Major Brazilian City Rides With CA's Ingres II for Management of Complex Transportation System

Business Wire, Oct 19, 1998

ISLANDIA, N.Y., and PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998--

Procempa Deploys CA's Premier Relational Database to Create Innovative Automatic Monitoring System for Busy State Capital

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) today announced that Procempa, a leading Brazilian information technology provider, has implemented CA's Ingres II to create an advanced automatic vehicle management system for Porto Alegro, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The system developed by Procempa, called "SOMA," has helped increase the quality of public transportation in Porto Alegre. Ingres II's advanced database functionality has enabled the creation of a comprehensive and reliable fleet effectiveness system for the citizens of the city.

After identifying the need to revitalize its municipal transportation systems, the Porto Alegre government focused on the city's failing bus system, which was infamous for delays and traffic violations. Since the city's previous fleet management system consisted of a mainframe-based spreadsheet application that had to be updated manually, information about bus routes quickly became outdated and riders were often forced to navigate the city by foot or by taxi.

On behalf of the city, Procempa analyzed the procedures of city bus companies. "Our research revealed that the city needed a more effective management system for tracking the vehicles and general activity of the public transportation system," says Rogerio Santanna dos Santos, chairman of Procempa. "We sought a solution which would detect the circulation of all buses using computer hardware installed in buses and on the streets. The goal was to eliminate human intervention and provide reliable data."

After an extensive evaluation of available software, Procempa chose CA's Ingres II as the database management system for SOMA. "Ingres II was the only database on the market which met all of our criteria," said Marcos Mazoni, technical director for Procempa. "It clearly offered the best value for clients concerned about scalability, performance and price."

The new SOMA system depends on electronic "detection points" buried under the city streets. As buses pass over these points, extensive data is recorded and transmitted to the transportation department via telephone lines or radio transmission. It is automatically recorded in the Ingres database using applications written with OpenROAD, Ingres II's integrated object-oriented development environment. SOMA features an intuitive interface that makes it easy for city employees to calculate and analyze numerous indicators of performance, including mileage per vehicle per day, non-compliance with timetables, and passengers per vehicle per trip.

The initial implementation was so successful that Procempa has recently expanded SOMA to manage transportation citywide, including taxis, vans, school buses and leased vehicles. "Almost 100% of Porto Alegre's transportation infrastructure is now managed by SOMA," said Luis Carlos Bertotto, municipal transportation secretary for Porto Alegro. "This has resulted in huge benefits for the city and its citizens."

According to Bertotto, Ingres II is a key component of what he feels is one of "the most successful transportation systems" in the country. "Here in Porto Alegre, our buses are not overcrowded, and they are always clean," he said. "There is no illegal transportation, and 98% of our riders are able to catch a bus within 300 meters of their homes. In addition, the system has saved us so much money, that we are able to offer some of the lowest fares in the country. Ingres II provided the functionality we needed to implement the system which resulted in these sweeping benefits."

Ingres II is a critical component of Harmony, CA's complete information management solution. Ingres II presents a new approach to n-tier relational application development and information management. It offers a complete solution for managing the complexity of distributed data sources, while maintaining the product strengths and reliability that users of Ingres technology have come to expect.

Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), with headquarters in Islandia, N.Y., is the world leader in mission-critical business software. The company develops, licenses and supports more than 500 integrated products that include enterprise computing and information management, application development, manufacturing and financial applications. CA has over 11,000 people in 160 offices in 43 countries and had revenue of $4.7 billion in fiscal year 1998. CA can be reached by visiting http://www.cai.com, emailing info@cai.com, or calling 1-516-342-5224.

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