2009 Business Partner Award Winners

Congratulations to All Award Winners

Brazil

New Partner of the Year: ProMaps Solu??es de Mapeamento Ltda.
—Data Provider and Value-Added Reseller (VAR)
ProMaps Solu??es de Mapeamento focuses on generating and maintaining the most complete spatial data infrastructure in South America. In 2008, ProMaps became an ESRI business partner, aiming to combine the best geographic information content of South America with the top GIS technology in the world. ProMaps was responsible for the integration of the largest Brazilian transportation model database with ArcLogistics 9.3 for the South American market. Besides the transportation model information, the market will benefit from a database of 3,600 cities including street network maps with detailed addressing and routing information.

The fast adaptation of large national content to the functionalities of ESRI technology has allowed ProMaps to gain Servi?o Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial (SENAI) as a client. A major national institution for generating and diffusing knowledge, SENAI undertook a mission to promote professional and technological education for 28 industrial areas, focusing on increasing Brazilian industry competitiveness. With 969 operational units, SENAI spans the entire national territory, eight countries, and three international organizations.

Thanks to the adjustment of Brazil's cartographic base of highways, toll roads, railways, waterways, ports, and airports to the functionalities of ArcLogistics, SENAI is now able to develop a competent network and logistic laboratorial infrastructure. This solution will be the main feature of eight new qualification centers for SENAI. The institution's goal is to increase knowledge in advanced techniques in logistics for the support of Brazil's industry.

All this is enabled by ESRI technology from Imagem Geosistemas e Com?rcio Ltda., ESRI's distributor in Brazil, and quality geographic information provided by ProMaps.

Canada

Partner of the Year: Positron Public Safety Systems
—Developer, OEM, and Value-Added Reseller (VAR)
Positron Public Safety Systems, a division of IPC, is a leader in fully integrated, end-to-end public safety solutions for call handling and applications that enable dispatching solutions and services. Positron solutions do more, share more, and work together?right out of the box. The company offers the benefits of a rich work environment with a geographic approach to its solutions. Established in 1970, Positron has more than 38 years' experience delivering indispensable applications and more than 25 years of developing public safety solutions. With offices throughout the world, Positron has a global footprint that extends from the United States and Canada through Europe, Africa, Latin America, Australia, Asia, and the South Pacific. Positron joined the ESRI Business Partner Program in April 2006. Since then, it has been successful in leveraging ESRI technology. Its dispatching solutions, such as 911 call taking, computer-aided dispatch (CAD), automated vehicle location (AVL), and record management systems (RMS), are based on ESRI technology.

Czech Republic

Partner of the Year: VARS BRNO a.s.
—Developer
VARS BRNO a.s. is focused on using GIS in traffic. N?rodn? dopravn? informacn? centrum (National Traffic Information Center [NDIC]) was launched in 2008 with the attendance of Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topol?nek.

The company's high-volume information system has been available to the public since July 1, 2008, running in test mode. The system is modular, extendable, and based on a highly accessible system and hardware platform, which makes parallel operations and load spread possible.

The system software is based on ESRI products and the Microsoft .NET platform. Some of its important functions are traffic density classification, travel time calculation, traffic situation prediction, visualization (maps, charts, schemas, and large-screen video walls), and facility control, available directly from the map window.

The system uses various ArcGIS Desktop applications for data management and other specialized functions. The thin client, communicating with ArcGIS Server, is intended for both public access and use as a dispatching system.

The system architecture, including hardware and software modules, is designed by VARS BRNO a.s. except for the parts for communication with field peripherals (meteostations, counters, etc.).

NDIC's goals are central supervision of traffic situations in the Czech Republic, central control of traffic, traffic information distribution to the public, and supply of purpose-oriented traffic information to traffic engineers.

Other applications developed by VARS BRNO a.s. include ISMaP (a road information system) and other ArcGIS Server software-based products.

China

Partner of the Year: Xi'an Jointsky Software Holding Co. Ltd.
—Developer
Xi'an Jointsky Software Holding Co. Ltd. is an important partner of ESRI in the environmental protection industry. The Network Control Center is a key construction project of the state Environmental Protection Ministry to save energy and reduce emissions. As the software developer for this project, Xi'an Jointsky Software Holding Co. Ltd. has implemented ArcGIS products in the monitoring centers of 370 provinces and cities and expanded ArcGIS in the environmental protection industry.

