Veea Systems to Unveil On-Board Wireless Network and Computing Platform for Trains at InnoTrans 2018

Monday, September 10, 2018

SmartRail VeeaHub Makes Trains Smarter with Mesh Wi-Fi, Offline Passenger Content Network, Train Monitoring and Staff Applications

Bath, UK & Berlin, Germany – 10th September 2018 – Veea Systems, the company delivering business-ready solutions at the network edge, today launched SmartRail VeeaHub, an on-board ‘Edge’ Computing and mesh Wi-Fi platform for trains. It allows operators to deliver connectivity to both passengers and staff, as well as delivering multi-media entertainment, staff communications and engineering monitoring applications, even when the train has no connection to the internet. The deployment-ready platform is being publicly demonstrated for the first time at InnoTrans, the international trade fair for transport technology.

As smart transportation changes the way passengers travel, the need for reliable connectivity to facilitate a new era of services for transit agencies and travelers has become ever more urgent. From ongoing maintenance and staff communication, to streaming media content servers and advanced CCTV functionality; the opportunities are endless. The SmartRail VeeaHub – which brings together distributed computing, state-of-the-art communications and a virtualized application environment -provides localized mesh network connectivity across all rail carriages. This allows a new class of business, safety and passenger applications to be deployed and operated simultaneously at the Edge without any backhaul connection.

The solution combines the installation of a number of VeeaHub Edge Servers to create a secure mesh network together with local storage and processing. The system has been designed and certified for deployment on a UK rail passenger vehicle, with an initial preloaded set of applications, targeted at the rail industry. Able to operate with an intermittent backhaul connection to the Internet, applications will be able to provide useful functions during travel, even when in tunnels or cellular signal blackspots. Veea Systems have used open interfaces to encourage application development by third parties and the fostering of a wider ecosystem to build upon this foundation of connectivity.

“As connectivity has become ubiquitous travelers demand the provision of services throughout their journey regardless of whether the train is in a cellular blackspot. At the same time train operators are looking to update legacy rolling stock with technology for train engineering monitoring and staff communications tools,” said Alan E Jones, CEO of Veea Systems. “VeeaHub SmartRail allows train operators to deploy just a few devices per carriage which create a self-managing network, sharing all storage and compute processing power. This delivers improved wireless coverage and a platform for a wide range of exciting services to both improve the passenger experience and make life easier and safer for on-board train staff.”

The VeeaHub SmartRail has been selected by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) and InnovateUK to receive grant funding to demonstrate an edge computing solution for use on board trains with the UK ROSCO, Angel Trains. The ongoing joint project, which is part of the wider £3.5M DfT programme, First of a Kind: Demonstrating Tomorrow’s Trains Today, utilizes the VeeaHub to deliver a wide variety of applications for train operators and passengers.

“Digital technologies are key to providing improved experiences for both passengers and train operators around the globe,” said Euan Smith, Head of Product Management at Angel Trains. “We are proud to be partnered with Veea Systems in developing their technology for the UK rail market, and believe our first deployments of the technology will demonstrate the significant benefits edge computing offers for the rail industry.”

Veea will be demonstrating the new product at InnoTrans 2018 in Berlin at Hall 6.1 Booth 116 along with a range of other vertical-specific market applications.

About Veea Systems
Veea Systems (formerly Virtuosys) is changing the economics and efficiency of edge computing. Its revolutionary Edge Application Platform is a complete end-to-end hardware and software platform that not only brings high performance distributed computing close to the edge but is designed to support multiple applications running simultaneously. This highly secure, easy-to-deploy, self-healing platform brings together distributed computing, state-of-the-art communications with a multitude of wireless, wired and IoT communications and virtualized application environments, creating a hyper-converged edge with a price-performance advantage. 
www.veea.com

About Angel Trains
Angel Trains is one of Britain’s leading train leasing companies and has been an owner and lessor of rolling stock since 1994. The company leases to 18 franchised operators and two open access operators in the UK. Angel Trains is passionate about financing and delivering high quality, modern assets to its customers and is committed to working with the Government, the Rail Delivery Group (“RDG”) and other stakeholders to provide innovative funding solutions to modernize and improve the UK’s train fleet. Angel Trains has invested £5.0 billion in new rolling stock and refurbishment programmes since 1994 and is one of the largest private investors in the industry. 
www.angeltrains.co.uk

For media inquiries to Veea Systems please contact:
Temono PR 
Ed Howson 
Tel: +44 (0)7740 173 051 
Email: ed.howson@temono.com

For media inquiries to Angel Trains please contact: 
Grayling PR 
Annabelle Duke 
Tel: +44 (0)20 3861 3923