The Surface Transport Directorate within Transport for London (TfL) manages road, river and tram facilities within the capital. As part of the critical national infrastructure, TfL must ensure that it can continue to function in the most adverse conditions, from the Thames flooding to a terrorist attack.
Analysys Mason (initially commissioned as Mason Communications) was engaged to identify a new, secure data centre location, and manage the design, implementation and migration of the ICT services. In the short term this included the need for more space in the Directorate’s full-to-capacity premises. In the longer term, the Directorate wanted to develop data centre strategies that would provide greater resilience.
The aim was to support the critical systems in coping with the demands of events such as the Olympic Games in 2012, as well as daily activities such as congestion charging enforcement and traffic control.
Key facts about the TfL Surface Directorate
- congestion in central London has reduced by 22% since the introduction of congestion charging
- TfL is responsible for 80km of London's most important roads and 2,500 bridges and road structures
- London buses carry 1,816 million passengers every year
- 7 million journeys are made within London each year on foot, and 0.3 million by bicycle
- 22.5 million people travel on the Croydon Tramlink annually
Tight deadlines
To meet the Directorate’s tight deadlines, Analysys Mason conducted immediate operational work alongside strategic planning. This involved running site surveys, equipment reviews and detailed interviews and workshops in parallel with producing designs and specifications for longer-term upgrades to the data centre. Analysys Mason’s work took into account the mechanical, electrical and environmental factors, and the opportunities to use new wireless and DSL technologies.
Analysys Mason provided a detailed report with a breakdown of options and cost analysis. We then managed the implementation and critical migration of equipment to the new data centre in our suggested site at Docklands. Our consultants specified the complete ICT infrastructure to be installed, including WAN links to the TfL Surface Transport fibre ring.
This infrastructure was procured by Analysys Mason using TfL frameworks, while at the same time transferring knowledge to the in-house ICT function. Over the course of eight weeks, nearly 100 servers were backed up, removed from Westminster and relocated to Docklands. This work was performed with no perceptible loss of this critical service to thousands of end users.
