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Industry News

April, 2017

NuPark, the leading provider of “smart” parking management solutions, has been awarded a contract to provide automated parking management and enforcement for Auburn University in Alabama. With the company’s cloud-based system, the university should now be able to more efficiently optimize all aspects of its parking operations to provide faster, more convenient services across the campus. The open, web-based system is designed to help the school streamline and automate the process of managing, selling and enforcing parking. In other news, NuPark has integrated its parking management system with the RideFlag Carpool on Demand app at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami.  By combining carpooling with a digital pass parking verification process, FIU can now, it said, help students, faculty and staff organize carpools to campus, as well as provide on-demand, dynamic access to premium parking on campus to optimize its spaces and decrease its carbon footprint.


Cubic Transportation Systems has appointed Tony Gale as Vice President and General Manager of NextBus, its real-time passenger information (RTPI) business. Gale has more than 20 years of experience in Software as a Service, as well as domestic and international IT/ GIS markets. “Tony brings a diverse background of technical and solutions-oriented experience, along with his success in operational roles,” said Min Wei, Senior VP of Operations. “His [background] ... creates a natural overlap with our NextBus growth strategy, which is building on the RTPI heritage that riders and public transit managers count on every day.”


Park Assist has been awarded the parking guidance system (PGS) contract for the University of Texas at Dallas at its new PS4 garage on the Richardson campus. The company will be installing its proprietary M4 camera-based “smart” sensor PGS. It will be used in conjunction with the university’s permit-based system. The sensors will be colored-coded based on the permit holders’ car assignments.


The City of Hamilton, Bermuda, after a successful installation at its City Hall carpark, has decided to upgrade five additional parking facilities using the Hectronic access control solution. In August 2016, the city chose to install the system in its newly designed City Hall carpark. It consisted of two HecTwin entrance units, two exit units, and three Citea paystations taking all forms of payment in both U.S. and Bermudian currency, as well as credit and debit cards.


 


The Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange in Singapore serves more than 400,000 passengers every day, while the regional hub is being rebuilt. Because of that, it required a “smart” bus parking solution for efficient traffic flow. Sensit by Nedap, the leading smart-parking platform, was installed to offer real-time occupancy information of all bus parking spaces at the station. This information is designed to enable easy guidance of buses to the nearest available parking spaces. Implementation was by Eaglevision.


Code Blue Corp., the industry-pioneering manufacturer of emergency communication solutions, has agreed to a new partnership with ADI Global, a leading distributor of security and low-voltage products. Code Blue products, such as its signature Help Points and emergency speakerphones, are now available throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico through ADI’s 100 branch locations. It stocks more than 70,000 products from 400 manufacturers. In other news, Carol Wheeler, Code Blue’s Director of Engineering & Operations, will be among 100 women receiving “Women in Manufacturing STEP Ahead” awards from The Manufacturing Institute. The STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead awards honor women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers and represent all levels of the manufacturing industry, from the factory-floor to the C suite.


Akshay Pottathil has joined the Passport Board of Advisors to provide insight on the company’s international expansion and scaling strategies. He brings extensive experience in the security, trade, tourism and hospitality industries. Co-Director of the Center for Information Convergence and Strategy at San Diego State University, Pottathil is the Co-Founder and Director of Innovation & Strategy of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Dubai. In other news, the leader in parking and transit technology systems also announced that Michael Scully has joined the Passport team as Chief Product Officer. He will oversee the product, marketing and design teams, bringing “deep domain experience” in mobile, advanced marketing analytics and product development, the company said.


Towne Park, America’s leading hospitality and healthcare services company, announced in late February that it expects record performance this year – “driven largely by organic growth of its leading hospitality services business, including strong expansion in key Florida markets” — as it continues to capitalize on the rapid professionalization of the industry and strong demand for more sophisticated, value-added services. “Momentum has accelerated,” said President and CEO Chuck Heskett. “We are well ahead of last year’s pace, and our pipeline is outstanding, pointing toward a tremendous 2017.”


Xplore Technologies has announced that FlashParking, formerly Klever Logic, is currently deploying its Bobcat fully rugged tablet PC as the user interface for hundreds of Smart Station access control kiosks installed across the U.S. The company began fulfilling the customer’s $854,000 order in November 2016, after the Bobcat proved to be the “only computer to withstand both the extreme heat and extreme cold of the kiosks’ outdoor operating environments.”


Creditcall, the payment gateway and EMV migration specialist, and T2 Systems, a technology-focused parking systems provider, have announced the availability of a single, unified, EMV-certified payments platform for the parking sector, designed to deliver omni-channel acceptance for unattended (self-service) and attended (in-store) payments. The companies said the solution incorporates an industry-leading 38 EMV-certified payment device and processor combinations, including the unattended Globalcom EMV chip card payment terminal BV1000, and is pre-certified with Chase Paymentech, Global Payments, Elavon and First Data, and the Ingenico terminal iPP 320 with the latter two.


TIBA Parking Systems has signed a new dealership agreement with Traffic Tech, designed to strengthen its business presence in the Australia. With its head office in Sydney, the latter company develops and manufactures vehicle detection systems, from access control to parking guidance. “Our vision is to be the premier parking equipment supplier in Australia,” said Jim Morris, Managing Director of Traffic Tech. “TIBA’s systems are designed to work in diverse conditions, with little to no maintenance, and this is what the Australian market expects.” TIBA CEO Moshe David said, “We are certain that, together with Traffic Tech, we will better serve our clients and continue to increase our global presence.


