Says New Network Will Save Money, Increase Reliability. We'll See...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Tuesday the agency has transitioned to a new telecommunications network, expected to increase network reliability and save hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.

"While completing this work has been seamless to the flying public, it is important because it means travelers can have a greater level of confidence in our networks," said Robert A. Sturgell, FAA Acting Administrator.

The FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network replaces the legacy telecommunications network known as the Leased Interfacility National Airspace System Communications (LINCS). More than 3,800 facilities were upgraded with 20,000 telecommunications services.

"Moving to FTI is a key milestone to support a secure, high capacity network backbone for the Next Generation Air Transportation System," said Sturgell.

Instead of managing and operating separate legacy networks, the FAA is moving toward an integrated, modern and cost-effective telecommunications infrastructure. The successful transition of the legacy LINCS system to the FTI network brings the FAA closer to a single, more reliable network for transmitting voice, data and radar information to the nation’s air traffic controllers. It also offers a range of enhanced security services, including firewalls, intrusion detection, and encryption, and reduces the agency’s operating costs for telecommunications services.

The FAA, like other government and industry organizations, has ever-increasing demands for bandwidth to meet its information exchange requirements. FTI meets those demands in an efficient way. FTI also provides services to other agencies within the Department of Transportation, the Department of Defense, the National Weather Service and local and regional airport authorities.

FTI is one of the agency’s largest acquisitions, totaling $2.4 billion. The Harris Corporation of Melbourne, FL, was awarded the FTI contract in July 2002. The contract includes a price management mechanism to ensure that the FAA continues to pay market-competitive rates for the duration of the contract.

FMI: www.faa.gov