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Success Story: Datalight Keeps DPT Parking Meters Running Reliably

The Challenge

Digital Payment Technologies (DPT) is the leading producer of multi-space parking meters. The LUKE on-street and SHELBY off-street pay stations provide unmatched reliability and greater flexibility than any other parking meter. Because parking meters are typically placed in remote locations and many rely on solar power, it is extremely important that the stations be highly reliable and power-failure safe. Parking meter operators using standard meters run the risk of losing credit card transactions if the power fails or may suffer days of lost revenue waiting for a technician to be dispatched to fix meters that suffer software corruption due to power failure. In setting out to build a better meter, DPT knew the embedded system had to be as rugged and maintenance-free as possible.

The Datalight Solution

Initially, DPT’s engineering team discovered Datalight software when a problem with a flash memory component was diagnosed using FlashFX Pro validation tools. This, combined with the responsiveness of the Datalight support team, helped the DPT team move quickly through its development process. DPT was also pleased to be able to leave flash management concerns to Datalight’s 27 years of expertise, and instead focus on improving the functionality of its products. “Datalight software helped our engineering team increase their productivity tremendously,” said DPT Development Manager, Andrew Eastgaard. “Using the products allowed my team to focus on the features that set our meters apart from the competition, and their support team gave us almost instant response assistance when we needed it.” After learning the fault-tolerant attributes of the Reliance file system would protect transaction data from power failure, DPT decided to incorporate both FlashFX Pro and Reliance into its pay station design.

The Customer Payoff

The reliability that the Datalight flash file system adds to DPT’s parking meters makes the pay stations highly desirable to the municipalities and parking companies that need them. Not only does the software reduce maintenance costs and lost revenue due to machine downtime, Reliance prevents operators from losing credit card transactions when power fails.