We Know They Know

we know they know

Queensland Motorways leads the way to intelligent traffic management with IBM and SAP Overview  The Challenge

user experience for motorists.

 Key Solution Components

Heavy traffic on Brisbane’s

IBM Global Business Services

Industry: Travel and transportation

motorways was creating

was contracted by Queensland

Applications: SAP® ERP 6.0,

congestion, lengthening journey

Motorways to design, build, test,

SAP Customer Relationship

times for motorists and reducing

and deploy the intelligent free-flow

Management 7.0, SAP NetWeaver®

travel reliability for local businesses.

tolling central system solution

Business Warehouse 7.0, SAP

Toll plazas added to the problem,

based on technology from IBM,

NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1,

creating a choke point for motorists

SAP, and Dacolian. Thales was

SAP Solution Manager 4.0

slowing to pay tolls and also with

contracted separately to provide

Hardware: IBM ® Power® 570,

vehicles required to merge near

the roadside equipment solution.

IBM BladeCenter® with IBM HS21

the toll booths. The Queensland

Collecting vehicle data from

blades, IBM System Storage®

Government, in conjunction

in-vehicle tags and road-side video

DS8000, Thales roadside tolling

with Queensland Motorways,

cameras, the solution manages the

gantries

which manages and operates

entire tolling process from end to

Software: IBM Tivoli® Access

the Gateway Bridge, Gateway

end without interrupting traffic flow.

Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On, IBM WebSphere®

Extension and Logan motorways decided to embark on a major

 The Benefits

Application Server 6.1,

upgrade project to enable traffic to

The solution allows Queensland

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

flow more freely.

Motorways to combine its

6.1, IBM WebSphere MQ 6.0,

knowledge of commuters’ travel

Dacolian OCR, Oracle, Red Hat

 The Solution

patterns with real-time data on

Enterprise Linux

To support its delivery of the

traffic conditions to recommend

Services: IBM Global Business

AU$1.88 billion Gateway Upgrade

fastest routes and avoid congestion.

Services, IBM Global Technology

Project, Queensland Motorways

This helps to speed journeys,

Services, Thales Australia, Vitronic

was committed to delivering

reduce congestion, and cut exhaust

Machine Vision Australia Pty Ltd

free-flow tolling on the Gateway

emissions. Drivers no longer have

Bridge. Queensland Motorways

to stop to pay tolls, which reduces

increased the scope of its free-

congestion, increases safety and

flow tolling project to include the

enhances network reliability.

Gateway Extension and Logan motorways to provide a consistent

“IBM Global Business Services is one of the few companies in the world that has proven expertise in delivering successful free-flow tolling projects… IBM focused on aligning the business and IT resources during the project, which led to its success. What you get is a more efficient process.” Phil Mumford CEO Queensland Motorways

Snaking its way from the southern

congestion comes back again. We

approaches to Brisbane city to the

realized that to have a long-term impact

north of the city, the multi-lane

on the problem, we needed to be

Gateway Motorway, the most

smarter about how we manage our

significant part of Queensland

traffic flow.”

Motorways’ network and the city’s road infrastructure, bypasses the central

To tackle this problem, in early 2007

business district to provide easy

Queensland Motorways embarked on

access to Brisbane’s sea- and airports

the largest bridge and road upgrade in

and the cities of north-eastern

Queensland’s history. The Gateway

Australia. Half-way along the route, it

Upgrade Project, which will cost

crosses the Brisbane River at the

AU$1.88 billion (US$1.45 billion), will

iconic Gateway Bridge.

see the creation of a second Gateway Bridge, doubling capacity to twelve

“Improving traffic flow on the Gateway

lanes, a new 7km section of motorway

Motorway, and particularly on the

north of the bridges, and upgrades to

Gateway Bridge, is key to ensuring

12km of motorway south of the bridges.

