Manchester Airport Case Study
‘Daisy’s managed hosting solution has maximised Manchester Airports Group’s business agility, ensuring flexibility to respond to changing conditions.’
Handling over 28 million passengers a year, the Manchester Airports Group consists of Manchester, East Midlands, Humberside and Bournemouth airports. The Group also runs businesses in property development and management, baggage handling, car parking, airport security, fire fighting, engineering, advertising and motor transport services.
Business Needs - In Brief
Manchester Airports Group needed a reliable, flexible IT infrastructure to handle millions of visitors and transactions across their four websites.
Solution
Daisy’s fully managed bespoke solution provides internet connectivity, hosting, security and monitoring 24/7/365 .
Outcomes
Daisy’s solution has enabled Manchester Airports Group to deliver a reliable, secure and cost effective service to their customers.
Business Needs - In Detail
With four airport websites, the Group’s IT infrastructure must be able to handle millions of website hits from passengers wanting flight information, car parking facilities and travel updates. They needed a stable, flexible solution with all four sites consolidated under one provider.
Aaron Bazler, Head of Infrastructure at Manchester Airports Group explained, “When we hosted web services in-house, there were occasions where demands from customers exceeded the available finite bandwidth to the sites. For example, during adverse weather conditions we typically experienced a surge in web traffic due to customers trying to access updated flight information, so it was critical that we addressed this issue as part of our ongoing commitment to delivering excellent customer service.”
Solution
Aaron Bazler said, “We selected Daisy’s managed hosting solution as the team was fully flexible and committed to working with us and providing a solution that would meet our objectives.” Daisy’s fully managed solution monitors the Infrastructure 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, providing internet connectivity and hosting services for all of the Group’s public websites.
Outcomes
Daisy’s solution has enabled the Manchester Airports Group to deliver live streaming of flight information, online booking and payment facilities for car parking and overall a more reliable online service for their customers. It has also provided greater business agility with the flexibility for them to respond quickly to changing conditions. The Manchester Airports Group team are now confident that crucial information services will always be accessible to their customers. Aaron Bazler adds, “The flexible bandwidth model that Daisy offers was a key element for us as it allows the Group to dynamically and economically flex the available bandwidth to match demand from customers.”
Aaron Bazler continues, “Having commercial services available on our website allows customers to organise other aspects of their trip in advance. We also offer discounts for booking online, so they can save money as well. Another key benefit is the live stream of information that is available to passengers on the website. Travelling customers want the most reliable and up to date information on arriving/departing flights. Using a secure IP VPN link direct to Daisy, all of this data is uploaded automatically from the source servers, no matter how busy the site is.”
“The Daisy solution is more than just a web hosting service – it adds value to our IT systems and helps us provide a better service to those using the websites. Installing the managed solution also means we have been able to eliminate a single point of failure and ensure that we have full backup to reduce downtime and all the necessary information is still available to the public.”
Aaron Bazler, Head of Infrastructure at Manchester Airports Group
