RISE is cooperating with two major European rail-way companies as well as two developing countries bordering with EU, where public transportation has a high potential for growth. Several active pilots and R&D projects in the field of all-nation ticketing, electronic and mobile ticketing, homogeny IT-Infrastructure for contactless customer devices, handsets, vending machines and web-Clients have been developed. Acting as a sub-contractor for the global player T-System, RISE is currently implementing a project together with several other partners aiming to provide an innovative ticketing system using modern channels of communication for a large-scale European public transport operator. This project aims to replace the current distribution system of the national railways in stages over the next few years. The distribution system comprises not only the different distribution channels (internet, counter, ticket vending machine, MFT, call centres and travel agencies), but also the underlying systems (e.g. product definition system, offer system) and the necessary IT infrastructure. With the support of RISE, a system concept is developed that ensures the best possible availability, performance, and maximized simplicity of the operational management. RISE is significantly involved in planning and specification of the IT infrastructure. The focus also lies on a highly economical use of resources. RISE is involved in all relevant parts of the IT infrastructure planning and specification.

During specification and development RISE focuses especially on sophisticated usability of the product in order to satisfy the customer at his best. RISE acts as leading and consulting partner, when it comes to user interface design as well as software development. The project is mainly implemented by T-Systems, with the lead of T-Systems-Austria together with other strong Austrian players and will change the history of IT applications in transportation.

RISE documents its experience in Software Engineering in the recently published book „Softwaretechnik: Mit Fallbeispielen aus realen Entwicklungsprojekten" (Software Engineering: With Examples from Best Practice Projects). Software Engineering is the art, the handcraft and the industry to produce this expensive raw material - software. Implementation of software is a challenging task to complete projects successfully within a given time and budget frame.

The book is the basic framework for building robust software systems and provides a balanced view. It is a guideline how modern software development projects with the effort sizes from 12 person-months (for example a Web shop for local products) through 120 (eg operational management of a medium-sized company) to 1200 (eg savings and asset management of a large bank) are managed efficiently. The book is targeting students specializing in computer science, business, media, computer science, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, as well as students of other disciplines interested in software. The book is also useful for readers who are already in professional practice, trainee project managers or team members in software projects, or for readers who simply want to refresh their knowledge.

Thomas Grechenig, head of the author community, is a Professor of Software Technology and Interactive computer science at the Vienna University of Technology and has more than 25 years of industrial experience in implementation and outstanding references.

Erhältlich bei: Amazon, Pearson, Thalia, u. a.

On behalf of Austria's largest mobile network operator mobilkom austria and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) RISE planned and implemented a next generation ticketing solution. The solution based on the German standard for the electric ticket VDV-KA and thus guaranteed interoperability across the borders of Austria. Mobile applications for customers and train crew as well as necessary chipcard based applications and backend systems were developed.

Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, Marketing Board and CEO mobilkom austria AG, Telekom Austria TA AG explains: "Customers can order the tickets as usually. Using NFC mobile phones, the tickets are not distributed via SMS, but are stored in the secure element of the NFC mobile phone and can be validated with a single touch".
Mobile phones that are already equipped with NFC technology can be used for this simple and secure ticketing solution. NFC technology allows the transfer of data at close-range and speeds up the validation process of the tickets. Moreover, customers don't have to look up the tickets in the SMS inbox. "In addition tickets can't be lost and also can be validated if the battery of the phone is dead." said Mag. Gabriele Lutter, spokeswoman for the board of ÖBB- Passenger AG, with confidence that the new solution will also bring benefits to the rail way company.

"RISE again proves with this project its expertise in software technology and the reliability in the implementation and operation of a complex and highly integrated system. The developed platform has been certified by VDV - the first of its kind -- and thus reflects the innovative power of our team." Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Grechenig mentioned.

Beside technical project coordination, RISE was responsible for the development of the mobile as well as backend components. RISE integrated the new system into the systems of the mobile network operator as well as into the ticketing system of the railway company. In addition, RISE is responsible for the operation of the platform. The VDV-KA (core application) is the first application of this kind that has been approved and certified by the VDV GmbH.

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