UTMC systems may be used to control or manage road traffic (for example a roadside variable message sign) or to provide information which may be used to influence traffic (for example a roadside air quality monitor). The Department for Transport's UTMC Technical Specification defines a number of technical interfaces between these various sub-systems so that equipment supplied by one manufacturer can share data with equipment supplied by another. Thus an air quality monitor (AQM) supplied by a specialist AQM supplier can feed data into a database supplied by data management specialist. That data can then be viewed on a single, integrated user screen supplied by a specialist in that field.

The benefit to Purchasers of the UTMC approach is that they regain control over the performance of the solutions they implement to manage traffic. They are no longer linked to a single supplier and are free to identify the most appropriate (and cost-effective) solution to meet their requirements, confident in the knowledge that data can be exchanged.

Ensuring open interfaces is important because there are few suppliers capable of providing the most sophisticated solutions in all areas of traffic management. There are, of course, benefits to suppliers as, by adopting open standards they get access to a bigger marketplace and can concentrate on their core skills and products.