Austrian Railways Control Their Operations with Matrox Extio KVM Extenders

Matrox Graphics has announced that transit solutions provider Arge VLZ has selected Matrox Extio KVM extenders to improve work efficiency and optimize working conditions at five Austrian Federal Railways headquarters.. Arge VLZ has equipped more than 100 jobs in Innsbruck, Salzburg, One, Villach and Linz with Extio F2408 and Extio F2408E Expander units, which has allowed them to control each other 8 y 10 monitors at a distance of up to 180 m independent employees and their desktop computers from their noise and heat-emitting workstations.

Austrian Federal Railways, ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways), has installed Matrox Extio to enable remote desktops of up to 10 monitors and thus improve the management of operations. ÖBB already automates rail traffic over distances of more than 5000 km. Interposing hundreds of meters between employees' offices and their computers to improve the performance of operations throughout the system has been a successful measure that has been simplified by the use of Matrox Extio F2408 KVM extenders.

Solution provider Arge VLZ was initially contracted, Austrian market leader in traffic monitoring, to take care of ÖBB's remote computing needs. The task that was posed (optimize the workplace of ÖBB employees and minimize heat emissions and background noise, while maximizing desktop space) era, at least, a technological challenge. For the task of equipping more than 100 offices of five offices with a high-performance external solution, Arge VLZ did not hesitate to select Matrox Extio.

The challenge

Encouraged by its announced desire to advance the race towards the European and pan-European train control systems standard, ÖBB set out to win in high technology, in confidence and, of course, in security. From that moment, The constant development and digitalization of ÖBB has motivated a growing demand for improvements in transport control and supervision, as well as a resulting centralization of operations.

Five central offices (located in Innsbruck, Salzburg, One, Villach and Linz) They took command of operations in each of their respective regions in accordance with this new mandate. Each one is equipped with 20-60 offices within 9 open design offices, installed for maximum employee comfort.

With that goal in mind, The decision was made to enable operators to work from their offices with extended computer systems running Linux Red Hat Version 6.2 and Aramis software (advanced railway automation information and management system). Such a decision was an attempt to increase the work space, reduce background noise and improve IT maintenance capabilities. ÖBB then entrusted Arge VLZ to make this dream work environment a reality..

The solution

Already present in several ÖBB offices, Matrox M-Series multi-display graphics cards had been installed to give operators more screen space. Nevertheless, Arge VLZ was asked to separate each personal computer (of a total of 110) from your corresponding desk to mitigate noise, the heat, drafts and safety issues.

To meet these requirements, Arge VLZ found a trusted resource in Matrox with the Extio F2408 KVM extenders, that separate the keyboard, the mouse, audio peripherals and up to four monitors of a given system from the rest of the equipment at a distance of up to 1km. At the same time, The ability to combine two PCIe interface cards with two Extio F2408 units and then upgrade each with Extio F2408E Expander quad-monitor expansion unit provides support for up to 16 monitors from a single system. Support for a wide variety of Linux and Windows operating systems also provides users with added flexibility.

Besides, Extio makes it easy to centralize all systems in a secure, independent location, as it provides ÖBB with the ideal opportunity to improve its current IT maintenance levels. Extio uses fiber optic cable, which is a key element, since all wired connections require resistance to electromagnetic interference. According to the project director, Eckart Engel, by Arge VLZ, All these features are what differentiate Extio from the competition. “Electromagnetic interference has always been a problem for railway traffic”, states. “Extio is the appropriate solution due to its resistance to all types of interference thanks to its fiber optic infrastructure and its modularity., its form factor, its power input and its compatibility with Linux operating systems.” If all these factors were taken into account, including the security mentioned above, heat and noise problems, as well as profitability, It was clear to Arge VLZ that Extio was the right solution for ÖBB.

The result

In each of the 103 operator workstations in question were installed 1 o 2 Extio drives and an Extio Expander to control multi-display remote desktops from 4 a 10 monitors (that were being executed at resolutions of 1280 x 1024) at distances up to 180 m of workstations. The results, according to Engel, have more than met the general objectives of the project.

“We have reduced the user's environmental stress, which translates into less noise, less heat and more work space by avoiding local servers and workstations in operator offices”, declare, also noting that the extended desktop space of each workstation is another great additional plus for users. The resulting productivity improvements also benefit ÖBB as an entity and the countless passengers who travel daily on the rail system..