T-Systems strengthens tolling security using AWS

Europe’s tolling landscape has historically been fragmented, with each country overseeing its own systems, regulations, and on-board units for drivers. Prior to adopting AWS, T-Systems Road User Services operated its tolling platform using on-premises infrastructure that was straining under the load of managing billions of tolling records annually. Teams spent most of their time maintaining legacy systems, and onboarding new customers could take as long as 24 months because of country-specific security and compliance requirements.

“With different tolling systems in each country, a truck driver can end up with 15 or 16 different devices in the cab,” says Karl Heinz Goebbels, senior project manager for tolling services at T-Systems Road User Services. “That’s not ideal.”

Governments and transportation authorities also faced increasing pressure to roll out tolling systems faster to reduce time-to-market and minimize loss of charging revenues—at the same time maintaining strict security, regulatory compliance, and availability for critical public infrastructure. Together, these constraints drove the need for a standardized, scalable, security-first electronic tolling solution.

The company took a security-first approach to modernizing its tolling capabilities, working alongside AWS Professional Services to conduct multiple AWS security assessments, address migration risks, and establish a strong foundation for long-term security maturity. The migration was completed in 9 months, creating T-Systems Road User Services Tolling Platform (TRUST), a standardized cloud-based solution for secure cross-border electronic tolling.

At the core of the solution is Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), which teams can use to build, run, and scale production-ready applications across any environment. The solution also uses Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which provides secure and resizable compute capacity for virtually any workload to support critical tolling applications. Security controls were integrated and automated directly into the system, helping teams to move faster while maintaining the standards required for public sector infrastructure.

To operationalize security at scale, T-Systems Road User Services centralized security monitoring and compliance using AWS services. AWS Security Hub unifies security operations by centralizing visibility across the cloud environment, while Amazon GuardDuty protects AWS accounts, workloads, and data with intelligent threat detection. AWS Config helps users assess, audit, and evaluate configurations of resources, replacing manual reviews with ongoing oversight. Together, using these services helped the company build, run, and scale applications on infrastructure that’s architected to be the most secure cloud computing environment.

With security embedded and automated, teams could shift their focus from maintenance and risk mitigation to growth and innovation. After the migration, the company onboarded international customers, including Toll4Europe—which operates in more than 16 countries—and Belgium-based Satellic, demonstrating how the same secure, standardized architecture could be applied across different regulatory environments. “T‑Systems International leverages the powerful global cloud environment of AWS and enhances it with enterprise‑grade managed services—enabling customers to innovate faster, operate securely, and reduce total cost of ownership,” says Anne Koch, global AWS alliance lead at T‑Systems International.

By migrating and modernizing its tolling solution on AWS, T-Systems Road User Services reduced customer onboarding time by up to 90 percent. Automated deployment processes shortened release cycles from weeks to hours, while tolling errors dropped sharply, reducing tickets issued by 98 percent. The new system achieved 99.999 percent system uptime, improving operational stability and reliability. And by moving to the cloud, the company lowered its infrastructure costs and reduced technical debt.

Security and compliance outcomes were central to the project’s success. In its first year after the migration, the company eliminated cybersecurity breaches while maintaining 100 percent regulatory compliance with transportation and data protection requirements.

These outcomes, which reflect a broader operational shift for the company, were shaped by the security assessments that guided the migration and operational model. “The AWS security assessments didn’t just help us migrate safely—they transformed our entire approach to building and operating systems,” says Christina Thumser, head of tribe infrastructure services at T-Systems Road User Services. “We’ve moved from constant firefighting to proactive innovation, all while maintaining the security standards that our customers and governments demand.”