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Big Blue to build and maintain a core information infrastructure Hong Kong.IBM has won a contract from the government to design, build and maintain the core information infrastructure for the city's land-transport industry. The Transport Department last week announced it had awarded the contract to IBM subsidiary IBM China/Hong Kong after years of planning the development of an advanced Transport Information System (TIS). The deal includes a one-off cost of about US$4.7 million for devising and implementing the TIS in 18 months and an annual recurrent cost of US$300,000 for maintaining it over 10 years. Government planners envisage the TIS as a Web-based departmental portal for real-time collection, analysis and dissemination of a range of transport and traffic data in Hong Kong. It is to be commissioned next year. The guts of the TIS will run key IBM software technologies, including its DB2 database, WebSphere application server, Tivoli systems management and Lotus collaboration programs. The project will also involve mapping-systems specialist Intergraph, which will link its GeoMedia technology to the IBM platform. IBM Global Services will be responsible for the subsequent system maintenance for 10 years. "The Transport Department is setting an example in the region in the digitisation of transport information," said Kitty Wong, IBM China/Hong Kong's client manager for public-sector business. "The TIS will lay the foundation for Hong Kong's Intelligent Road Network initiative, as it has been designed to enable other applications, such as logistics, to be built around it." The system will be made available on the Internet from a central data warehouse. Access will be restricted to departments with operational need for the data, such as the Highways Department, police force and Fire Services Department. Public transport operators will also be able to access some data from the TIS for better route planning and scheduling. It is expected to improve response and communications during emergencies to prevent traffic chaos. "There is a vast amount of traffic and transport data collected and disseminated regularly," a Transport Department spokesman said. The data includes information such as traffic turning and stopping restrictions, public transport routes, fares and schedules, and real-time information such as traffic congestion, road blockages and temporary traffic diversions. The TIS will be carried out in two phases. Phase one will provide a consolidated database of transport and traffic information for the Transport Department by the middle of next year. The second phase, to be completed late next year, will cover the integration of the department's existing computer and communications systems, and the development of data analysis, workflow and document management modules to support other government departments and authorised service providers. Government planners will also use the TIS as a platform for a new Public Transport Information Service. Initially, the public will be able to access transport data such as bus and rail schedules, routing details and the location of stops by clicking their departure points and destinations on a digital map. Eventually, the TIS is expected to enable the public to search for optimum routes based on distance, cost or number of interchanges. Motorists will be able to search the system for their shortest driving routes. To generate revenue, the government hopes to sell data from the TIS to private-sector companies such as transport and logistics firms. This project is the second big government contract secured by IBM in Hong Kong this year. In January, IBM was chosen to build a US$10 million information system that will automate and simplify the Immigration Department's border control management. It will begin operations next year.Source: South China Morning Post