Company profile: Q-Free ASA

Q-Free is a Norwegian based company established in 1984 and with Headquarters in Trondheim and Oslo. With offices in most European countries, Asia, Australia and Americas, Q-Free is positioned as a world leading supplier of ITS flexible solutions which go from Road Side Infrastructure and Mobile Units for payment transactions to System design and Software development for transaction development.

Q-Free's technology has been developed in Trondheim, Norway, one of the world's major technology centres of excellence and home to Norway's most important university for technology and science, NTNU.

For over 20 years we have been supplying Road User Charging (RUC) solutions to governments and highway agencies worldwide. Our solutions for RUC and congestion charging, have come from growing customer demands for state-of-the-art efficient payment solutions and from government based initiatives for relieving congestion and pollution issues.

We are constantly striving to improve and enhance our technology and services, offering even more streamlined and tailored solutions to our clients. This will result in reduced congestion, reduced pollution and greatly increased financial returns on investments in roads. Our aim is to be the most important player in the global strategy to improve traffic flow.

In the world today, people are always eager to improve their quality of life and to make time for themselves wherever possible. Q Free can positively contribute to this, by providing the most advanced solutions for Road User Charging to clients, so that they can deliver these benefits to their own customers.

Q-Free has delivered the national tolling systems for Norway and Portugal as well as installed the congestion charging technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Q-Free systems have also been installed in cities in Greece, Australia, Croatia and Chile.

During 2008 the company has further enhanced its position as a preferred supplier in an industry that is just starting the transition from innovation to growth. Going forward Q-Free will continue to leverage on its current position within the RUC market to become an even greater global player that brings unique value to its customers.

Recently Q-Free acquired the Netherlands based company Dacolian. Dacolian was established in 1999 and concentrates its activities on the design of recognition software for the traffic and transportation market. This acquisition strengthens Q-Free’s position as a leading company within road user charging.

Think globally and act locally is the Q-Free way, and this attitude is appreciated by customers globally. Acting locally requires local presence in the targeted markets and Q-Free has in 2008 continued to increase its footprint globally through a stronger sales force and local operational organization dedicated to customer care functions. Over the years the company has seen that it has brought considerable value to its customers through local presence. In addition to it’s headquarter in Norway, Q-Free is currently present in 17 countries and this number is expected to grow in the near future. Countries where Q-Free has local presence in addition to Norway includes France, UK, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Australia, Turkey, Sweden Chile and Brazil.

The products, solutions and services that we offer our customers are described below:

Q-Free system offering
• RUC system solutions based on
   – ANPR
   – DSRC
   – Combination of ANPR/DSRC
   – GNSS
   – Services, Maintenance  & Integration
   – Traffic surveillance & law enforcement
   – Video processing
   – Services

Road user charging offering
• Single - and Multilane tolling systems
   – DSCR based
   – ANPR based
   – Combination DSRC/ANPR
   – Classification, tracking & enforcement
•    GNSS for Truck Tolling
   – GNSS, DSRC and/or ANPR based
   – Mobile and fixed enforcement
• Central systems
   – Operational
   – Commercial
   – Services, Maintenance & Integration

Traffic surveillance offering
• ALPR based  offering – world best OCR software
• Law enforcement:
   – Red light- and speed enforcement
   – Section control
• Parking, Access control and Security
• Traffic Statistics 

Product offering
• On Board Units 
• Road Side
• Central System
• Video and still image processing software

On board units
• Long term market leader
• Over 11 mill. OBU’s supplied worldwide
• Typical over 7 years battery life time
• Smart wake up function
• Smallest on the market
• Discrete/non intrusive appearance
• Fully secure transactions
• Supports all CEN TC278 standards
• Multi protocol support

Road side offering
• Exceptional accuracy and performance
• State-of-the-art technology
   – High-performance DSRC communication
   – High-resolution digital cameras
   – Precision detection using laser scanners
   – Real-time state control
   – Fully redundant equipment configuration
• Guaranteed high quality data and unmatched availability

Central systems
• Commercial Back Office
   – Administrative tools for efficient execution of the business rules
   – Automated payment support for large scale transactions
   – All types of subscription, post- or pre-payment, discounted accounts and special rules available
   – Point of Sales Applications (POS)
   – Accounting and asset management
   – Web cervices
   – Operational Back Office
   – Effective administrative tools for client management, planning and reporting
   – Large scale operational experience
   – Customer Recourse Management
   – Charging and verification
   – ANPR processing and monitoring

Service and integration
Service and maintenance is a vital part of any technical operation. Q-Free offers a range of services, including:
• Integration
   – End to end integration services
   – Documentation and process delivery
   – System commissioning
• Service
   – Preventive maintenance
   – Corrective maintenance
   – Supervision and performance monitoring
   – Unique system monitoring
• Security services
   – Key Distribution Centre
   – Transaction verification

Contact details:
Oliver Skisland, Regional Manager Central Europe, Middle East and Africa
Mobile: +47 90115038, E: oliver.skisland@q-free.com
www.q-free.com