just how tough is the competition , page-2

iSHMAEL

Your interpretation of the market reach of ACS in the photo enforcement market - derived from the ACS release you cite - is not correct. Given, however, the way the ACS release was written it could well appear that way.

While it may be true that ACS supplies enforcement systems and services to 15 of 20 of the participating cities, this is not the same thing as saying ACS has 75% of all photo enforcement in the the US. I am not sure what market the 'participating cities' refers to, but the number of cities signed up to photo enforcement is hugely more that just 20.

A better indication of their market share can be inferred from the excellent presentation RDF released yesterday to accompany their announcement about the US launch of their ADR program. That presentation notes that RDF is #1 in the US by installed systems and cities (contracts with 60 cities!); RDF has 65% of digital contracts (the way of the future); of the total approaches with photo enforcement (digital=630 wet film=400) RDF has around 400.

Basically RDF has left ACS well and truly in its dust. ACS didn't see the future and persisted with wet film technology for far too long. RDF is now so far in front with its digital technology and fully integrated citation/processing system that it is hard to see ACS (or any other of the hopefuls in this space) challenging its market dominance.

A bright future indeed for the Aussie upstart.