Norwegian Public Roads Administration Turns to IBM to Enhance Traffic Management

OSLO, Norway, March 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to design, build and deliver a new centralised road toll system across Norway.

Drawing upon IBM's extensive traffic system management experience, big data and analytics capabilities, and mobile expertise, the new toll system named "AutoPASS Grindgut" will process more than 470 million vehicle passages per year, accounting for approximately 8 billion NOK (US$1.3 billion) in road user charges.

IBM will use its industry leading analytics solutions expertise to integrate roadside traffic data with new and modern user accounts and NPRA's CRM system. In addition, based on the new system, NPRA will reduce administration costs and enhance customer service by phasing out paper-based transactions -- migrating future customer interactions to the web and mobile.

IBM MobileFirst will support development of new self service smartphone and tablet apps, delivering improved customer experience. IBM MobileFirst enables NPRA to continue to introduce new mobile services and make future enhancements to the current system.

Data collection from roadside installations across the country is based on automatic tag reading, or using automatic license plate recognition software delivered as part of the new central system.

Future services may include providing customers with real-time analysis on traffic flow, usage, transport trends and travel patterns. Additionally, enhanced levels of automation based on IBM message-oriented middleware will enable GPS-based tolling as well as other types of roadside services.

Director of NPRA Lars Erik Hauer, said: "We chose IBM because it had the best all round offer of all the bidders."

"IBM has extensive experience with Smarter Traffic Solutions having deployed them in Stockholm, Brisbane and London. Also, IBM researchers have developed the Transportation Management Center (TMC) of the Future with the City of Lyon, France," said Arne Norheim, country manager, IBM Norway. "We enable organizations like NPRA and others to take actionable historical and real-time traffic data, combined with advanced analytics and algorithms, to help model predicted conditions under both normal and incident conditions."

The AutoPASS Grindgut system will be managed by IBM through Smarter Application Management from IBM's Global Delivery Centers. This enables scalability for future demand and the open architecture ensures cost effective development, enabling straightforward integration with third-party equipment vendors.

The vendors short-listed were QFree, BT Signaal and Kapsch. The contract was awarded and signed to IBM in December 2013. The new solution will roll out in spring 2015. The contract includes solution design, development and management for at least three years after delivery.

IBM Smarter Transport Management
IBM has brought complex road user charging and intelligent transportation systems projects worldwide. It has continuously enhanced these solutions ensuring cost-effectiveness by using open standards, cloud, analytics and mobile technology.

IBM has established the world's deepest portfolio of Big Data & Analytics technologies and solutions, spanning services, software, research and hardware. Today, more than 400 IBM mathematicians and 6,000 industry solution business partners are helping clients use big data to transform their organizations. Additionally, IBM secured 1,500 Big Data & Analytics-related patents in 2013 alone, and continues to engage and build solutions and skills across a broad community of 1,000 university partnerships, 135,000 Big Data University enrolments and a worldwide network of nine Analytic Solutions Centers.

For more information about IBM Big Data & Analytics, visit http://ibm.co/bigdataanalytics and http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/.

Follow IBM Big Data & Analytics on Twitter @IBMbigdata and @IBMAnalytics.

For more insights on Big Data & Analytics visit IBM's Smarter Planet blog.

About IBM MobileFirst
As the first new technology platform for business to emerge since the World Wide Web, mobile computing represents one of the greatest opportunities for organizations to expand their business. Based on more than 1,000 customer engagements, more than 10 mobile-related acquisitions in the last four years, a team of thousands of mobile experts and 270 patents in wireless innovations, IBM MobileFirst provides the key elements of an application and data platform with the management, security and analytics capabilities needed for the enterprise. To learn more about IBM MobileFirst solutions visit the press kit or http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst. Follow @ibmmobile on Twitter, and see IBM MobileFirst on YouTube, Tumblr and Facebook.

Otto Backer Solberg
IBM External Relations
[email protected]
+47 4153 5303

Lizette Kodama
IBM External Relations
[email protected]
646-675-0750

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SOURCE IBM