Parvus Equips Wasatch Front UTA Commuter Buses With Mobile Broadband Internet
Parvus Corporation recently announced that the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has launched a free wireless Internet service for its entire fleet of over-the-road commuter buses, which has now been equipped with Parvus' RiderNet mobile access point technology. UTA operates 60 express route coaches that serve approximately 5,000 passengers commuting daily to and from Davis, Weber, Salt Lake, Tooele, and Utah counties.
Parvus and UTA concluded a successful Wi-Fi pilot in 2007 on four of UTA's Ogden express route buses. After a public bid in November 2007, UTA awarded Parvus with a contract to provide passenger Wi-Fi equipment and installation for 60 additional buses, as well as ongoing remote system monitoring, content filtering, and 1-800 user phone support services.
"Utah Transit Authority chose Parvus not only because of it being an industry leader in passenger Wi-Fi, but also because of the high level of service and support," said UTA Technology Deployment Project Manager Kyle Brimley. "Parvus has demonstrated experience with other transit properties around the nation and offers comprehensive management and reporting tools that enable UTA to deliver reliable Internet service to our patrons."
As part of its contract, Parvus also provides UTA with advanced wireless functionality for its fleet operations to download route and schedule adherence data from each bus' onboard computer using the same Wi-Fi router and roof antenna as for passenger Wi-Fi. Upon returning to the bus yard, each wireless router equipped with Parvus DepotLink™ software becomes a wireless download system as it detects and authenticates with UTA's bus garage network. This multi-purpose use of a single Wi-Fi system eliminates the need for multiple antennas or wireless equipment and is a first of its kind in the transit industry. "UTA's requirements for this project were very challenging. As a technology leader in public transit, they demand only the best from their suppliers," said Parvus Director of Transportation Programs Andrew Hunt. "We are honored to have been selected to work on this project with such a forward-looking transit authority."
RiderNet3 ("RiderNet cubed") is Parvus' third-generation transit Wi-Fi solution for implementing high-speed Internet access onboard mass transit vehicles (bus, train). The product uses an EV-DO Revision A cellular backhaul from Sprint's Power Vision network, delivering typical download speeds of 450-800 kbps. Passengers can connect to the Internet using laptop computers, cellular phones, PDAs, or other Wi-Fi enabled devices as they ride to their destinations. Parvus is part of the Eurotech Group, which has a long history in the traffic and public transportation field, providing vehicle communication, location tracking, and video surveillance systems, as well as mobile internet access points and passenger counting devices. Parvus products can be found at a variety of public transit authorities nationwide, including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency, New Jersey Transit Authority, Foothill Transit, Monterey-Salinas Transit, Santa Cruz Metro, Utah Transit Authority, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, among others.
About Parvus
Parvus Corporation is a leading provider of rugged hardware platforms to the military, transportation, homeland security and medical device industries. We specialize in rugged mobile networking solutions, displays, and embedded computer technologies for demanding real world applications. Parvus was founded in 1983 and is the US arm of the Eurotech Group, a world leader in pervasive computing with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.ridernet3.com or www.parvus.com.
SOURCE: Parvus Corporation