Sybase to upgrade Chinese railway ticketing

Dec 18, 2007, 8:03 GMT

Bangalore, Dec 18 (IANS) Sybase, a leading provider of enterprise infrastructure and mobile software, will deploy its servers and programmes to revamp the ticketing and reservation system of China's massive railway network.

Connected by over 3,000 stations, China's railway system operates some 2,000 trains a day for over one billion passengers a year.

The country's railways have seen significant expansion in recent years and the Chinese railway ministry has decided to improve the quality and competitiveness of its multiple services.

Sybase Asia-Pacific vice-president Horace Chow said in a statement that the company's software programmes would upgrade the Chinese railway's ticketing system installed by it over a decade ago.

'As part of our un-wired enterprise vision, we are providing a comprehensive solution for higher return on investment, greater performance and scalability for the ministry,' Horace said.

The Chinese railway ministry has chosen Sybase's 'analytics' server to ensure rapid response to queries for train schedule planning and coordination.

The rail network handles huge passenger traffic during the Chinese New Year in February and summer months when millions travel across the country by train.

Designed as a data warehouse, the server enhances query performance by 100 times than the conventional version.

Similarly, Sybase's mirror activator makes the ticketing system more secure, stable and reliable.

Handling around 4.5 million ticket sales on peak days and 5,000 simultaneous purchases, the internal system is central to the rail network.

'The activator's multi-site disaster recovery architecture ensures the ticketing system will operate in the event of a system failure,' Horace pointed out.

Data updates are also replicated across the country with Sybase's replication server to provide backup for disaster recovery.

In addition to the slew of products, Sybase will also provide the ministry consulting and support services, including inspection during peak traffic and field support to ticket offices.

'The latest offering will strengthen our strategic partnership with Sybase by improving reliability and quality of the ticketing system with robust database management solutions and customised technical support for our vast rail network,' a ministry spokesperson affirmed.

As the leading enterprise software firm focussed on managing and mobilising information from a data centre to the point of action, the US-based, $900-million Sybase with software development in India's IT hub provides solutions to securely deliver information.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service