Large-Scale Transit Authority Tracks Train Fare Processing Issue With NETSCOUT
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- nGeniusONE® Service Assurance platform
- NETSCOUT® Certified InfiniStreamNG® software appliances
- Packet Flow Operating System (PFOS) Software for Certified PFS 5010
Tech Stack
- Network Monitoring
- Packet Analysis
- Data Center Infrastructure
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
Applicable Industries
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases
- Public Transportation Management
Services
- System Integration
- Testing & Certification
About The Customer
The customer in this case study is a North American transit authority responsible for transporting more than 175 million passengers by rail and 120 million passengers by bus every year. The authority relies on the performance of the rail and bus infrastructure and their committed personnel to transport residents and travelers to their offices, schools, appointments, and other local destinations. The authority’s trains travel across more than 100 miles of track, and they manage a fleet of 1,000+ buses. The transit authority is not merely a “nice-to-have” travel option for local ridership. Geography, population density, financial, and regional roadway congestion all combine to position trains and buses as a singular travel option for many riders on a day-in, day-out basis.
The Challenge
The North American transit authority was facing a fare processing issue that was impacting the ability for riders to automatically “re-load” their fare payment cards at station kiosks. This problem was causing inconvenience to the riders and was affecting the reputation of the transit authority. The IT team was unable to identify the root cause of the issue due to lack of visibility into the fare system’s financial application and underlying technology. The IT team was looking for a solution that would improve network visibility and real-time application monitoring, while extending the value of their legacy IT toolsets.
The Solution
The IT team used a NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG (ISNG) appliance to provide packet captures used by the nGeniusONE performance analytics platform to troubleshoot the issue. The nGeniusONE solution identified the specific blade in an 18-blade router chassis that was dropping a few network packets per every million packets processed, which was causing the problem with the fare payment service. After the success of the NETSCOUT solution in addressing the fare payment issue, the transit authority moved forward with their strategic visibility project, which included deployment of software-based ISNG data sources and packet brokers. NETSCOUT’s software-based approach met the agency’s cost containment guidelines, enabling IT to deploy ISNG Smart Visibility appliances and nGenius Packet Flow Operating System (PFOS) Software at primary and secondary data center locations, improving performance reliability and redundancy of the transit authority’s real-time monitoring solution.
Operational Impact
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