magazine
36
Internet of Things
enhancements have brought noticeable
improvements to the Highways Agency
and its ability to deliver value for money
to the taxpayer.
“The tools we have available to us
now have halved the time it takes us
to test new equipment after a change
to the data or ahead of a major road
scheme ‘go-live’.We can quickly trial a
set-up, easily see whether each piece
of road-side equipment has been
configured correctly and verify the
impact a scheme will have on the rest of
the network,” he said.
“When we were testing the new
equipment for the M25’s new All Lanes
Running scheme, for example, it took
us around two weeks.Without the
enhancements that IPL has made to the
tools, it would have taken at least twice
as long.”
The graphical interface is not just
beneficial when setting up and testing
new equipment; it can also be used to
see what messages and speed limits
were in place at any given time. This is
helpful for those investigating incidents
and for employees manning the
Highways Agency Information Line, who
may have to answer questions from the
public about why certain speed limits
were imposed.
To enable these staff (and other
authorised individuals) to access the tool
more easily, IPL’s team is now working
on a secure web-based version of the
system that will remove the need for
installation on individual PCs.
Speeding up major schemes
Perhaps the biggest improvement of
all, however, will come as a result of a
further piece of work being developed by
IPL and other Highways Agency partners
to streamline the data entry process.
“We’re putting a lot more kit out on
the network and we need to make some
enhancements to speed up roll-out and
implementation,” explained Mead. “It’s
currently a sequential process: you do
one piece of equipment, then the next,
then the next. If you’ve got 10 changes
to make, you’ve got to do each one in
turn before you can do the testing – it
can’t be done in parallel.We’re working
on ways to do this in parallel, which will
shave significant time off any major road
scheme.”
IPL has been working with the
Highways Agency for 20 years and,
according to JoWhite, Highways Agency
team leader for the National Operational
Systems team, Traffic Technology
Division, it has had a disproportionate
effect on efforts to keep Britain moving.
“What we spend per annum on IPL
is minute in comparison to the Agency’s
major projects budget. The relative
benefit is huge: the work my team, IPL
and our other partners do is one of the
key enablers of the network running at
full capacity. Interestingly, my team’s
proportion of the budget of any major
scheme is typically around 1%, but
it’s the 1% that makes everything else
possible,” she said.
References
1 GROVE, J., (2013).Vehicle Licensing Statistics:
2012. Department of Transport. Available from:
2 HIGHWAYS AGENCY (2014). M25 Junctions 23-27:
Smart Motorway. Highways Agency. Available from:
...continued
The graphical
interface
is not just
beneficial
when setting
up and
testing new
equipment
Mailing
New franking tariffs strengthen case for
Mailmark technology
Neopost is encouraging businesses to acquire or upgrade to
new generation Mailmark franking technology, following the
introduction of new tariffs by Royal Mail.
On March 30, the price of a first class stamp went up by 1p to 63p
and the price of a second class stamp by 1p to 54p. The cost of a first
class Mailmark frank rose by 2p to 51p and the cost of a second class one
by 1p to 36p.
Under the new tariffs, franking machine users will enjoy discounts
on the price of a stamp of as much as 33% for a second class letter and
19% for a first class letter. Discounts for large letters are 15% and 18%
respectively.
With discounts of this size, a small business
sending as few as eight letters a day could
save money by switching from stamps to
franking, even when the machine rental
and supplies costs are taken into
account.
Many existing
franking machine
users would also
benefit from an
upgrade, due to
an increase in the price differential between franking machines that use
the old ‘town and crown’ die and new generation Mailmark devices that
apply an intelligent 2D barcode.
When Royal Mail introduced Mailmark last year it said it would always
be the best value option for franking. The new tariffs extend its price
advantage to as much as 3p for a second class letter (36p compared to
39p with a traditional franking machine).
Mailmark franking machines offer additional benefits including
automatic tariff updates and easy access to additional Royal Mail products
including a new Prepay Business Reply offering.
Smile, you’re on a stamp
Royal Mail has added eight new
1st Class stamps to its Smilers
stamps range.
The Smilers service allows customers
to personalise their post by adding their
own choice of photo next to a Smilers postage stamp.
The eight new Smilers stamps areWell Done, Mum, New Baby,
Wedding, Happy Birthday, Dad, Grandparent and Love. They join the
existing offering, which includes Thanks, Hello, Celebration, Teddy and a
range of national flags.
Personalised Smilers stamps are available in sheets of 10 or 20, with
prices starting at £10.20 for a sheet of 10 First Class stamps. They can be
ordered online at
or via a Smilers smartphone app.
