FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) Network is Online ...

The FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network provides the voice, data, and video communications that support operations and mission support functions at more than 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense (DoD) facilities nationwide.

The network provides more than 20,000 services, upgraded switching and routing services, centralized network monitoring and control, and centralized security monitoring and control. FTI also provides network engineering services and order fulfillment for evolving FAA communications needs. As a key contributing system to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), initiatives are underway to further upgrade the IP backbone to increase bandwidth, provide greater flexibility, and continue to reduce latency.

The Shared Vision

The FTI network is an FAA-industry partnership to create an integrated suite of modern telecommunications products, services, and business practices, effectively meeting all FAA strategic, operational, administrative, and architectural goals.
The FAA and the Harris team share this vision for the FTI program.

The Harris Team’s Challenge—Challenge Met!

The Harris team met the challenge to design, develop, deploy, and support a telecommunications infrastructure that replaced and modernized the legacy multilayer combination of government-owned, leased, operated, and separately managed and maintained systems with a single communications solution and service for the FAA. FTI is not simply a replacement initiative. Approximately 20 percent of the program includes additional requirements such as networking in new control towers and communications services. . Now more than 50,000 users, 20,000 services, 4,000 facilities, and a nationwide network later—FTI is online, bringing a scalable communications network to the FAA that will save more than $500 million over the 15-year life of the program.

• Operations and mission support networks with cost effective network security
• Satellite and microwave network solutions
• Aggregated access and transport services
• Established continuity of service
• Integrated telecomm planning/engineering/implementation
• Integrated network management
• FTI specific security management
• Integrated business system for service ordering, provisioning, and billing
• Planned growth for the future
• Common base of network management information
• FTI Continuously Achieves Its Goals

Increasing

• System security
• System flexibility
  • New services
  • New technologies

Expandability

• Operational availability
  • Accuracy in billing/allocation

Decreasing

• Total life-cycle cost of development, sustainment, and services
• Delivery cycle time
• Hardware/software obsolescence

Integrating

• Multiple legacy networks into one operations network
• Operations IP backbone
• A separate mission support network
• Satellite network
• Microwave solutions
• Security management

Interoperating

• Common base of network management support:
  • Continuity of services during transition
  • National Airspace System (NAS) elements
  • Service provider interfaces

Innovating

• Business partnership
• Contract structure
• Service fulfillment process
• Pricing
• Performance monitoring

With legacy program transition complete, program goals for operations continue to concentrate on assured security, meeting or exceeding operational availability requirements, and decreasing order fulfillment delivery time. Forward objectives focus on providing an integrated microwave network, support of FAA Business Continuity Planning, enhancing IP system performance in anticipation of NextGen capacity improvements, and providing the foundation for net-centric information communications ubiquity.

The Solution—The Network Platform for Net-Centric NextGen Communications Evolution

With a strong partnership founded on a creative business model, validated by Harris’ experience and understanding of the FAA and its critical mission, FTI is setting the standard for government performance-based service programs. As a full and trusted FAA partner, the Harris team has transformed the FAA’s telecommunications network with minimal impact to ongoing air traffic operations. The FTI enterprise network not only serves to provide secure and efficient transmission of voice, data, and video communications critical to the NAS today, but also establishes the platform for the net-centric NextGen of tomorrow. By leveraging the existing FAA FTI network investment, the FAA is able to accelerate NextGen, minimize service duplication, reduce life-cycle cost, and ultimately achieve the vision of a seamless information infrastructure.

Enterprise Network

• Network solutions for evolving communications needs
  • Online operations network supporting VG, DDS, DDC, and IP interfaces
  • Online mission support IP data and video network, scalable for administrative voice
  • Online satellite network
  • Extensive emergency service restoration capabilities with land mobile and “fly-away” assets
  • Online microwave solutions undergoing transition to a comprehensive microwave network
  • Upgrading to optical backbone for increased bandwidth, reduced latency, and enhanced diversity
• Open, robust architecture—supports evolution of technology—flexible for growth
• Standards-based state-of-the-art architecture—highly reliable service availability
• Secure, timely communications transport
• Extensible for FAA business continuity planning
• Extensible for NextGen initiatives such as NAS Voice Switch (NVS) modernization, Data Communications, and System-Wide Information Management (SWIM)
  • Incremental additions of nonduplicative capabilities reduces transition risk, provides early benefits, and minimizes life-cycle costs

Performance-Based Services

• Established collection of performance-based service constructs, scalable for new technology, evolving mission needs, and extension to FAA partner agencies—enables the FAA to order what they need, when they need it
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee performance levels
• Sophisticated network management and integrated business systems to monitor performance, calculate SLA metrics, and invoice accordingly
• Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) for assessing and rewarding successful program activities
  

