“Grupo7Air is responsible for the airworthiness of 89 different aircrafts. Since the group operates several different businesses all related to the same aircrafts, we need to store and distribute information to different users in different companies in a properly organized and secure way. QNAP NAS offered an immediate robust solution and met the necessary requirements,” - Angelo Claro, an IT Manager for Grupo7Air.

Introduction:

Grupo7Air is an aviation support & maintenance company based in Lisbon, Portugal. With a staff of 118 specialized personnel, Grupo7Air provides pilot training/certification, aircraft maintenance/overhaul/certification services, and ground support services for regional airlines and private aircraft operations. Grupo7Air currently is responsible for the airworthiness and maintenance of 89 different aircraft, including fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters.

As one might expect, Grupo7Air's operations depends on secure delivery and availability of critical information to flight line, training, and maintenance personnel. Aircraft repair/service orders, inbound/outbound flight service requests, and detailed repair logs and aircraft manufacturer technical service bulletins must be available to authorized personnel 24/7. Furthermore, the information must be highly secure to comply with the European Aviation Authority (EASA) information security requirements.

Challenges/Business Needs:

Grupo7Air's subsidiary company, Crucial Sky Technology, is tasked with administering IT services within the Grupo7Air family of operating companies. Crucial Sky Technology needed highly reliable networked storage that would easily integrate with their current IT infrastructure. Besides easy integration, it was essential for the networked storage to have a centralized backup of crucial information and highly secure access of information to Grupo7Air's staff.

After careful analysis of available NAS technologies, Crucial Sky Technology purchased a single QNAP TS-459 Pro Turbo NAS server to meet their needs. The TS-459 Pro is integrated directly through connecting to the switch which then connects the network to the Internet and services a Windows® 2003 Server. The network bridges connections to several remote work locations around the airport.

Benefits:

The ability of the QNAP TS-459 Pro to leverage existing Windows AD user accounts proved highly beneficial, allowing seamless integration to current user accounts. Here are some of the key benefits the QNAP NAS servers provided:

Secure File Sharing

The ability of the TS-459 Pro to mount ISO images was particularly useful as most aircraft manufacturers deliver routine technical service bulletins to their customers via ISO images. Our maintenance staff is able to securely access the latest service bulletins for a particular aircraft instantly over the network as well as all relevant information for the requested service or repair. Because the European Aviation Authority requires all aircraft service records to be kept secure, the AES volume encryption feature of the TS-459 Pro is critical for our operations.

Backup

In addition to secure file sharing, secure backup of critical information via Rsync to the TS-459 Pro is a critical function. Up-to-date documents related to service/overhaul of aircraft, pilot certification/training, and other services Grupo7Air provides must be available at all times to our clients auditors, the European Aviation Authority, and of course to our internal staff. Knowing that the TS-459 Pro keeps all our workstations on the network backed up and alerts our IT administrator if a backup failed is of paramount importance.

Internal Web Server / Database Server

Because our internal operations are very complex, we have custom designed database software for tracking work orders, accounting, quality control, and maintenance logs. The TS-459 Pro's SQL database management features ensure that our 50+ concurrent users can access critical information at any time.

Performance & Reliability

With 50+ users accessing information stored on the TS-459 Pro unit at any one time, we really needed a NAS that could sustain an optimal performance. The dual-core Intel Atom CPU and 2GB of RAM really helps keep our network performance high, and the SMS/email alerts when an operation failed (usually due to internal network failure) assures maximum up-time for our demanding operations.

For more information on QNAP's extensive lineup of Turbo NAS servers, please visit www.qnap.com

For more information on Grupo7Air, please visit: www.grupo7air.com