Network Automation Simplifies Management at Busy Italian Sea Port
Total Autonomous Networking modernizes access control and tracking for vehicles and goods at the Port of Bari.
Customer: | Industry: | Location: |
Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare | Transportation | Bari, Italy |
The new video access control and tracking system allows AdSPMAM to manage the movement of people, vehicles and goods at the Port of Bari. The increased capacity of the new Allied Telesis network provides scalability for future planning too, so we can support the next evolution of port management.
Network Manager and Administrator,
Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare Adriatico Meridionale
The Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare Adriatico Meridionale (AdSPMAM) (in English “Port System Authority of the Southern Adriatic Sea”) is responsible for managing the seaports of Bari, Brindisi, Manfredonia, Barletta and Monopoli. AdSPMAM regulates, coordinates, and promotes port operations and service provision activities, and ensures that actions adhere to Italy’s national logistics and port facilities plan.
Why Allied Telesis?
AdSPMAM recently received the go-ahead for a project to bring digitization into customs procedures at the port. The project aims to automate payment procedures and track goods through customs as they arrive at and leave the Port of Bari. To facilitate this, the Port of Bari was equipped with an Information Management System—a Port Community System called PCS Gaia. PCS Gaia allows intelligent and secure information exchange between the maritime port cluster’s public and private entities, automating port and logistics services and streamlining operational procedures.
The Port installed new equipment, including video cameras, to automate port access via vehicle number plate recognition and provide security surveillance. Trucks are also tracked as they move through customs, and the new network transmits all location and security data to a central data center. The network infrastructure needed an upgrade to support the new system, and the clear choice was Allied Telesis. A loyal Allied Telesis customer, the Port of Bari already had Allied Telesis switches in its network, and they had performed reliably over the years. Not only were port staff satisfied with the quality of Allied Telesis’ products, they were also sold on the company’s customer support, having received robust training and hands-on support from Allied Telesis over the years. Plus, Allied Telesis Total Autonomous Networking solutions, which use cutting-edge automation to add intelligence and security to support efficient business operation, more than met the requirements for the port’s network upgrade.
The trust given to Allied Telesis by AdSPMAM’s IT staff is the result of intense collaboration over the years, in which Allied Telesis has always shown great attention and professionalism, constantly supporting customer needs by offering latest generation products and targeted solutions.
Network Manager and Administrator,
Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare Adriatico Meridionale
High Availability, High Performance, Simple Management
The network upgrade adds bandwidth and resiliency, which is key to port security and access control 24/7. Upgrading from Gigabit to a powerful 10 Gigabit backbone allows the port to support the new systems, and allows for bandwidth-hungry video services—such as number plate recognition for vehicle access control, and the video surveillance system that ensures a safe environment for everyone transiting through the port.
The Port’s network core now features two Allied Telesis Switchblade x908 GEN2 switches. These are stacked using Allied Telesis VCStack™ for non-stop availability and no single point of failure—a completely resilient solution. All connections between the core and access switches are via aggregated 10G fiber links for ultimate performance, speed and security.
The x510 Series and x530 Series access switches provide high-performing connectivity for all endpoints, and use Power over Ethernet (PoE) to connect and power access points for Wi-Fi and video surveillance cameras.
To facilitate easy management of the large number of network devices, AdSPMAM adopted Allied Telesis Vista Manager EX for a single-pane-of-glass graphical view of the entire network, with powerful monitoring and actionable reporting. Vista Manager works in conjunction with Autonomous Management Framework™ (AMF), which automates many day-to-day network administration and management tasks on the SwitchBlade and xSeries switches. The Vista Manager SNMP plugin enables control and management of legacy and third-party network devices.
Automated Control Provides Non-stop Security and Reliability
“Detailed real-time information—about roads, the port, the weather, services, ship tracking, passenger notifications, video surveillance and detection—generates a huge amount of network data. That network has to be secure and reliable 24/7, across the entire port. This is precisely why the fully integrated Allied Telesis Total Network Automation solution is needed. It provides automation without raising costs through the need for more resources or specialized skills, allowing IT staff to make network changes intuitively and rapidly, yet without risk,” says Mr. Murolo.
“The trust given to Allied Telesis by AdSPMAM’s IT staff is the product of intense collaboration over the years, in which Allied Telesis has always shown great attention and professionalism, constantly supporting customer needs by offering latest generation products and targeted solutions,” says Mr. Murolo. Thanks to the Allied Telesis Total Autonomous Networking (TAN) solution, the Port of Bari now has a network based on a converged infrastructure, which takes full advantage of automation and network intelligence to react to sudden changes within the network and automatically adapt its topology, greatly reducing network administration time and cost