Comprehensive Operations Support Services

• Centralized Primary Network Operations and Control Center/Security Operations and Control Center (PNOCC/PSOCC)—facility, tools, and staff to monitor and maintain FTI on a 24/7 basis for availability and security
• Temporary NOCC/SOCC and backup NOCC/SOCC—contingency NOCCs in the event of a major activity affecting the PNOCC/PSOCC
• Geographically dispersed Harris technicians for corrective and preventive maintenance
• Holistic network management
  • 16,800 distributed network devices, containing over 104,000 manageable components, monitored and reported to the NOCC via a tier-to-tier hierarchy
  • Sophisticated processing software correlates resource events to FAA services 
  • Real-time, daily, and monthly performance reports to FAA in terms of services 
  • Redundancy and diversity to minimize impact to operations due to a resource failure 
  • Sparing approach to optimize availability 
  • Integrated configuration management
• Extensive layered, adaptive security management 
  • Certified and accredited by FAA 
  • First U.S. civil government network built and certified to EAL3 criteria 
  • Defense in-depth security management approaches
  • Security infused into all program operations and tools 
  • Access to information based on user privileges and authentication 
  • Security implementation protects the network against intrusion, virus attack, denial of service attack, policy violation, and other threats, without degradation of service performance 
  • Incident monitoring and management
• Integrated business system
  • Comprehensive tools for order fulfillment and invoicing 
  • Incorporates performance-based service pricing models 
  • Uses network performance metrics for credit computations 
  • Uses service provisioning status for billing operations

Risk Mitigation

• Integrated risk management in all aspects of program execution and operations 
• World-class team—NAS experienced Geographically dispersed and technologically advanced team 
• Systems and software engineering experienced to architect solutions for complex, mission critical systems (that include a broad range of legacy and advanced interfaces) and with evolving FAA needs
• A single point-of-contact program office at Harris
• Seamless transition from site levels through network levels
• Custom management information systems to control costs, increase resource utilization, and enhance planning capabilities of the FAA
• A solid state-of-the-art network platform, which can be leveraged for NextGen initiatives

Customer Service

• Proactive technology insertion based on understanding of NAS mission and NextGen objectives
• Help desk/onsite reps ensure user interaction
• Internal customer service-focused meetings
• Continued partnership for evolving program subjects

Life-cycle Cost

• Telecom costs aggressively managed throughout the life of the contract to match market reality
• Cost-effective utilization of technology enables the introduction of new services and facilities
• Leveraging FTI’s existing platform reduces life-cycle costs for future NextGen initiatives
  • FTI’s operationally stable network currently serves the FAA, DoD, FAA service providers, and other FAA-approved Communities of Interest (COIs)
  • FTI’s proven telecommunications services, security services, network monitoring and control services, business management services, data reference model, and metrics management can be extended for future voice communications and information service distribution needs
  • The FTI team is already established to support ongoing operations, maintenance, engineering, provisioning, and management

FTI, Online.

• FTI Operations Network
• FTI Operations IP Backbone
• FTI Mission Support Network
• FTI Satellite/Microwave Network
• FTI Network Operations and Control Centers
• FTI Security Operations and Control Centers

Harris FTI Team and the FAA . . .The Power of Partnership

Harris Corporation is the FAA’s prime contractor for the FTI program, leading a top industry team tasked with integrating the FAA’s separate telecommunications systems into one highly reliable, efficient, and affordable telecommunications infrastructure capable of improving operations and sustaining future growth. Harris is also providing automated network management systems and network security software solutions supporting the FTI network.

AT&T—Providing FTI with diverse and avoidance routing capabilities and points-of-presence in the wide area network and providing FTI with telecommunications access and support in the regions they serve.

QWEST—Providing FTI with telecommunications services and support within the regions they serve.

Level(3)—Providing fiber-based communications services, Internet Protocol (IP) services, data, and voice services.

Sprint—Providing FTI with wide area network services and support throughout the U.S. and its territories.

Verizon—Providing FTI with telecommunications services and support within the regions they serve.

Americom—Providing C- and Ku-band satellite space segments on shared gateway hub services and facilities.

Cisco Systems—Providing engineering services and modern telecommunications customer premise equipment.

CSSI, Inc.—Providing NAS support expertise and advanced simulation and modeling capabilities.

GSI Globecomm—Providing network management system, maintenance, and operations on remote satellite sites.

View the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) Brochure.

For inquiries regarding Harris products and capabilities, please contact a Harris Senior Executive Account Manager.