KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., June 2, 2003 (PRIEMZONE) -- Neoware Systems (NASDAQ:NWRE), the leading supplier of software, services and thin client appliances, today announced that the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois has deployed Neoware thin client appliances to modernize its computing infrastructure and bring the Clerk's Office into the 21st century.
The Cook County Circuit Court is one of the nation's largest consolidated court systems. The Clerk of the Circuit Court's office employs more than 2,300 people and handles approximately 2 million cases a year. The Clerk's Office serves more than 400 judges and the 5.1 million people of Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago and its 126 surrounding suburbs.
The Honorable Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, campaigned for office in 2000 on a public commitment to modernize the Clerk's Office and bring it into the 21st Century. At the time of her election, the Clerk's Office ran all of its operations on a 1980's era mainframe; did not use email or voicemail; and provided only limited public Internet access to court operations. Most of the Clerk's Office employees interacted with the computer systems via green-screen, "dumb" terminals, inhibiting productivity. This lack of investment in modern technology limited the employees' ability to provide quality, responsive service to the public.
Shortly after taking office, Clerk Brown established a Transition and Strategic Planning Committee to review the state of operations that were inherited from the previous administration and to make recommendations for improvements. The Committee's 200-page report, entitled The 21st Century Clerk's Office: A Blueprint for Change, found that the technologies used in the Clerk's Office were antiquated, which reduced its ability to serve a jurisdiction as large and diverse as Cook County. The Committee's report also supported Brown's primary goals of expanding technology in order to improve customer service, heighten employee training and development and increase operation efficiency.
After investigating a variety of computing architectures, Cook County's Chief Information Officer, Craig Wimberly and Network Services and Support Director, Bridget Dancy decided to implement Neoware thin client appliances. As a government agency with more than 2,300 employees, upgrading from 1980's era computer systems to modern technology represented a significant investment, and it was deemed imperative that all alternatives be investigated in an effort to save taxpayers' money. Their investigation showed that Neoware's thin client appliances would provide access to Web, Windows and legacy applications with significantly lower up-front and total-cost of operation than a network of PCs.
"Modernizing the Clerk's Office computer systems to provide better public service and bring court operations into the 21st Century was a commitment that I made when I ran for election in 2000," stated Clerk Brown. "I am very pleased to report that we have achieved our goals while saving the taxpayers' money."
In addition to modernizing Court technology, Neoware's thin client appliances help save taxpayers' money since ongoing capital expenditures are virtually eliminated. In coming years, performance can be enhanced by upgrading servers, not replacing desktop PCs. Administration costs are significantly reduced through the use of Neoware's ezRemote Manager software, eliminating the need for system administrators to travel from desk to desk to solve PC problems.
"Thin clients allow us to provide access to any application, at less than half the up-front cost of a PC," stated Craig Wimberly, Chief Information Officer of the Circuit Court of Cook County. "With thin clients, we are able to provide access to modern applications with significantly greater security than we can with PCs. In the future, we'll be able to roll out applications more quickly with thin clients because we can install the applications on servers without the need to upgrade individual personal computers."
The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County initially deployed IBM NetVista thin clients and began purchasing Neoware thin clients from IBM when the two companies entered into an alliance under which IBM sells Neoware's products to its customers. The fact that Neoware's products are available from IBM and that Neoware offers genuine IBM 3270 emulators for plug-and-play connection to the Clerk's Office mainframe were important factors in the Clerk's office selection of Neoware's products. The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is currently in the process of deploying approximately 1500 Neoware thin client appliances and intends to upgrade several hundred IBM thin clients with Neoware software in the future.
"The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County reached the right verdict for taxpayers in choosing Neoware's thin client appliances as the reliable, secure solution to modernize the Clerk's Office computer systems," said Michael Kantrowitz, Chairman and CEO of Neoware Systems. "Our zero-maintenance, high performance thin client appliances are without peer in delivering technology that saves money today, saves money on an ongoing basis and protects their investments in the future."
About Neoware
Neoware provides software, services, and solutions to enable Appliance Computing, a proven Internet-based computing architecture targeted at business customers that is designed to be simpler and easier than traditional PC-based computing. Neoware's software and management tools power and manage a new generation of smart computing appliances that utilize the benefits of open, industry-standard technologies to create new alternatives to personal computers used in business and a wide variety of proprietary business devices.
Neoware's products are designed to run local applications for specific vertical markets, plus allow access across a network to multi-user Windows servers, Linux servers, mainframes, minicomputers, and the Internet. Computing appliances that run and are managed by Neoware's software offer the cost benefits of industry-standard hardware and software, easier installation, and have lower up-front, maintenance, and administrative costs than proprietary or PC-based alternatives.
More information about Neoware can be found on the Web at http://www.neoware.com or via email at invest@neoware.com. Neoware is based in King of Prussia, PA.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding: the growth of the thin client market; our position as the fastest growing player in the thin client computing market; our position as the leading supplier of software, products, services and solutions for the Appliance Computing market; and the benefits of our software-focused business model allowing customers to preserve capital investment and lower ongoing costs of ownership. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in any such forward-looking statement include our ability to continue to lower our costs, our timely development and customers' acceptance of our Appliance Computing products, pricing pressures, rapid technological changes in the industry, growth of the Appliance Computing market, increased competition, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, our ability to identify and successfully consummate and integrate future acquisitions, adverse changes in customer order patterns, adverse changes in general economic conditions in the U.S. and internationally, risks associated with foreign operations and political and economic uncertainties associated with current world events. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Neoware's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2002 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2002.
Neoware is a registered trademark of Neoware Systems, Inc. All other names products and services are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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