From vertical stacks to a layered infrastructure and organization
Video-interview with Philipp Schlatter, Head of IT Infrastructure Services, Skyguide
Our IT infrastructure was tightly coupled with our two sites and comprised a collection of air traffic management (ATM) application-centric stacks, including the application, its operating system and hardware. The stacks were relatively independent with numerous point-to-point connections and were juxtaposed next to each other in ranges of racks.
This situation was not sustainable, especially considering the need for an increased exchange of data, the efficiency requirements, and the necessity to better secure our IT environment. The conventional response to that challenge was the use of standardized and shared IT services. But when looking mat the sophistication of technical solutions and the pace of their evolution, it appeared unrealistic to master all disciplines of these new infrastructure layers hosting our applications. Consequently, in the context of the Virtual Centre Tranche 2 (VCT2) programme, it was decided to source certain infrastructure and IT operations portions.
Together with the technology change, this had a massive impact on our workforce, which had to acquire new competences and adopt new practices based on industry standards such as the Information Technology ,Infrastructure Library (ITIL). This also meant a reshape of the organization.
VCT2 paved the way for a new direction.