HPE GreenLake empowers Auckland's public transport systems

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced that Auckland Transport has selected the company's GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform to deliver an artifical intelligence-enhanced video feed.

The intention is that this will optimise transport routes, promote public transportation and support decision-making for law enforcement.

Auckland Transport is responsible for the region's transport services including roads, footpaths, public transport and parking.

Its day-to-day activities keep Auckland's transport systems moving and works to address traffic congestion, encourage more people to use public transportation, and keep citizens safe on roads and in public spaces.

Previously, Auckland Transport used 2,500 cameras to monitor the city for safety issues, which created an ever-increasing amount of data.

On top of this, Auckland Transport was using ageing technology, and the ongoing costs of maintenance and outsourced management of the platform were significant. Overall, the expansive system was complex, difficult to upgrade and nearing its end of life.

Auckland Transport needed a cost-effective solution that would enhance productivity and automation as well as encourage more people to use public transport, which had been significantly disrupted with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Auckland Transport executive general manager business technology Roger Jones says, "We use the data to convert people to public transport. We know how long it takes to get from point A to point B by car and we let people know that they can get there twice as fast on the bus.

Auckland Transport transitioned its video management system (VMS) to the Qumulo File Data Platform on a HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10 server running on the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform, resulting in a 41% rack space reduction – from 68 rack units spread across three racks, to 40 rack units in two racks, HPE GreenLake Management Services monitor and operate its VMS.

With a VMS two-thirds of the size of the original footprint, Auckland Transport has achieved a 37% decrease in energy consumption and reduced power and cooling costs, without compromising the system's capacity to handle unstructured data in the exabyte realm.

The unified solution allows Auckland Transport to avoid upfront IT costs and enables customers to pay only for what is used, while an intuitive dashboard reports in real time transport flow, consumption and congestion rate, and compute and storage trends.

This data is vital for forecasting and planning to enable people to move seamlessly and safely around Auckland city. In addition, the new solution allows Auckland Transport to increase its camera usage, making parking officers' jobs more effective and efficient, the company states.

HPE NZ managing director Colin Henderson says, "We're excited to work with Auckland Transport and deliver a unified, cost-effective solution that uses AI to keep people safe and support their mobility.

Qumulo vice president of product Ben Gitenstein says, "This is a perfect example of the combined power of HPE Solutions with Qumulo. Our carefully selected configurations are optimised for price, performance, and capacity requirements to deliver unstructured file data at massive scale and unmatched performance.