Parking at Riga International Airport in Latvia is now available through the ParkCloud network. Six miles west of Riga, it serves as a hub for Wizz Air, Ryanair and Latvian national carrier airBaltic. Located in the Mārupe municipality, the largest airport in the Baltic States has direct flights to 80 destinations in 30 countries. In related news, ParkCloud has announced a partnership with the Aberdeen Airport in Scotland, and now offers spaces at three carparks (Short Stay, Long Stay, and Park & Depart). Recent developments at the airport include the on-going $21-million extension to the main terminal building, with Phase 1 completion set for June, and the opening of a new off-site carpark.


Skyline Products, a leading transportation systems provider, has installed 10 new Skyline signs at Denver International Airport (DIA). The company said the custom-built signs and software solution will help manage parking traffic more effectively at the airport’s covered garages and support greater flexibility for parking operations in the future. The airport’s previous, aging sign system had reportedly become plagued by frequent malfunctions. Also, it was called technically obsolete, making maintenance inefficient and costly; procuring replacement parts had become nearly impossible.


Cryotech Deicing Technology, a division of General Atomics International Services Corp. of San Diego, has achieved certification to both ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015, making it among the top 10% of companies certified to the revised standards. The division, based in Fort Madison, IA, was audited in October 2016 by the BSI Americas and successfully upgraded its quality management system to the newest version of ISO 9001, the worldwide quality standard.


An institutional joint venture led by LA-based Stockdale Capital Partners has closed on the purchase of the 364-stall SoMa Grand Garage at 1160 Mission St. in San Francisco. The seller was a private individual. (The Registry: Bay Area Real Estate said public documents show the sale closed for $19,195,000 on Feb. 1, 2017.) Built in 2007 and located on one of the city’s most highly trafficked north-south arteries, the four-story garage sits at the base of the 264-residence SoMa Grand condominiums in the popular Mid-Market corridor. Stockdale Capital formed the partnership in September 2016 with the Grosvenor Group of London, a privately owned international property venture; and Ace Parking Management, based in San Diego. This is the venture’s first acquisition.


Yoshi Murakami has been named General Manager of the Thermal Printer Division — a globally recognized leader in the technology – of Seiko Instruments U.S.A. With Seiko since 1990, he has a “proven track record” of international sales success, the company said, and has played a “key role” in helping to increase its market share in both the mature and emerging markets.


 


Apriva, a leading provider of omni-channel payment solutions and secure mobile communications, and Parlevel Systems, an innovative leader for vending technology solutions, have announced the enhancement of the latter company’s one-stop-shop solution for vending operators through the support of campus cards. In this partnership with Apriva, Parlevel offers a full range of versatile hardware, equipment financing, flexible payment processing, campus processing and analytics tools – all powered by an easy-to-use vending management system for the food and beverage industry.


 


At an important time for automakers to control their digital dashboards, in-car experience and data,  INRIX, Inc.  announced partnerships with an additional 20 popular worldwide content providers to integrate their applications into the OpenCar platform. Newly formed agreements with Amazon Alexa, Audiobooks.com, Bookatable, Dash Radio, Dar.fm, Glympse, INRIX Traffic, Napster, Nest, NPR, ParkMe, Parkmobile, PayByPhone, Philips Hue, Rivet Radio, Slacker Radio, Stitcher, Wcities and Yelp will allow INRIX to deliver auto-grade versions of these applications on the OpenCar platform. INRIX recently announced Alexa will be the voice interface to a host of OpenCar services, including Amazon Music, Audible audiobooks, and INRIX Driver Services such as traffic, parking, incidents and road weather conditions. With this latest wave of content integration, INRIX OpenCar is uniquely positioned to revolutionize the digital dashboard by empowering automakers to control the connected car experience. Created to improve ease-of-use and safety of in-car apps, OpenCar is an open, white-label digital dashboard platform that is optimized for the driving experience. Automakers now have a scalable and customizable solution with brand-, model- and region-specific interfaces. The platform’s ability to scale application development is key to achieving the brand-consistent in-car experience the automotive industry needs, while delivering the content and services drivers want.


 


ID TECH, a global leader in payment-peripheral technology, and Worldnet, a leading provider of enterprise grade Omni-channel Payment solutions combine to provide EMV chip-card acceptance to cloud-based merchants, unattended kiosk manufacturers, retailers, and mobile merchants have received EMV certification through First Data.  The certification using the GoChip EMV SDK encompasses all the ID TECH’s products that incorporate the ID TECH Common Kernel. GoChip supports traditional POS as well as iOS and Android operating systems for mobile and tablet POS merchants and is available for Windows Desktop, Apple OS, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile 8.1 and Java.


 


The London Borough of Sutton has started their full replacement programme of their parking machines, upgrading them to METRIC Elite LS terminals via the ESPO framework. 143 new parking terminals are being installed across the borough in both on- and off-street locations. Most of the on-street terminals are now solar powered as the old mains-powered METRIC Accent terminals are phased out. Twenty new mains powered machines are being installed in high usage areas.In off-street locations, the Elite LS terminals will all have HD video screens to promote local retailers. These terminals will also be fitted with keypads for number plate entry for car parks.



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