Q-Free calls on traffic signal companies to stop ‘stifling innovation’

Q-Free is challenging all traffic signal companies to release their management information bases (MIB) to speed up innovation and reduce agency costs.
November 15, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Q-Free says openly sharing MIBs enables multi-vendor solutions to work, giving departments of transportation the freedom to select the best solution for their needs - while avoiding being locked into a single vendor or paying integration fees. It is also expected to promote fair competition and prevent taxpayers from overpaying for transportation infrastructure, the company adds.

The challenge and accompanying campaign called FREE the MIBS (or #FREEtheMIBS), follows Q-Free’s decision to release their manufacturer-specific MIBs to the company’s award-winning Intelight Maxtime local controller software.

Tom Stiles, executive vice president of urban solutions for Q-Free brand Intelight, says: “Proprietary MIBs are stifling innovation and forcing agencies to spend unnecessary money to manage traffic efficiently. The only way to get truly smart cities is to open these MIBs up so all technology pieces can communicate with each other.”

For traffic signal operations, the MIBs are used to manage traffic signals through the external advanced transportation controllers (ATC) located in a cabinet on the roadside. Approximately 15-20% of the objects found in the MIBs for ATCs have been standardised by the NTCIP 1201 and 1202 standards, but the remaining 75-80% of the objects are manufacturer specific.

According to Q-Free, this limits interoperability between devices and systems from different vendors and impedes the customer from choosing the best available solutions from multiple vendors. Sharing MIBs freely between manufacturers and agencies can alleviate these problems and help rid streets of unnecessary congestion caused by a lack of choice, the company adds.

Stiles explains that being compliant with existing standards is not the same as being open.

“I understand the fear because you’ll no longer be able to lock cities down from a sales perspective,” he continues. “But our industry has lacked innovation for the last 15-20 years, and bigger tech companies will eat us all if we don’t work together to make ourselves more adaptive to the growing Internet of Things culture.”

As part of the campaign, a collaborative website has been unveiled along with an accompanying hashtag, #FREEtheMIBS.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • ERM bolsters StarLink telematics platform to improve car-sharing services
    April 2, 2019
    Israeli company ERM Advanced Telematics is improving its StarLink product to include add-ons which allow car-sharing companies to control and immobilise a vehicle to prevent unauthorised use. The StarLink telematics device serves as a foundation solution in which users can choose the DoorLock add-on or one of the company’s eCut immobilisation products. Called StarLink Tracker SF BT, the solution comes with Bluetooth communication as well as a driver behaviour feature. It uses sensors and Canbus inte
    Read More
  • Imtech brings ImFlow and ImCity solutions to Intertraffic
    March 24, 2014
    The Traffic & Infrastructure division of Imtech, the global, Netherlands-headquartered technical services and ICT company, is exhibiting a vast array of transport-related solutions and services from across Europe, North America and Brazil. This year’s exhibits demonstrate live projects from across the global business, from traffic management systems in Copenhagen and St. Petersburg to parking technology in Rio de Janeiro, tunnel solutions in Maastricht to telecommunications networks in Brussels. The company
    Read More
  • London comes first for public transport but suffers from congested roads, says Here Technologies
    November 30, 2018
    London has the best public transport system in the world - but the UK capital’s roads are among the most congested, says a new report. Here Technologies’ Urban Mobility Index ranked transit efficiency in 38 cities based on their public transport frequency, density and coverage as well as how public transport performs against car speed. Just behind London are Zurich, Toronto, Washington, DC and Stockholm. However, London was ranked 34th for congestion. The top five least-congested cities are: H
    Read More
  • Reflecting on the EU ITS action plan
    January 7, 2013
    How do national policy positions reflect key facets of the European Commission (EC) ITS Action Plan? How useful are memoranda of understanding (MoU) as association tools? How can associations attract more young people to work in ITS? Finding answers to these questions emerged as key challenges for 2013 at the Network of National ITS Association’s November 2012 meeting in Dublin. Commenting on its commitment to work with Ertico-ITS Europe in surveying national action plan stances, Network chair Jennie Mart
    Read More

Highlighted Content