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IT in Business: Assignment No 2
Chapter 1 / Foundations of Information Systems in Business ● 25

REAL WORLD Lufthansa:

Taking Mobile Computing to the Skies
CASE While Keeping the Mobile Workforce Connected

H ow do you keep 3,500 highly mobile airline pilots

trained on the latest technology and procedures,
plugged into the corporate infrastructure, and in-
formed about schedules, weather events, and other facts that
affect their jobs throughout the world? What’s more, how do
Today, Lufthansa pilots enjoy state-of-the-art notebook
PCs weighing less than 3.5 pounds with several times the
power and performance of the early Pentium III platforms.
So far, the payoff from mobile computing at Lufthansa
has been significant. Giving notebooks to pilots provided the
you accomplish this while controlling costs? company with several key tangible and intangible benefits:
In 2001, Lufthansa launched the “Lufthansa Mobile Ini-
tiative,” which aimed to provide all pilots with notebook • Pilots are more productive because they can access up-
computers. Lufthansa knew that the benefits of mobile com- dated data electronically.
puters would translate into major gains for the company as • They are more productive because they can work in a
a whole. variety of locations, including airplanes, airports, hotels,
The Lufthansa Mobile Initiative is yielding significant and other remote locations.
productivity and efficiency improvements, while keeping
costs manageable.
• Pilots appreciate the convenience of not having to
carry heavy manuals and documentation to multiple
The successes being realized today were not without sig- locations.
nificant challenges. Lufthansa had strict parameters that
notebook PCs needed to meet before the pilots’ union would • Pilots can take their required training on their laptops
sign off on the plan. Chief among the requirements were: during downtime in any airport.
The notebooks had to have enough performance capability Now that all of Lufthansa’s pilots have laptops,
to run key software applications used by the pilots, the note- Lufthansa no longer conducts classroom training. “Such
books had to weigh less than 2 kilograms (about 4.4 pounds), training used to mean preparing training centers, arranging
their screens had to be at least 12 inches diagonally as well as a time when pilots could attend the sessions, and actually
be bright and easy to read due to lighting conditions in the getting the pilots to the training location,” recalls Rolf
cockpit, and battery life had to be at least five hours for long Mueller, project manager for the Lufthansa Mobile Initia-
airplane trips. tive. “Now pilots use their notebooks for computer-based
For the early tests of the project in 1998, Lufthansa de- training whether they are learning about new aircraft or
cided to purchase mobile systems based on the low-voltage things like specific hydraulic systems.” Lufthansa also plans
Mobile Intel® Pentium® III Processor–M operating at to phase out the desktop computers that it had previously
600MHz, with 128MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive. deployed in airports, thereby streamlining its infrastructure
and cutting even more costs.
FIGURE Helping Lufthansa even further is the fact that the total
cost of ownership for notebooks has decreased significantly
over the last several years. Capital costs are lower. End user
operations and technical support costs are decreasing due to
improved manageability and stability. “We’ve been quite happy
with Windows XP,” said a Lufthansa representative. “Not only
is it stable, but it’s flexible and gives us an environment that is
easy to update and keep current. Overall, the total cost of own-
ership is quite low because of our system of browser-based
components and a sophisticated update network.”
Mobile computing is catching on throughout the
Lufthansa Group. Rolf Mueller says that in addition to
Lufthansa Cargo, he has been talking to Lufthansa CityLine,
the company’s short-haul passenger line that serves Europe.
“We’re really leading the way in using mobile computers.
Lufthansa CityLine will end up with 800 of its own note-
books for flight captains.”
And the Mobile Initiative at Lufthansa extends beyond
Modern businesses implement sales readiness
the company’s crew. Lufthansa understands fully the needs of
systems that provide their global sales forces with
mobile workers, including its own customers. Since late
Web-based access to sales and marketing
materials. 2004, the announcement “We have reached surfing altitude”
has become as familiar to Lufthansa travelers as safety
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26 ● Module I / Foundation Concepts

demonstrations, packs of peanuts, and stowing the tray in the The system is mounted in the top of the cabin above the roof.
upright and locked position. The long, thin antenna is curved like a parabolic satellite dish,
Using the Connexion system by Boeing, Lufthansa can and motors constantly adjust its position so that it remains
deliver broadband Internet to the aircraft and, ultimately, to pointing at the satellite during the flight, Deal says.
their passengers. Whether the service is a success might not be a question
Lufthansa, through Boeing, is selling the service directly of technology or price. Aircraft cabins are one of the few
to passengers and offers either flat-rate pricing, at $19.95 for places a busy traveler can get away from phones, e-mail, and
flights of between three and six hours or $29.95 for flights of instant messages, so some might resent the intrusion of the
six hours or more, or metered pricing, at $9.95 for Internet in the air.
30 minutes and 20 cents per subsequent minute. Boeing’s market research found up to 6 percent of
The backbone of the system is a network of transponders people surveyed would change their flight plans, within a
leased across eight commercial satellites that provides certain set of limits, to get aboard an aircraft that has
coverage of most major air routes in the Northern the system, says Michael Carson, sales director at
Hemisphere. Each transponder can support a Connexion.
high-speed data channel, and Boeing allocates one to be As it moves forward, Lufthansa can point to a litany of
used for passenger Internet access, says Stan Deal, vice benefits when describing its mobile computer program.
president of Connexion. “Most of all, pilots work when they can,” says Rolf Mueller,
There are plans for a second stream to carry live “whether they are on their way to the airport, waiting during
television, such as 24-hour news, sports and a layover, or away from work.” Equally important, Lufthansa
financial channels, and a channel for airline use, passengers can be more productive.
such as sending real-time telemetry, maintenance Lufthansa regards its mobile computing initiative as
information, and intracompany communications. extremely successful based on their high return on
Additional Internet data channels also can be added to keep investment (ROI). By deploying mobile PCs to all their
up with demand. pilots, they have realized significant productivity benefits
Four earth stations, in Japan, Russia, Switzerland, while effectively managing costs.
and the United States, provide the gateway link between the Source: Adapted from Intel Corporation, “Lufthansa Mobile Computing
aircraft and a terrestrial network provided by Internap Case Study, 2002.” © Intel Corporation, 2002, and Martyn Williams,
“Broadband Internet Takes to the Skies,” Network World, May 17, 2004.
Network Services that carries traffic to the Internet. © Network World, Inc., 2004.
The connection to the satellite from the aircraft is
accomplished using an antenna designed by Mitsubishi
Electric.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Are many of Lufthansa’s challenges identified in the
case similar to those being experienced by other
businesses in today’s global economy? Explain and
provide some examples.

2. What other tangible and intangible benefits, beyond

those identified by Lufthansa, might a mobile
workforce enjoy as a result of deploying mobile
technolo gies? Explain.
3. Lufthansa was clearly taking a big risk with their
decision to deploy notebook computers to their pilots.
What steps did they take to manage that risk, and what
others might be needed in today’s business
environment? Provide some examples.

Muzammil Ahmad Khan

[email protected]