Post on 28-Jun-2020
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LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION
146 EMPLOYEES
BENEFITS
• Improved competitive
advantage with an innovative,
cost-effective IoT offering
• Achieved greater reliability
and improved support with
open source solutions
• Gained revenue opportuni-
ties by adding a SaaS model
that can help the company
add new customers
SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®
Red Hat JBoss® Fuse
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise
Application Platform
Red Hat Consulting
Genfare has been a leader in transit payment solutions since 1880, when it developed the first
mechanical farebox for public transportation systems. But as the fare-collection industry has
moved rapidly to digitization, Genfare realized it needed to transition from a hardware company
to a software company. To achieve this, the company needed to replace its fare-collection solu-
tion with a multitenant hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering and take full advantage of
Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Genfare partnered with Red Hat to accomplish these goals.
With help from Red Hat Consulting, the company deployed a new platform based on Red Hat
solutions. As a result, Genfare gained new revenue opportunities, as well as improved reliability
and support for its offerings.
HEADQUARTERS
“Innovation is when you take an idea, cultivate it, and make the world a better
place. Genfare and Red Hat were able to take an idea and create a world that is better for
riders across the US and Canada.”
DARREN DICKSON
PRESIDENT, GENFARE
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY
GENFARE QUICKLY EVOLVES FROM HARDWARE TO SOFTWARE WITH RED HAT
2redhat.com CUSTOMER CASE STUDY Genfare quickly evolves from hardware to software with Red Hat
KEEPING PACE WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Genfare has been a leader in transit payment solutions since 1880, when it developed the first
mechanical farebox for public transportation systems. But its legacy back-end systems have
not kept up as the equipment has evolved, and Genfare wanted to offer new solutions transit
agencies are seeking — such as more robust reporting, incorporation of new features integrated
with the backend, mobile payments, and real-time analytics. “We had come to be viewed as an
old-school hardware manufacturer,” said Darren Dickson, president of Genfare. “We needed to
change our image in the industry and transition from a device-centric organization to a software-
centric organization. We wanted transit agencies to view us as a technology partner instead of a
hardware manufacturer.”
Another challenge Genfare faced was fulfilling a broad range of needs for customers of all sizes.
Small and mid-sized transit agencies often adopt new technology gradually due to budget con-
straints compared to larger operators. Genfare wanted to help them cost-effectively provide compet-
itive payment options — from smart cards to ticketing on mobile devices.
“As cities grow, people need to be able to go from their houses to work without sitting in traffic for an
hour and a half. If public transportation doesn’t keep pace with digitization, the amount of conges-
tion that will happen will be overwhelming,” said Dickson. “Without companies like Genfare helping
public transportation keep pace, the industry will not be able to survive in the long term.”
DEPLOYING A MODERN FARE MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
To meet shifting industry demands, Genfare developed Genfare Link, a cloud-based platform for fare
management that takes advantage of Internet of Things technology by supporting a wide variety of
fare media — including smart cards, magnetic stripe tickets, and smartphones. This solution also lets
agencies manage fare collection, customer service, inventory, and equipment for multiple modes of
transportation through a web-based interface.
To create Genfare Link, Genfare turned to Red Hat Consulting to gain the extensive experience it
needed to quickly, efficiently launch its new IoT solution. Red Hat consultants quickly helped the
company select and integrate products. In addition, Red Hat consultants supplied best practices,
frameworks, and delivery approaches, working closely with Genfare’s delivery teams throughout the
implementation process.
Genfare Link is built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat JBoss Fuse, and Red Hat JBoss Enterprise
Application Platform. All central data-processing functions reside in a virtual private cloud hosted by
Amazon Web Services (AWS), allowing Genfare to gain the many benefits of not having to set up and
maintain its own datacenters.
With JBoss Fuse, Genfare can take full advantage of IoT technology. The lightweight, flexible inte-
gration platform conducts real-time monitoring, in addition to collecting data from remote devices
and fareboxes and sending it to a central cloud platform. JBoss Enterprise Application Platform lets
Genfare quickly develop and deploy applications. Both are based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, a plat-
form that provides a stable yet flexible foundation.
“With our Red Hat platform, we now have
the reliability and high availability we need to handle our
increasing volume of transactions. We also
have the ability to scale out to serve many
different customers. It’s a comprehensive, end-to-end solution.”
TIM GIOMETTI
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, GENFARE
3redhat.com CUSTOMER CASE STUDY Genfare quickly evolves from hardware to software with Red Hat
In addition, Red Hat Consulting designed, implemented, and integrated infrastructure, middleware,
and production support systems, based on a multiregion AWS architecture. Using best practices,
tools, and techniques, Red Hat consultants designed an easy-to-maintain, scalable, and highly
repeatable cloud platform that serves as a foundation for Genfare’s future growth.
“By partnering with Red Hat, all of the tools and resources were immediately available to Genfare
to begin the development of the project,” said Tim Giometti, director of engineering at Genfare.
“This saved us valuable upfront time and eliminated the need for our proof of concept stage in the
development process. With Red Hat’s experience in the deployment of the AWS framework, our IT
infrastructure was created at an accelerated rate.”
The new platform not only meets Genfare’s current needs, but also provides the flexibility
and scalability to meet constantly evolving needs in the future. In addition, Red Hat Consulting
provided training to help Genfare’s IT teams successfully manage the new platform and its related
Red Hat technology.