effective network management in Brisbane,” says Phil Mumford, CEO of

Improving traffic flow

Queensland Motorways, the company

While investigating ways to transform

responsible for managing and

traffic management processes, the

operating this road infrastructure. “Any

Queensland Government, together

congestion or issues on the bridge

with Queensland Motorways, identified

ultimately affect the whole network:

the toll plazas on the Gateway and

people start to divert to other roads

Logan motorways as a major pinch

which are already carrying high traffic

point. The need to have vehicles either

volumes and soon enough, everyone’s

slow as they passed through the toll

journey is negatively impacted.

plazas using electronic tolling or to stop and pay with cash at a toll booth was

“The physical upgrade is vitally

significantly slowing the speed of

necessary, but we can’t keep building

traffic.

multi-billion dollar infrastructure. The pattern we see is that every time a new

“Free-flow tolling was seen as

road is built, utilization increases and

beneficial for two reasons,” explains Phil Mumford. “First, if we could automate the tolling process and eliminate the need for drivers to stop, it would immediately increase the average speed of traffic flow, improve safety and the traveling experience of motorists. Secondly, the solution would allow us to digitally capture and analyze information about the vehicles that use our roads, which would help us make dramatic improvements to traffic management in the future.” Leveraging IBM industry expertise Queensland Motorways began looking for a partner that could help to design and implement such a solution, and after a series of site visits and a tender

process, drew up a shortlist of three

ERP Financials and SAP Customer

business and IT consulting companies

Relationship Management (CRM)

for the delivery of the central system.

applications, which either deduct the total from a prepaid customer account,

“IBM Global Business Services is one

or generate an invoice. Business

of the few companies in the world that

reporting is handled by SAP NetWeaver

has proven expertise in delivering

Business Warehouse, and integration

successful free-flow tolling projects,

by SAP NetWeaver Process Integration.

and we were very impressed with their work on congestion charging in

“The whole process is automated and

Stockholm,” says Phil Mumford. “The

instantaneous, and there is no need for

ability to provide an end-to-end

drivers to stop to pay their toll,” explains

solution including hardware, software

Phil Mumford. “Moreover, except in

and services – and to work effectively

certain cases where a vehicle cannot

with other key partners such as SAP

be identified by OCR, there is no need

and Thales – was a key factor in our

for manual intervention by our staff. This

favoring the IBM proposal.

not only improves traffic flow – it also cuts down the cost per transaction,

“IBM focused on aligning the business

which will help us offer better value to

and IT resources during the project,

our customers.”

Phil Mumford CEO

which led to its success. What you get is a more efficient process. The

Transforming customer service

business knows what they want to

More importantly, the introduction of

achieve – it just needs help to define

the SAP CRM application is leading to a

what is required and to come up with

fundamental change in the way

some innovative solutions along the

Queensland Motorways interacts with

way. A common understanding of

its customers. Now it can see what

requirements is critical, because it

vehicles are using the roads and how

means that processes that would

often and at what times they use the

normally consume a lot of resources

roads. In the future, Queensland

become streamlined, simple and easy

Motorways will be able to tailor its

to understand.”

services to individual drivers – with a profound effect on both customer

The roadside solution replaces the

“With SAP CRM, we have achieved a better understanding of who our customers are. In the future we’ll be able to offer customers useful information about the transport network. The whole experience has the potential to be much more personalized.”

experience and traffic management.

traditional toll booths with a Thales/ Vitronic road-side gantry that utilizes

“With SAP CRM, we have achieved a

video cameras and dedicated short-

better understanding of who our

range communication technologies to

customers are,” says Phil Mumford. “In

capture information on passing

the future we’ll be able to offer

vehicles. Vehicles are identified either

customers useful information about the

by an in-vehicle tag or by analyzing

transport network. For example, a

footage of their number plates using

customer making regular trips to the

two optical character recognition

airport on a Monday morning may want

(OCR) engines, one at the roadside

to receive congestion reports direct to

and a Dacolian engine at the central

their phones. The whole experience

system.

has the potential to be much more personalized.