Xi'an Jointsky Software Holding Co. Ltd. is involved in the solutions supplied to all levels of environmental protection departments. Its products can be used in many areas such as automatic monitoring of pollution sources, environmental warnings, and decision support. The company is a strategic partner of the state Environmental Protection Ministry and is the only one that has been approved four times to promote its products nationwide. Xi'an Jointsky Software Holding Co. Ltd. is one of the most influential companies in the environmental protection industry. Its sewage management system has been used nationwide and occupies 100 percent of the market.

Finland

New Partner of the Year: Tieto Oyj
—Developer
Tieto Oyj (previously TietoEnator Oyj) is the biggest IT service company in Scandinavia. It has been active in two verticals in 2008: forestry and energy.

Forestry: Tieto Oyj is building a new forestry stand management system for Forestry Development Tapio (www.tapio.fi). Tapio is Tieto's first enterprise license agreement (ELA) customer.

Energy: Tieto has selected ESRI technology as a part of its product portfolio platform. For future applications, Tieto considers ESRI technology as one probable alternative.

France

Partner of the Year: SWORD
—Systems Integrator
In the past year, SWORD and ESRI France have established a strong relationship. In 2008, they jointly won several important projects including Gendarmerie nationale and Bouygues Telecom. The team is highly competent with ESRI technologies.

New Zealand

Partner of the Year: Explorer Graphics Ltd.
—Developer
Explorer Graphics Ltd. (EGL) is a model business partner. It has a strong development/consulting team that has consistently applied ArcGIS to a range of solution areas. In 2008, EGL embraced ArcGIS Server and specifically the ArcGIS Server Image extension, implementing two world-leading ArcGIS Server Image extension sites.

South Africa

Partner of the Year: Africon Engineering International (Pty) Ltd.
—Consultant, Developer
Africon (Pty) Ltd. put a significant amount of effort into successfully implementing a disaster management system for several local authorities with immediate results. This dedication and vision has earned Africon respect from several important organizations in government, health, and 911 response organizations.

The Africon GEM (C3) Emergency Readiness System consists of a range of software tools for emergency, disaster, engineering, and logistical management and is used by call takers, a variety of line-function-specific dispatchers, supervisors, resources in the field, and incident and disaster-response managers. The system is aimed at government agencies such as 911 call centers, fire and rescue services, and engineering call centers. The software facilitates the rapid registration of, rapid deployment of resources to, and management of incidents.

The system has proved its worth over the years. For example, the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, in using the Africon GEM (C3) Emergency Readiness System, improved emergency service response times from 70 minutes in 2002 to an unbelievable 8 minutes in 2003. Also, in a few of the provincial governments, the Africon GEM (C3) Emergency Readiness System helped boost response times for priority incidents by an incredible 250 percent in a few short months.

The latest version of the system relies heavily on the integration of ESRI technology including ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Mobile, ArcGIS Engine, and ArcLogistics Navigator, all based on a comprehensive temporal database with ArcSDE at its core.

Sweden

Partner of the Year: Sogeti Sverige AB
—Consultant
Sogeti Sverige AB has shown an exceptional ability to cooperate closely with ESRI in its intense work with the latest ArcGIS technology.

At the forefront of GIS development and with skilled, curious, and positive developers that persevere and work systematically, Sogeti solves any problem that lies in its way.

Switzerland

Partner of the Year: Topomat Technologies S.A.
—Developer
Since becoming an ESRI business partner, Topomat Technologies S.A. has been well-known in the western Swiss GIS market and enjoys the confidence of its customers in public authorities as well as in the private sector.

Topomat has accumulated tremendous knowledge of ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server technologies. It is recognized as a dedicated ESRI business partner, offering GIS consulting, training, and application development.

As a success story of long-term customer support, Topomat provided the basis for the conclusion of the first statewide enterprise license agreement (ELA) in Switzerland at the Canton of Geneva.

United Kingdom

Partner of the Year: Symology Ltd.
—Developer, OEM, and Value-Added Reseller (VAR)
Symology Ltd. is the United Kingdom's leading supplier of street works registration systems and integrated infrastructure asset management systems?specifically in the area of highway-related assets.

In England and Wales, Symology's Insight software is utilized by more than one-third of highway authorities. In Scotland, the system is deployed on a central server and used by all Scottish road authorities, all utilities, and a number of agencies such as the Scottish Executive. Insight is also widely used in the UK's gas, electricity, and water utility companies.

In August 2007, Symology launched Insight version 2.4, which comprises a complete redevelopment of existing mapping functions. The new, substantially enhanced facilities, based on ArcGIS Engine, provide synchronized bidirectional connectivity, with full inquiry and updating capabilities, as well as allow users to "drive" the system from the map.