Global Transportation Leader

Company Background

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A global leader in transportation technology, this 100-year-old manufacturer provides cutting-edge solutions to public transit systems around the world. The company operates across six continents and supports over 85 countries. Through a combination of strategic acquisitions and private equity backing, it has grown into the world’s largest manufacturer of transportation lighting and destination signage.

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The Challenge

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As the company introduced a new generation of hardware for signage, it encountered a critical limitation in its deployment process. Updates required firmware flashing—an outdated and cumbersome method that slowed delivery and restricted scalability. The situation was further complicated by the departure of key personnel, which left gaps in institutional knowledge and obscured the business logic behind sign behavior.

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The technical environment added to the complexity. The existing codebase was built in C# and structured into interconnected services that behaved more like a monolith than a true microservices architecture. Engineers faced major obstacles in understanding system behavior, setting up environments, and conducting proper testing. To make matters more difficult, the team lacked access to actual hardware, forcing them to work with web-based assumptions that might not translate to real-world displays.

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The company needed a forward-looking solution that would simplify deployments, preserve core logic, and equip internal teams with tools and understanding to maintain the system moving forward.

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The Solution

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Stride partnered with the organization to reimagine the signage system using a modern, browser-based architecture. The new platform ran within the signage firmware and interfaced directly with HDMI-connected LED displays—eliminating the need for firmware flashing with every update.

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To recover the necessary business logic, Stride engineers conducted detailed “code archaeology,” analyzing legacy C and C# files to extract the underlying rules governing sign behavior. They worked side-by-side with the client’s internal developers to validate assumptions and collaboratively refine interpretations, using mob programming techniques to make progress in a highly complex and opaque codebase.

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The new application was built using vanilla JavaScript and web components, selected for their flexibility and maintainability. In parallel, Stride produced comprehensive documentation covering the development environment, feature workflows, and architectural decisions—ensuring that future development could proceed smoothly without reintroducing past inefficiencies.

Late in the engagement, a critical insight emerged: although the web-based rendering worked in development environments, it introduced issues. These issuesraised concerns about accessibility. Stride responded rapidly, delivering a proof-of-concept that converted rendered views into bitmap images—ensuring visual clarity and regulatory compliance.

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Business Outcomes

• Successfully migrated all legacy firmware logic into a new browser-based system.
  
  
• Identified and addressed critical accessibility challenges through an innovative bitmap rendering approach.
  
  
• Delivered a fully documented platform that empowered the client’s development team to continue independent iteration.
  
  
• Enabled faster, more flexible updates without the need for firmware flashing.
  
  
• Positioned the company to scale future signage innovations on a modern technical foundation.
  
  

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