Two leading intelligent transport system (ITS) providers have announced a joint venture at Intertraffic in Amsterdam.P&D Specialist Services and Bartco Traffic Equipment will bring the benefits of their ITS solutions to new international markets.Bartco UK will become Europe’s first manufacturer of portable, solar powered, five colour matrix variable message signs (VMS).Based in Derbyshire, UK, Bartco UK will be the sales and manufacturing division of Bartco’s portable electronic VMS for the UK, European and northern hemisphere markets. It will be located alongside Mobile Visual Information Systems (MVIS), part of the P&D Specialist Services (Holdings) Ltd group.MVIS will continue to manufacture portable ITS solutions including ANPR, CCTV, radar and lighting and supply these to the UK, European and northern hemisphere markets. While Bartco’s VMS will still be available via MVIS as part of its rental business, the signs will now also be sold directly to those markets by Bartco UK.Pat Musgrave (pictured), managing director of P&D Specialist Services, MVIS and Bartco UK, said: “Together, the two new companies will extend the international reach of P&D Specialist Services and Bartco Traffic Equipment, bringing the benefits of their ITS solutions to new markets.”Troy Wollard, managing director of Bartco Traffic Equipment and MVIS AUS and chairman of Bartco UK, added: “Bartco will now be able to respond with greater agility to customer demand in the UK, Europe and northern hemisphere, cost-effectively creating and delivering VMS with speed, while MVIS’s technologically advanced, tailor-made ITS solutions will be within easy reach of Australia and the southern hemisphere.”Bartco UK and MVIS AUS will commence operation on 1 June 2014.