The vehicle data is then matched to the appropriate customer account, and an

“The idea is to have ‘a motorway that

IBM-developed rating engine assesses

thinks’ – a more intelligent solution that

how much money is owed. The billing

will give our customers a better range

information is passed to back-end SAP

of options for their journeys.”

Queensland Motorways

TECHNICAL LANDSCAPE Servers: IBM® Power® 570 server with 16 IBM POWER6 4.7GHz processors, 25 Intel Xeon® processor-based IBM® HS21 blade servers in two IBM BladeCenter® chassis, IBM System Storage® DS8000 Software: SAP ® ERP 6.0, SAP Customer Relationship Management 7.0, SAP NetWeaver ® Business Warehouse 7.0, SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1, SAP Solution Manager 4.0, IBM Tivoli® Access Manager for Enterprise Single SignOn, IBM WebSphere® Application Server 6.1, IBM WebSphere Message Broker 6.1, IBM WebSphere MQ 6.0, Dacolian OCR, Oracle, Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Some of these ideas are still on the

the latest Australian interoperability

drawing board, but with the launch of

standards, and data is automatically

the free-flow tolling system, motorists,

exchanged with other operators.

the paying customers, now have access

“We know that our needs will change tomorrow. The beauty of the SOA solution is that we can change our components as needed, seamlessly. It might be about introducing a new piece of technology; it might be a business process or a whole new business model. It changes the way we think about our technology lifecycles.” Phil Mumford CEO Queensland Motorways

to a wide range of information and

The solution also includes an intranet

features via a Web portal and SMS.

portal built on SAP NetWeaver Portal, which is accessed by internal users.

This enables them to review usage

IBM Tivoli Access Manager for

information, pay bills and top up credit

Enterprise Single Sign-On provides

online. Similarly, business users are

secure, convenient access to the portal

able to obtain information on all the

and to other resources: a single

vehicles in their fleet, and pay for the

password is used to access all services,

total road usage from a single account.

and users only need to sign in once. This helps Queensland Motorways

Exploring the technical architecture

safeguard sensitive customer and

The infrastructure of the solution is split

business data, without introducing a

across three locations: the road-side

complex security infrastructure and

systems, the primary data center, and a

reducing usability.

disaster recovery site. A self-service Web portal has been At the road-side, all sensor equipment

developed to provide access for

with integrated pre-processing systems

Queensland Motorways’ customers to

– vehicle classification, vehicle imaging,

payment options, account status and

DSRC beacons and the detection and

other important information.

tracking unit – are installed on a single

IBM WebSphere Application Server

accessible gantry with no in-road

provides the platform for the delivery of

installation.

this portal.

Data from each of the roadside

Service-oriented architecture

subsystems is passed to a Toll

IBM Global Business Services has

Management Unit housed in a roadside

designed and built the solution in

shelter where it is combined to form

accordance with the principles of

individual passage reports which are

service-oriented architecture (SOA).

then passed via IBM WebSphere MQ to

Individual systems communicate via the

an enterprise service bus (ESB) based

ESB rather than specialized point-to-

on WebSphere Message Broker and

point interfaces. As a result, any

SAP NetWeaver Process Integration.

component can be replaced or upgraded without affecting other

The passage report is then passed to

systems, and components can be

the identification and rating engine,

orchestrated in different ways to provide

which uses OCR technology from

new services without the need for

Dacolian to identify the vehicle and to

significant custom development effort.

verify the OCR result achieved by the roadside system.

“We know that our needs will change over time,” says Phil Mumford. “The

Images which cannot be analyzed

beauty of the SOA solution is that we

automatically with the required

can change our components as

confidence level are manually

needed, seamlessly. It might be about

processed in a manual image review

introducing a new piece of technology;

application. From there, billing

it might be a business process or a

information is passed via the ESB into

whole new business model. It changes

the SAP CRM and SAP ERP systems.

the way we think about our technology

The free-flow tolling system adheres to

lifecycles.”