“We were trying to solve how to efficiently and effectively allow multiple payment options to exist in
the marketplace and how to create an environment for future technologies that aren’t even possible
yet,” said Dickson. “So Red Hat, from an architecture and design perspective, has helped us take the
approach of an architecture that will allow us to plug in these technologies whenever they exist.”
GAINING A FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS
INNOVATIVE IMPROVEMENTS
Today, Genfare technicians have to service fareboxes manually and update software on-site. Working
with Red Hat, Genfare created a management solution that quickly pushes software updates to fare-
boxes via the cloud. Web-based tools let transportation agencies easily configure and manage their
systems independently. The solution also includes intuitive dashboards that provide transit agencies
with real-time data on ridership, revenue, and maintenance status. In addition, the system is compli-
ant with the industry’s Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Genfare’s hardware — including equipment on buses and trains and ticket vending machines on
sidewalks — is now connected via a modern IoT infrastructure. Communication between fareboxes,
point-of-sale systems, ticket vending machines, and back-end systems is provided by a set of
common services.
“The field device communication and coordination embodies our approach to the Internet of Things
within the transit industry, providing our customers an invaluable real-time view into the state of
their transit system,” said Dickson.
The new solution lets Genfare not only provide improved services to customers, but also provide
services faster to more customers.
4redhat.com CUSTOMER CASE STUDY Genfare quickly evolves from hardware to software with Red Hat
“Using the Red Hat platform, the high level of system availability and reliability being demanded by
our clients can be met versus the traditional model used in the industry,” said Giometti. “The level of
transaction volume was also becoming an increasingly difficult area to manage, and the scalability
and flexibility of this new approach allows for a comprehensive beginning-to-end solution.”
BETTER SUPPORT — FOR GENFARE AND ITS CUSTOMERS
A key to Genfare’s success is its long-term hardware support. Genfare provides the parts and support
needed to keep customers’ equipment running — even for hardware platforms developed more than a
decade ago. With Genfare Link, the company can deliver this same level of service to users of its new
software solutions, helping Genfare provide back-end support for new and enhanced capabilities.
Using open source solutions from Red Hat, Genfare can take advantage of reliable software that
is supported by both Red Hat and the open source community. The open source code included in
Red Hat products is thoroughly vetted and debugged by the open source community, resulting in
greater stability and fewer issues. By building its offerings using enterprise-ready open source
software from Red Hat, Genfare can pass this stability on to its customers.
NEW REVENUE OPPORTUNITIES
Using its new highly flexible, reproducible multitenant platform, Genfare can rapidly provision and
scale environments — for example, reshaping infrastructure quickly for branded customer demos.
New agencies can be added faster using a structured onboarding process.
The modular design of Genfare Link lets the company provide capabilities that meet each transit
agency’s needs, from agencies operating complex systems with thousands of vehicles to small,
regional providers with a fleet of few dozen. Genfare Link’s modular architecture also lets the
company offer more flexible, feature-based subscription options, as well as new pricing structures
tailored to the needs of customers of all sizes.
“We’re providing a customizable, easy-to-access, full-featured fare-collection solution,” said
Dickson. “We’re making modern technology affordable to transit providers with widely diverse
needs and resources.”
By helping customers reduce their IT support, on-premise hosting, and operational costs, the
platform gives Genfare an advantage over its competitors. And by offering Genfare Link as a
managed SaaS solution, the company not only can introduce new modules and components that
are immediately available for sales teams to offer to customers, but also has gained a new revenue
model and business strategy.
“With the help of Red Hat, we’ve developed a cloud offering that transforms not only our business
from equipment-based to SaaS-based but allows us to give our industry something new,” said Dickson.
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CONTINUING ON A ROAD OF INNOVATION
For almost a century and a half, Genfare has delivered industry-leading hardware. Now, the
company can lead the industry in software as well. With the Genfare Link platform, the company can
supply software solutions to the transportation market. And the platform helps Genfare’s customers
reduce costs and maintenance while supporting multiple payment options for riders.
“We’re able to provide a better level of expertise and service on a smaller budget for our transit cus-
tomers,” said Dickson. “And their riders are able to take advantage of world-class transit technologies.”
Genfare has incorporated the agile delivery approach used by Red Hat Consulting into its other
in-house development projects as well. “Red Hat helped us incorporate an agile software delivery
approach to this product, allowing us to slowly build up our entire platform versus one piece at a
time,” said Giometti. “Using Red Hat Consulting and their technology, we were able to quickly
react, almost real-time, to issues discovered. This broke us away from the typical batch and queue
methodology to a lean approach in software development. Our release cycles accelerated while our
defect rates went down at the same time.”
With support and products from Red Hat, Genfare has changed its industry. “Innovation is when
you take an idea, cultivate it, and make the world a better place,” said Dickson. “Genfare and Red Hat
were able to take an idea and create a world that is better for riders across the US and Canada.”
ABOUT GENFARE
Genfare provides smart fare solutions to transit agencies throughout North America. It specializes
in solutions that allow for manageable updates and expansions, making the transition to new operat-
ing systems, hardware, and fare media quicker and easier. Genfare currently processes more than 3
billion transactions annually.
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY Genfare quickly evolves from hardware to software with Red Hat