fluffymitten

So this is the FIDS in the IDL? Interesting. You'd think that they could jerry-rig a PC to a few display screens to show something a bit more dynamic. The white board is a decent back up though.

I guess maybe they didn't do that as they don't want to show more operational data such as would be on show if they used their A-CDM system.

IIRC didn't LGW move everything to AWS rather than host in house? I would have expected them to have moved off the likes of IDAHO and other systems they inherited after the break up of BAA.

Steve_ZA

I have no inside knowledge of LGW but I would thing that running FIDS solely from the cloud would be shortsighted unless you have redundant Internet pipes and WAN failover. Clearly they do not have this as a single fibre seems to have brought the service to and abrupt halt.

I worked on the FIDS at another smaller airport a few years ago and that was served from redundant datacenters on site.

Globaliser

You would indeed!

TWCLAM

Was looked into but rejected on data leak and security and data leak concerns. I'm not privy to the details and obvs wldnt say even if I was for the same reasons

travellingwigbury

plunet

From what I heard elsewhere, and unverified, there are resilient WAN links for Voda into the airport, but both have gone down. Whether this is for two separate reasons or because of the same root cause I don't know, but you can bet there will be some scrutiny over the actual root cause in a post incident review. I also note that there are reports that the local Voda 3G/4G has gone down but that could be fake news.

From my point of view it seemed a bit odd for Gatwick to finger point the issue at Voda quite so quickly, perhaps they were having problems getting appropriate escalation of the fault and pulled the social media emergency handle. The telcos are really a law unto themselves. Cable and Wireless were not known as Clueless and Witless for no reason (and they're actually Vodafone in the UK now)

TWCLAM

For those interested the screens are coming back on stream but being stress tested before going fully operational apparently.

Steve_ZA

This quote mentions "cable" in the singular:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/20/gatwick_fail/

T8191

Having a life-span that moved from ink-wells and dip-pens to today's scenario [part of which I participate in], it's a timely reminder that technology is GREAT ... until it breaks! That's why I like paper BPs, and don't bother with smart-phones to get me from A to B!

A fair slice of my Military career involved planning for "What if that breaks, or the Russians bomb it?" and having robust [or at least viable] options in place and the personnel trained to work under those degraded conditions. On this occasion it seems LGW had a plan ... although perhaps not quite as robust/viable as passengers would have liked.

KARFA

T8191

Of course, for those pax who have the 'clever phone' and the 'app'. Not everyone has those, despite rumours.

... and if the phone battery is charged

I am seeing a world where possession of a serious smartphone is becoming a necessity to function, and trust that the UK Government will issue them free, as birth, to all UK citizens! Until then, I don't actually need a cellphone in my daily life, and I suspect I am not the only one. Why should I pay c. £30/month for something I don't need 99.9% of the time?

corporate-wage-slave

Upgrades, dear boy, upgrades.

It's just so much quicker and easier to stay on top of travel with a smartphone, it's not just BA or airlines which make extra functionality available to travellers. And do-able for around a tenner a month if not brand name led. The Skype App alone can save that much a month.

T8191

£10/month? I pay as PAYG about £20 a year, if that.

KeaneJohn

SoggyDollar

From Gatwick's press release:

Gatwick is world’s first major airport to introduce a cloud-based Flight Information System (FIDS)

16/02/2018

• More resilient and can run on battery powered mobile screens with 4G connectivity independent from other airport systems or infrastructure if required
• Gatwick’s 1200 cloud-based screens take up only 3Mbps – making the system extremely fast and responsive
• New system can run natively on smart TVs

Gatwick is the world’s first major airport to introduce a cloud-based Flight Information Display System (FIDS) – an innovative, cost effective system that is easily scalable, more flexible and resilient, and requires considerably less infrastructure and maintenance.

• Resilient – unlike legacy systems – the system is more robust to network blips or power failures with mobile battery power and 4G backup available if required. It also includes a fully independent management interface that supports operation completely independent from any airport infrastructure or system if required.