NCP prepares for the future with new, easier to use parking equipment
At the end of July 2010, Oswald Street multi-storey car park in Glasgow began operation with entervo, the parking management system from Scheidt & Bachmann. This project is the first of many with National Car Parks Ltd. (NCP) as part of a long term strategic partnership which will secure the competitiveness of the UK market leader.
The installation of entervo marks the start of a comprehensive innovation process at NCP. The company has not only changed over to the modern, future orientated equipment from Scheidt & Bachmann but has also consciously chosen the environmentally friendly and low maintenance ChipCoin technology. Besides this, it is also offering its customers a secure payment method with Chip&PIN where the credit transaction is only authorised online at the credit institute after the PIN has been entered.
Alongside the green environmental aspects, the ChipCoin technology also offers many further benefits for the company: in contrast to the paper ticket, the ChipCoins can be used many times which saves not only operational costs but also simplifies the logistics and administration of the car park.
However, it is the production time of a ChipCoin at the entrance which represents an added value for the visitor. Thanks to the innovative entervo technology which enables a pre-coding of the ChipCoins, it is now possible to reduce production and issue of the short term parking identification medium by 60 % compared to the traditional barcode or magnetic strip technology. This, in turn, enables considerably quicker entry into the multi-storey car park.
This is a considerable benefit particularly in busy car parks where it can help prevent a backlog e.g. in shopping centres or at sites with structural limitations with regards to the number of entrances. The Oswald Street multi-storey car park in Glasgow is a prime example of this. The car park is in Glasgows centre and has a through access to the main train station. This leads to a high visitor frequency with short term parking. However, the car park only has one entrance due to structural reasons.
With the change to entervo, NCP is also transferring to an innovative IT environment: the installation is possible even without a local parking management server. The car park is connected by internet to NCP in London but even here you will not find a dedicated computer for Oswald Street. NCP is focussing on virtualisation with VMWare with the aim of increasing availability of the server systems and reducing operational costs. The entervo parking management system has been incorporated into this virtualised IT infrastructure. By using the entervo web client technology, NCP employees can access the parking management system from anywhere in the world. The help buttons on all pay machines are supported 24 hours a day by customer services at the National Operations Centre (NOC) in London.
Alongside the green environmental aspects, the ChipCoin technology also offers many further benefits for the company: in contrast to the paper ticket, the ChipCoins can be used many times which saves not only operational costs but also simplifies the logistics and administration of the car park.
However, it is the production time of a ChipCoin at the entrance which represents an added value for the visitor. Thanks to the innovative entervo technology which enables a pre-coding of the ChipCoins, it is now possible to reduce production and issue of the short term parking identification medium by 60 % compared to the traditional barcode or magnetic strip technology. This, in turn, enables considerably quicker entry into the multi-storey car park.
This is a considerable benefit particularly in busy car parks where it can help prevent a backlog e.g. in shopping centres or at sites with structural limitations with regards to the number of entrances. The Oswald Street multi-storey car park in Glasgow is a prime example of this. The car park is in Glasgows centre and has a through access to the main train station. This leads to a high visitor frequency with short term parking. However, the car park only has one entrance due to structural reasons.
With the change to entervo, NCP is also transferring to an innovative IT environment: the installation is possible even without a local parking management server. The car park is connected by internet to NCP in London but even here you will not find a dedicated computer for Oswald Street. NCP is focussing on virtualisation with VMWare with the aim of increasing availability of the server systems and reducing operational costs. The entervo parking management system has been incorporated into this virtualised IT infrastructure. By using the entervo web client technology, NCP employees can access the parking management system from anywhere in the world. The help buttons on all pay machines are supported 24 hours a day by customer services at the National Operations Centre (NOC) in London.
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