In occasion of the official introduction of HUB's Jupiter solution into the North American market, we share the latest interview with our Luca Bovalino, CEO of HUB Parking Technology North America.
Luca, how would you describe HUB to new customers, prospects, and curious industry newbies?
HUB is a business unit of FAAC Group, a global leader in access and revenue control systems with solid financial foundations. The company has grown both organically and through M&A, like with the recent acquisition of TIBA, and today, we are leaders in the smart parking industry in North America and among the Top 3 worldwide.
Our backbone is a combination of unique skills, network and strength of a global player, with the flexibility, professional expertise and close service of a local organization: HUB is the largest supplier of revenue control systems in the US and Canada, with sales & service representatives spanning from the East to West Coast of North America.
HUB is a vertically integrated company - controlling all phases from design, to manufacturing, distribution, installation, and post-installation support including preventive maintenance programs. We’re especially proud of our R&D Team: the software engineering team is spread across the US and Europe and it is fed by global markets feedback. We listen to our customers from all over the world, so to satisfy current demands, and plan ahead to help create efficient mobility ecosystems. Everywhere!
Our scalable solutions allow owners and operators to better control and manage their parking facilities, anytime and from anywhere. For small, medium and large scale operations – I’m thinking of over 75 airport clients in North America only, just to pick a sector with a complex range of scenarios and requirements.
Mobile app for booking, cloud-hosted parking software, ticketless access with LPR, gateless free-flow access, contactless solutions, validations, and more: just name it, and it’s already part of the portfolio.
How about the key products and solutions, for North America?
Our compass points toward customer expectations and technology innovation: that’s why for all HUB products and services, the focus is on the customer journey and digital evolution.
Our industry expertise is the springboard for new platforms. In-house design, development, and manufacturing enable us to produce competitive solutions that offer long term value. It’s no surprise that some customers have been with us for decades now.
Digitally wise, JMS (Janus Management System) web-based management software is the first tile interface in the market and evolves to adapt to ever-changing scenarios of smart parking. It allows smooth integration with proprietary and third party systems & solutions, such as Intercom, License Plate Recognition, Variable Message Signs, dynamic rate management, valet services, loyalty systems, parking apps, and many other subsystems. A total parking solution! It is also available with Parking-as-a-Service, without upfront costs.
Proprietary mobile solutions such as JPass and J4M respectively cover pre-booking, subscriptions, and validations among others: a comprehensive set of touchless and ticketless solutions, that transform the car park into a safer, digitally enabled facility – like the most recent project at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the West Parking Deck that is designed to be completely automated and efficient. License plate readers, PeachPass holders, and Online Reservation users are enjoying contactless, easy access – all of this through JPass, in white label form thus further reinforcing ATL branding.
The airport is a long-time customer, too: a demonstration that HUB has withstood the test of time and continues to produce positive results for our customers. And we continue to evolve!
Let's get to Jupiter and JMS: how does this solution serve modern parking operators, airports, and forward-thinking urban designers?
They are definitely the result of our continuous focus and investments in R&D, the recapturing of a combined 100 years’ experience in the market, and truly our way of working the software. Our most recent innovation, Jupiter, and its digital environment: JMS software, JPass and J4M apps. We are also nearing the completion of full integration with EV charging stations, in North America. Together, they tick all the boxes of car park modernization.
Jupiter provides the straightforward and striking market response to feature competitive price combined with unique multi-functional scalability, and great looks: designed in Italy, assembled in the US!
Not to mention, it is already available on the cloud. I mean multi-tenant cloud solutions with shared software: you pay for what you use, which provide seamless access to multiple mobile applications that benefit both the parker and the owner/operator. When a driver is able to pre-book its space, navigate to the garage, enter via mobile or license plate recognition, and achieve total account self-management, then we can say the experience is truly comfortable. And for the operator, JMS grants total control of all the phases of this experience, along with all the relevant reporting capabilities.
Let me just add that HUB was first to enter the market with a fully-integrated mobile application, JPass, that is native to the parking revenue control system. That is incredibly convenient!
What are HUB's future plans in North America?
In a few words: the leadership in Quality, Technology and Costs within the smart parking arena in North America and Worldwide!
There’s more to that: our focus remains on improving the customer journey, as we leverage digital technology. Urban ecosystems will be more and more complex, demanding our product evolution to accelerate. We also consider integrating more of our solutions with the automotive world, to tackle the growing trend of vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity, and to give our end customers the best user experience.
Our commitment is double:
- to operators, deliver solutions for efficient and sustainable operations in the long term, developing a strong and rich BI that generates actionable insights capturing data for mining, and operational decision making
- to drivers, simplify and improve the parking experience to the point it’s just a seamless activity in their day, wherever they are.
We plan to honor this commitment through continued growth, both organically and through M&A, along with continuous high-level development.
We are excited to embrace each new technology, and fortunate to build upon the generational estate of our experience!
