Systems Consultants Inc. Commits to Microsoft Windows NT; Joins with Unisys in Addressing Public Sector Market

Business Wire, Oct 5, 1998

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1998--

Customers already reaping benefits of superior

technology implemented by SCI

Systems Consultants Inc. (SCI), and Unisys Corp. Monday announced they had extended their long-time relationship with a marketing alliance that has made the SCI suite of public sector applications available on Microsoft Windows NT.

Already, the alliance has led to 10 new SCI public sector customers that have implemented or are installing SCI's Financial, Payroll/HR, and Property Management Applications on a Unisys NT server.

"I've been in this industry more than four decades and I can say with all confidence that Windows NT's growing popularity and ease of use offer enormous opportunities for software development companies and the end-users they service," said John A. Sharp, Ph.D., president and CEO of SCI. "Until recently, UNIX has been the major alternative platform for public sector applications of this kind."

Since Unisys has performed extensive analysis and tuning of Windows NT technology, SCI consistently recommends Unisys and Microsoft Windows NT as integral parts of its customers' public sector IT systems. This combination is powerful enough to handle daily processing of mission-critical information, yet it requires less maintenance and administration than many other systems.

SCI software, Microsoft Windows NT, and the Unisys servers have proven to be a powerful and popular combination. Among the 10 new customers SCI has signed with this powerful combination of technologies are:

-- City of Rolling Meadows, Ill. -- North Shore Sanitary District, Ill. -- Kansas City School District, Kan. -- City of Gainesville, Ga. -- Lawrence School District, Kan. -- City of Newport, R.I. -- Forsyth County, Ga. -- City of Warner Robbins, Ga.

"The Microsoft NT operating system is much easier to administer because everyone is already familiar with how a Windows environment works," said Norman Vogel, systems analyst and programmer for Kansas City, Public Schools. "NT is the direction the industry is going and SCI and Unisys are prepared to follow that direction."

Customer Focus on NT

Though providers derive advantages from this technology, it is the end-users who benefit most from an NT installation. Hal Hodges, director of MIS for the Lawrence School District, explains some of the advantages of working in an NT environment. "We had virtually no experience with UNIX and would have been starting from scratch if we had chosen to use it. We had some previous experience with NT and felt it would be easier to install and manage."

"As our long-standing relationship with SCI indicates, we think SCI has the knowledge and experience in public sector environments to help our business grow and serve the needs of our clients," said Robert W. Johnson, vice president, North American Field Operations, Unisys Computer Systems. "Unisys continues to work on bringing enterprise-class capabilities to Windows NT, and we are pleased that SCI has seen such strong success in deploying its software on Unisys servers running Windows NT."

About SCI

SCI works with state, county and local governments, as well as public utilities and school districts. The current EAS suite includes a full range of completely integrated financial, payroll/human resources and property management applications.

SCI provides a state-of-the-art Windows desktop environment with comprehensive integration of information across all SCI applications. SCI offers the end-user complete installation, training and ongoing customer support for both hardware and software.

About Unisys

Unisys (NYSE:UIS) is more than 33,000 employees helping customers in 100 countries apply information technology to solve their business problems.

Unisys solutions are based on a broad portfolio of global information services including systems integration, outsourcing, "repeatable" application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management, and multivendor maintenance and support, coupled with enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, software and storage.

Repeatable solutions are focused on key vertical markets including financial services, transportation, telecommunications, government, publishing and other commercial markets. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa. in the Greater Philadelphia area, Unisys 1997 annual revenue was $6.6 billion.

Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web - http://www.unisys.com - for further information.

Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corp. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.