Central system servers and storage

24x7x365. Even when server

The Dacolian servers, Web servers,

maintenance is necessary at the main

and various other systems such as

data center, workload can be moved to

IBM Tivoli Access Manager for

a standby server at the disaster

Enterprise Single Sign-On, run on 25

recovery site until the production

Intel Xeon processor-based IBM HS21

machine is back online.

blade servers in two IBM BladeCenter chassis.

This flexibility is complemented by the highly scalable IBM BladeCenter

Meanwhile, the SAP applications,

platform, which allows Queensland

identification, rating and interoperability

Motorways to upgrade its processing

applications, Internet Web portal and

capabilities simply by plugging

Oracle databases run on an IBM Power

additional blade servers into the

570 server with 16 IBM POWER6

chassis. For example, if the company

4.7GHz processors. Red Hat Enterprise

decides to extend the free-flow tolling

Linux is used as the operating system

solution, and this requires more

for the entire environment.

Dacolian OCR servers to be installed, the BladeCenter infrastructure will

A storage area network, based on IBM

enable rapid expansion at minimal

System Storage DS8000 hardware,

cost.

provides high-speed access to data.

“Total mobility is about giving customers the ultimate choice as to how they travel… Moving forward, our customers will have access to information such as projected travel times, and our systems will help them to make informed travel decisions.” Phil Mumford

By using a combination of Fibre

This dynamic infrastructure gives

CEO

Channel and FATA disks, the company

Queensland Motorways the flexibility to

Queensland Motorways

can obtain the most effective balance

extend and grow the solution to meet

between high-performance and cost-

the changing demands of the business.

effective storage. Looking to the future The complete production infrastructure

The free-flow tolling solution is on

is mirrored with identical hardware at

course to deliver rapid benefits for both

the disaster recovery site, which is

Queensland Motorways and the

used to run development, test and

motorists of south-east Queensland –

staging environments during normal

increasing the reliability and safety of

operations. IBM Global Technology

travel on its motorways, and

Services was responsible for

significantly improving operational

designing, implementing and testing

efficiency, which should help the

the entire infrastructure at both the

company to deliver improved services

primary and disaster recovery sites.

and better value.

PowerVM and BladeCenter

Looking at the big picture, Phil Mumford

The Power 570 servers leverage IBM

believes that the best is still to come:

PowerVM technologies to provide an

“Under our old systems, we didn’t have

autonomic, virtualized server

the flexibility to obtain some of the data

environment. The SAP applications and

that will greatly assist us make better

databases run in separate logical

business decisions. We now also have

partitions (LPARs) that dynamically

a system that will enable us to offer

allocate available processor resources

tailor-made solutions to our customers

to maximize overall system throughput

– total flexibility, total mobility.”

and enable load balancing and peak load compensation.

“Moving forward our customers will have access to information such as

As a result, Queensland Motorways has

projected travel times, and our systems

enough flexibility in its infrastructure to

will help them to make informed travel

ensure its tolling service runs

decisions.”

IBM Deutschland GmbH D-70548 Stuttgart ibm.com/solutions/sap IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. A current list of other IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at http://www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Xeon and the Intel Xeon logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks, or service marks of others. This case study illustrates how one IBM customer uses IBM and/or IBM Business Partner technologies/services. Many factors have contributed to the results and benefits described. IBM does not guarantee comparable results. All information contained herein was provided by the featured customer and/or IBM Business Partner. IBM does not attest to its accuracy. All customer examples cited represent how some customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. This publication is for general guidance only. Photographs may show design models. © Copyright IBM Corp. 2009. All rights reserved.

© Copyright 2009 SAP AG SAP AG Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16 D-69190 Walldorf SAP, the SAP logo, SAP and all other SAP products and services mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries. SPC03129-AUEN-00 (September 2009)