The Ecosystem: why it matters for airports future ?
8th Dec, 2022
Ecosystem is a word that is often used or misused.
Merriam Webster calls it something (such as a network of businesses) considered to resemble an ecological ecosystem especially because of its complex interdependent parts
And that is indeed what it is from a high level perspective, different systems or businesses working together to achieve much more compared to what an individual system or business can achieve.
In today’s IT world it is not different and ecosystems often have the advantage to bring together world class players in specific domains to create a more solid foundation for a business, a solution or an even a complex IT approach.
In recent years, new systems and separate building blocks have been created that like on iOS or Android environment go well together and re-enforce the full offering but in many cases they have not been going so far as to use each other’s strengths to create a solid overriding IT platform of applications.
The arrival of webservices and the adoption by world class players has led to a stream of new innovations as webservices offer the greatest flexibility for developing new applications and easily interconnecting them with other key IT solutions.
Even in the often conservative airport environment many vendors have found their way to webservices and have launched a multitude of new applications. From airfield ground lighting management systems, to voice communication systems and common ATM platforms, all have started to move to the IT based webservices environment.
Solutions that were once built on proprietary platforms far away from the cloud, have been re-invented and have found their way to these next generation platforms, more flexible, more independent and easily interconnectable.
The future of the IT environment is open, open platforms that allow for many applications to be hosted on it and the users to use the applications they need and the developers to make sure they work seamless with other applications so together they form the basis for all needs of the different level of users.
The advantage is that the user can be in control, if (s)he likes the application (s)he will use it and combine it with others to come to the solution (s)he needs. If (s)he finds an easier solution to work with then this can be easily exchanged and if needed add extra elements can be developed either by himself or the original developer.
Closed systems are a thing of the past and collaboration is here to stay for the long run, this is valid on an environmental or business level but also on an IT level.
At EMMA Systems we have decided to build solutions on the webservices technology stacks as these bring about the most extensive benefits for our airport partners in terms of flexibility, openness and (short) time to market for new applications or integration of existing ones.
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