Better and safer data flows for aviation: EUROCONTROL selects BT for NewPENS

Following a common procurement action, EUROCONTROL and forty-one industry partners, primarily air navigation service providers (ANSPs), launched a new contract with BT for the provision and management of a secure and highly resilient New Pan-European Network Service (NewPENS). The 10-year contract has an estimated total value of more than €50 million.

The new, ultra-resilient network will connect around 100 locations across 47 countries in the EUROCONTROL area and neighbouring countries. It can be used by all air traffic management (ATM) stakeholders to transfer business-critical data reliably, securely and safely in a cost-efficient way.

It will be built on BT's IP network with mission-critical connections running on a dual-core infrastructure, offering parallel connectivity that is physically and logically separated in order to provide the highest levels of availability and resilience.

NewPENS is the successor to PENS, which was launched in December 2009. It is a major upgrade – in service management as well as network architecture – and the backbone for cross-border data and voice communications for the Network Manager, ANSPs and other ATM stakeholders.

NewPENS’ features:

• It is future-proof – ready to cope with future ATM and network technology developments;
• It is open to a wider range of stakeholders — the military, ATM providers, airlines, airports, meteorological services as well as ANSPs;
• It offers increased flexibility in supporting applications;
• Its safety levels will be ATM-grade enabling it to support safety-critical applications;
• Its sophisticated cybersecurity measures will protect users’ data;
• Where needed, availability will be up to 99.999% — a decimal point higher than was the case for the current PENS;
• Its service management framework will feature a Europe-wide Service Desk with extensive monitoring and reporting services;
• It will offer different ‘tiers’ of service — from entry-level to mid-level, through to demanding high-end. Users will only be invoiced for the services they select.
• Its governance has been updated to reflect experience. Strong strategic guidance, proper supervision and full support will be provided by different managerial levels in participating organisations. NewPENS has:
  • • a Top Management Board (TMB) to drive strategic change;
    • a PENS Executive Board (PEB) for effective collaboration with user communities;
    • an Air Traffic Service Board (ATSB) with network managers from ANSPs and EUROCONTROL for tactical guidance and service management.