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Progress Software Captains Shipping Technology Sea-Change

Mar 31, 2009
Progress Software Captains Shipping Technology Sea-ChangeBEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 31, 2009-- Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a global provider of application infrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, announced today that Royal Dirkzwager, the Dutch Maritime Information and Service provider, has chosen Progress Software solutions to automate the monitoring and analysis of real-time shipping information that tracks the arrival of cargo ships to ports around the world. This automation will optimize the complex maritime logistics and deliver an unprecedented level of accuracy into the process as well as provide Royal Dirkzwager instant access to information that they immediately can act on. Moreover, this implementation has the potential to save millions of dollars to the industry in fuel costs and timely delivery of goods.

Royal Dirkzwager has been using the Progress® Sonic® ESB to integrate systems with the Rotterdam Port Authority, in order to automate the collection and distribution of electronic information from multiple tracking systems. The Progress Apama® Complex Event Processing (CEP) platform will monitor the information feeds from the Sonic ESB seamlessly in real-time and detect spatial and time-based event patterns that may be of importance to customers. This deployment will also future-proof the company so that it has the ability to scale and take on the increasing amount of shipping data, supporting any future expansion plans in line with the growth of the business.

Since 1872, Royal Dirkzwager has been monitoring and forecasting shipping arrival times in and around the port of Rotterdam using traditional methods to track the journeys and location of vessels in North West Europe. Royal Dirkzwager has more recently expanded its scope globally and is expecting an exponential growth in the information it will need to analyze. The imminent addition of satellite information from several position and tracking systems plus the need to integrate multiple heterogeneous IT infrastructures with validated position data means Royal Dirkzwager required a robust integration infrastructure which can detect, analyze and act on several thousand events in real-time.

Paul Wieland, Manager Maritime & Logistics ICT of Royal Dirkzwager, explained: “We estimate an increase in volumes from 200 location messages per second to thousands of messages per second. In turn, we’re also expecting to handle more business events, as shipping traffic, cargo and passenger numbers increase.”

Additional enhancements include optimized route planning for vessels. This would mean that the real-time information will enable customers to make decisions to increase or decrease a vessel’s speed or change course based on tidal and weather information, to avoid inclement weather and unsafe routes, or to use fuel economically.

Wieland continued: “Using the Progress Sonic ESB, we will be able to handle the huge increase in messages created by the satellite tracking systems. The ESB software can be integrated easily into and can talk to our many disparate IT systems seamlessly. The Progress Apama CEP platform will allow us to monitor and analyze event patterns and deliver real-time information rather than just raw data to our customers.”

Dr. Giles Nelson, Senior Director, Strategy at Progress Software: “The use of CEP to handle such a large amount of data and provide real-time, tangible benefits to the shipping community is an innovative and exciting use of our technology. This is a great example of the transportation and logistics sector using our best-in-class technology to transform their customer offering and having a significant impact to the effectiveness of its operations.”

About Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) provides application infrastructure software for the development, deployment, integration and management of business applications. Our goal is to maximize the benefits of information technology while minimizing its complexity and total cost of ownership. Progress can be reached at www.progress.com or +1-781-280-4000.

About Royal Dirkzwager

Royal Dirkzwager is a vital link in the 24/7 information chain in and around NW European mainports and supplies ICT services to virtually all segments of the maritime-logistics world. At any given moment Dirkzwager is able to provide the latest European ships positions and detailed database particulars of any ship around the world. Thanks to this accurate and continuous flow of data, organizations are enabled to plan their activities and processes as efficiently as possible. Royal Dirkzwager can be reached at www.dirkzwager.com or +31-10-5931600

Apama, Progress and Sonic are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks or service marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Source: Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software Corporation
Rachel Harnden, (44) 7785 285551
rharnden@progress.com
or
LEWIS PR
Dan Gaffney, 617-226-8840
progresssoftware@lewispr.com
or
OCTANE PR
Laura Gillen, (44) 207 802 2662
progress@octanepr.com