Smart travelling
Adlershof is providing IT solutions in future mobility
Travelling today using a long-distance bus, chances are that you will use technology from the Adlershof-based IT company lesswire. Bus passengers can surf the internet using their laptop or smartphone without difficulty. The routers making this possible are produced by the Adlershof company lesswire. These black boxes don’t have much in common with off-the-shelf routers from the electronics store. Even when travelling at high speed, lesswire devices safely send the signal from the wireless hardware to the ultrafast LTE mobile network.
The magic word is “automotive-grade”. Ralph Meyfarth, founder and manager of lesswire, explains: “These devicehave to meet the high requirements of the automobile industry.” The routers have to be immune blows, dirt, and vibration. In China, lesswire routers are included in the standard equipment of Mercedes’ S-class series. More and more automakers will follow suit. Ralph Meyfarth sees the future of lesswire in so-called car2car or car2x communication solutions. “We entered that market very early on,” says Meyfarth. How will the vehicles of the future be communicating? On the one Hand on the one hand, with so-called roadside units along traffic routes. These send out information such as current weather or traffic warnings. On the other hand, cars will also communicate with each other. Vehicles ahead will be using a short-range wireless standard to warn approaching cars about dangers along the route – for example storms, fog, or accidents.
As part of the Quattron-Group, Adlershof-based IT company VinarIT is also active in future mobility. On behalf of Deutsche Bahn, VinarIT operates the document management of the train control systems for the new ICE express route from Berlin, via Leipzig, to Munich. Even decades after completion the VinarIT-system will detect any document fed into it in the course of developement. In case of accidents causes and responsibilities can quickly be identified. The route is scheduled to open in 2017.
In another project, the company is developing a pan-European ticketing system. The idea: future train passengers traveling all over Europe using just one universal electronic ticket. To be functional throughout Europe a completely new IT-infrastructure needs to be implemented. VinarIT’s precise involvement is still to be determined, says managing partner Micheal Zylla.
Above all, Zylla values the synergy effects produced on the Adlershof site. The IT company and member of the Quattron-Group has its headquarters in Rückersdorf near Nürnberg. He founded the Adlershof branch two years ago. “In Adlershof, many of our customers are close by – including Deutsche Bahn. So are universities. This is very important to us because we depend on skilled staff.”
By Mirko Heinemann for Adlershof Special
