability
controllers will be watching real time
“ TO SUCCEED, WE NEED TO CONTINUE OUR FUNDAMENTAL CULTURAL CHANGE” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia
high-quality video images – reducing emphasis on the traditional 360-degree view from a cabin high above a central point at the aerodrome. “This technology is in its early stages of its evolution and we see huge benefits in the near future as new capabilities like machine learning and pattern recognition are integrated to augment the services provided by controllers.” All these initiatives are also aimed at supporting Airservices Australia’s ambitious Air Navigation Modernisation Program, OneSKY, which is delivering the new joint civilian and military air traffic system (CMATS). “This is the first time in the world that
21 DIG I TA L S T R AT E G Y
2. Modernised ATM capabilities for performancebased operations — delivered through data and information integration based on a modern, scalable, standardised enterprise architecture. 3. Automation and digitisation — designed to enable business agility and improve information capture, processing and human-tosystem interactions.
this has been done at this scale, and w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
DIG I TA L S T R AT E G Y with these many partners, anywhere, so there’s a lot of focus on that,” he explains. “And that will drive the predictability of passengers’ journeys.” Part of that program is already live and the core system that the air traffic controllers use will come online around 2024, cementing the technology as the most modern and up to date air traffic control system globally. With all of this technology transformation Airservices is exploring how to use its partners more efficiently without 22
having to become the technical experts for every system used in their operations. “We think that the suppliers and the manufacturers of these systems are often better placed to support us when
“ WE HAVE SOME EXCELLENT FOUNDATIONS IN PLACE TODAY AND WE NEED TO BUILD ON THESE TO POSITION FOR THE FUTURE. STRONG CUSTOMER SERVICE FOCUS AND DEEP ATM EXPERTISE MATCHED WITH THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGIES AND PARTNERS ARE THE KEYS TO HARNESSING INFORMATION” — Chris Seller, CIO, Airservices Australia
4. Modernised, scalable, secure and agile ICT services — that support evolving business needs through the development of modular, scalable, commoditised network infrastructure with isolation for protection of regulated safety critical components. 5. Cyber Security enhancements — to detect, prevent, protect, respond and resolve security incidents to meet the strict compliance requirement for critical national infrastructure while enabling future developments to occur at a pace with confidence and trust in the integrity, confidentiality and availability of our information and system assets.
it comes to detail design and maintenance activities, our role should be to ensure we are getting the best solutions and services required to maintain our operations to the highest standards.” he explains. “We must also embed agility and speed
$1.08bn Approximate revenue
1995
Year founded
3,500
Approximate number of employees
into our delivery. To succeed, we need
a strong service delivery focus and
to continue our fundamental cultural
deep ATM expertise. Their collective
change. Supporting this are technology
efforts over the past couple of years
services, solutions and business
have been outstanding. As we look to
partnerships that focus on innovation,
the future, we will need to embrace
automation and digitalisation – ruthlessly
change to ensure we balance these
driving standardisation as well as
foundations with the right blend of
creating new value outcomes.”
technologies and new capabilities to
“We are really proud of the team we
meet the challenges that lie ahead.”
have in place – we are building from solid foundation, with teams that have w w w.a i rse r vi c e sa ust ralia . com
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Airservices Australia Alan Woods Building 25 Constitution Avenue Canberra, ACT 2600 Australia T +61 2 6268 4111 www.airservicesaustralia.com