Brussels, 22 September 2003 - I.R.I.S., a stock exchange-listed company
(EURONEXT: IRI), specialising in Automatic Document Capture (ADM), Electronic Document Management (EDM), Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and mass storage, announced today that it has successfully completed the infrastructure implementation required for the SAP application to run correctly on behalf of Dexia Banque Belgique.
Dexia Banque Belgique uses SAP to manage its human resources (HR). Among other functions, the application provides internal pay calculations. Dexia wished to modernise the hardware platform running SAP, migrating the database to a new, uniform platform, without having to change or interrupt the HR operations.
The migration project
Dexia had already installed IBM RS/6000 servers, the predecessors of the pSeries. For this new project, IRIS suggested that Dexia install six brand new AIX servers from the IBM pSeries line. Two six-processor application servers are clustered using HACMP (high-availability cluster multi-processing) for HR and back-office applications. They support a large application server clustered with the Q&A 8-way server. The other servers make up the development environment, the smallest being used for testing the migration and other general testing.
The I.R.I.S. Professional Solutions Division supplied Dexia with:
Project management services;
Migration services: I.R.I.S. worked with Dexia for a seamless migration from the old Alpha servers to the AIX servers; Support services: two specialist technicians from I.R.I.S. work full-time to provide environment maintenance and on-site support.
Dexia's IT managers say that they were perfectly satisfied with the migration. "We have not had to deal with a single interruption of the application's service," declares Michel Van Schingen, Dexia Banque Belgique's IT infrastructure director. "In the event, no users or employees noticed anything. The I.R.I.S. team made the transition much easier through their professionalism and their very high level of skills."
Etienne Van de Kerckhove, CEO of I.R.I.S., affirms: "Dexia Banque Belgique has been an I.R.I.S. client since 1999. We have already demonstrated our know-how in the field of technical architecture, our creativity, our level of expertise and our ability to succeed in complex projects. Our knowledge of the existing infrastructure and our close collaboration with Dexia's staff have enabled us to meet their requirements within the allotted time. We are also working on other significant projects with Dexia."
I.R.I.S. and IT infrastructure
For the last few years, I.R.I.S. has been developing its consultancy activities together with sales of hardware, software and services in the following areas:
application and database servers,
backup and disaster recovery (DRP),
implementation and integration in client environments.
Gamal Khaldi, sales director with I.R.I.S. Professional Solutions,
explains: "In line with the client's existing infrastructure, we suggest solutions made up of our own software with other complementary products. In this respect, I.R.I.S. works in partnership with IBM, Kodak and other suppliers."
Etienne Van de Kerckhove finishes: "Our Professional Solutions division supplies technology and services to businesses, large non-profit-making associations and the public sector. Our field of activity covers document scanning, conversion to pdf format, mail management, document archiving, workflow and mass storage. Despite a certain dip in IT investment, I.R.I.S. is continuing to land major contracts. Thanks to better cost control, the Professional Solutions division - which accounts for about 80% of the group's turnover - has even been able to improve its profitability. The quality and reliability of I.R.I.S.' commercial approach and technical basis made this trend possible. Obviously, this leads to a good outlook for the future."
About Dexia Banque Belgique
The Dexia Group is mainly well-established in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is an authentically European bank, in terms of both its structure and its management. The Dexia group is listed on Euronext.
About I.R.I.S.
Image Recognition Integrated Systems (I.R.I.S.), a Belgian company founded in 1987 and listed on Euronext Brussels (IRI), is a leader in the "Document to Knowledge" market, and provides extremely high-quality solutions for converting paper documents into electronic formats for archiving, storing, managing and sharing digital information.
In 2002, the revenue of I.R.I.S. Group was ? 41.646.974. I.R.I.S. has more than 220 employees based in Louvain-la-Neuve and Brussels (Belgium), Massy and Rueil-Malmaison (France), Luxembourg and Delray Beach (USA).
For more information on our company, our solutions or our products, visit the I.R.I.S. website at http://www.irislink.com.
To get more information
I.R.I.S. Europe Headquarters
Press contact: Virginie Stainier
Tel: +32 (0) 10 48 75 13
Fax: +32 (0) 10 45 34 43
E-mail: virginie.stainier@irislink.com
Journalists can register on the I.R.I.S. Extranet web site by clicking on the link http://www.irislink.com/group/press. They will receive a personal login and password to access the Extranet web site where more corporate and product information is available.
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