The Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Germany’s capital is on pace to open this fall, bringing a new transit hub to one of Europe’s largest cities. With a projected annual passenger flow of 34 million, it would become the third-busiest airport in Germany. In order to provide maximum access and system security, the airport management team chose the KVM system from IHSE, which provides reliable and smooth operation.
The airport comprises many control centers that are staffed 24/7 to control and monitor various areas. For security and space reasons, computers and IT equipment are located in a remote equipment room, away from the desks and monitors of the operators. Another major advantage of the physical separation is the ergonomic design of the control rooms, removing noisy, heat-producing computers from the operator workplace. Furthermore, relocation to an air-conditioned, access-controlled equipment room simplifies central system administration and protects the devices from external influences and harmful environmental factors (e.g. protection from moisture or overheating).
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KVM extenders from IHSE transmit the computer signals (video, sound, keyboard, pointing devices, etc.) between the computers in the central equipment room and the users in the control centers instantaneously. The KVM system is used to operate various control systems for fire protection, security technology, and supervision as well as monitoring of the apron, terminal, baggage handling system, all flight movements, and ground movements.
"With the IHSE extenders, we can access the relevant computer from any location in real time as if it was located directly at the workplace—even if it is more than a hundred meters away," said Norman Beneke, consultant, IT solutions at Berlin Brandenburg Airport.
The KVM system used provides direct connections (point-to-point) between the computers and the workstations via category cabling. For 2021, in addition to the changeover to fiber optic cabling, an upgrade with an IHSE KVM matrix switch is planned. The switch will enable operators to access each connected computer immediately from any workstation, thus offering the airport much greater flexibility and fail-safe operation in the future.
"Resilience of the deployed solution is crucial for safe flight operations," said Enno Littmann, IHSE's CEO. "The IHSE technology offers a powerful, highly available solution for 24/7 operation. The operators can focus on their monitoring tasks without any disruptions."
