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Success Stories - Red Funnel Ferries

Red Funnel is the 'Original Isle of Wight ferry operator' and now carries in excess of 2.7m passengers and 600,000 vehicles per annum on routes between Southampton (UK mainland) and East and West Cowes (Isle of Wight). The fleet consists of modern purpose built Ro-Ro vehicle ferries and Red Jet Hi-Speed passenger catamarans. Red Funnel came to Barcode-IT in 2001 looking for a Radio Frequency (RF) system to 'check in' passengers.

"We already ran a scanning solution on the dock side using old Norand narrow band radio terminals. These were becoming increasingly expensive to run and maintain due to equipment breakdown. We were looking for an up to date solution using the latest radio frequency technology. We contacted Barcode-IT who offered some practical advice and visited us to demonstrate the proposed equipment and it pretty much worked first time", says Matt Brander, IT Manager at Red Funnel Ferries

Application Overview

The portable wireless scanning system is used to 'check in' the passengers on the dockside before they board the ferry. Each ticket has a unique barcode which is scanned using a PSC Falcon 335 Radio Frequency Terminal. These are directly connected to Red Funnel’s central management system via a simple VT220 terminal emulation method. As the tickets are scanned, the system checks the validity of the ticket and records that the ticket has checked in for the sailing. The system is 'live' and communicates through a Radio Access Point mounted above the dockside offices which covers the loading area. The connection to Red Funnel’s system was easily achieved because the Falcon Range of Terminals emulates a standard UNIX terminal by running PowerNet Twin Client.

"Barcode-IT looked after us by providing sound practical advise and guiding us through the changeover from the old to the new terminals." Matt Brander concludes, "The replacement solution provided by Barcode-IT has definitely proved it’s worth. The Falcon terminals are much more reliable and we have made significant savings on equipment maintenance."

The system is still in place 3 years after it's initial implementation and Red Funnel continue to be supported by Barcode-IT for any maintenance that needs to be done to the products.

How it started

In July 2001 Red Funnel where looking to replace an old portable scanning solution with a more cost effective and modern solution. Matt Brander, IT Manager for the Red Funnel Group, contacted Barcode-IT through the web site.

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