IBM today unveiled the latest and largest airport installation of IBM self-service kiosks in Asia Pacific at Korea`s new Incheon International Airport (IIA) passenger terminal.
IBM has installed 52 Internet-enabled self-service kiosks to provide travellers with a comprehensive variety of real-time information and services via touch-screen technology. IBM delivered design, content, application development and installation of the kiosks as part of IIA`s plan to become an Internet-enabled, e-business terminal.
“We believe that the IBM self-service kiosk solution at IIA is one of the best quality kiosk installations for airports in the world,” said Dr. Sang-Ho Lee, executive director of the Airport Development Division, Incheon International Airport Korea. “IBM`s proven experience and leadership in the area of kiosk solutions and Internet-enabled travel made it an obvious choice to deliver the vast array of services we required for our kiosk solution.”
“IBM is pleased to be able to provide best-of-breed, self-service kiosk technology for IIA, Asia Pacific`s newest airport”, said Heui-Soo Park, Integrated Technology Services Executive, IBM Global Services Korea, “IBM`s experience in service delivery and customised kiosk solutions allowed for on-time delivery of a comprehensive suite of kiosk information services and solutions for IIA`s passengers and airport users.”
The IIA kiosk system provides the following services:
* Airport location information: major facilities of main passenger terminal and transportation centre in IIA (i.e. public telephones, boarding gates, information desks, shops, restaurants, public conveniences, etc.).
* Travel procedure information: immigration, quarantine and customs.
* Airline location information: including check-in counters, lounges, etc.
* Internet reservations: for hotels and airlines (international and domestic flights).
* Flight schedules: search service (by date, by country and city, by time-zone) with flight schedules one week in advance.
* Tourist information: on countries, cities and airports as well as on popular resorts, restaurants, duty-free shops, department stores and travel agencies.
* Emergency: telephone numbers and automatic connection service.
* Ground transportation links information: including car park facilities, buses, taxis, road maps and highway information and the national subway map.
* Currency rates: real-time search on country currencies and local exchange rates as well as major currencies` calculation service.
* National weather information and monthly average degree service of worldwide major cities (Centigrade and Fahrenheit).
* Calendar of major Korean events: including sports events, concerts, movies and cultural activities.
* International information: including world time zones, continental maps and country maps.
The IIA kiosk system has been successfully installed in the main passenger terminal & transportation centre. In addition to Korean, information on the kiosks also is available in English, Chinese and Japanese.
In addition, the kiosks have been designed for e-commerce capability, with a credit/debit card reader, a receipt printer and card data transaction module to allow for e-commerce transactions and functions to be added at a later stage.
Teams from IBM Korea and IBM Canada were responsible for the overall implementation of the solution, which is remotely managed using IBM Kiosk Manager(superscript: TM) on IBM Netfinity 5500M20 servers.
The IIA self-service kiosk solution has been delivered in time for the airport`s official opening at the end of March, 2001.
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