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TIBCO Moves Lufthansa Cargo from a Legacy System to a Flexible Future
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Process Control & Optimization
- Remote Asset Management
- Track & Trace of Assets
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
Lufthansa Cargo’s IT systems had evolved into a complex and heterogeneous structure centered around the host-based MOSAIK application, which dated back to the seventies. This system enabled access to product information, bookings, reservations, and shipment tracking, as well as the exchange of waybill data via electronic data interchange (EDI). However, developing add-ons and adaptations to this system was time-consuming and costly, which was necessary for the optimal support of Lufthansa Cargo’s time-definite services. These services responded to customers’ needs for the rapid shipment of specific types of goods within a precisely defined time frame. The company needed to reduce operating costs by simplifying the complexity of interfaces and maintenance, and to accelerate the time to market of its new products and services. Enterprise and business application integration were identified as key facilitators, connectors, and control systems to achieve these objectives.
About The Customer
Lufthansa Cargo AG (LCAG) is the freight subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the German national airline. Although its core business is the processing of airport-to-airport airfreight, the company offers several services using a global network of routes to 493 destinations. In the international scheduled airfreight business, Lufthansa Cargo is the front-runner among the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) carriers. The company’s IT systems had grown over the years into a complex and heterogeneous structure, centered around the host-based MOSAIK application, which dated back to the seventies. This system enabled access to product information, bookings, reservations, and shipment tracking, as well as the exchange of waybill data via electronic data interchange (EDI).
The Solution
Lufthansa Cargo chose to implement TIBCO’s business integration software to migrate from its legacy systems to a more flexible and efficient architecture. The new enterprise application integration (EAI) architecture replaced the existing complex structure with a shared integration layer, consisting of the TIBCO Information Bus® as the backbone, along with applications, web services, and interfaces connected to it. This architecture enabled real-time business process execution and reduced development risks and costs. Lufthansa Cargo conducted a proof-of-technology (POT) test to evaluate each vendor’s software, involving different business units and teams to familiarize themselves with the new technology. TIBCO’s software fulfilled all requirements, partly due to its central information bus and compliance with standards such as Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and XML. With comprehensive support for web services technology (SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI), Lufthansa Cargo could easily and cost-effectively connect applications and processes, such as workflow.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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