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June 19, 2008 :
Appear to launch its first North American Software Research Labs in collaboration with Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada
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April 15, 2008 :
RED HERRING REVEALS COMPANIES SELECTED FOR THE RED HERRING 100 EUROPE 2008
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April 2, 2008 :
Appear Appoints Aaron Ardiri as Chief Technical Officer
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Events |
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June 17, 2008 :
Appear’s CEO is a featured guest speaker at the annual SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels
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Netherlands Railways
About NS
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) is one of the world’s busiest rail systems, with 25,000 employees operating 1 million passenger journeys every day. NS has the ambition to be one of Europe’s most reliable and customer friendly suppliers of passenger rail transportation, and is currently operating over 385 full service rail stations and running thousands of trains every day.
Challenge
After several years of working with the deployment of mobile devices for frontline employees in order to allow staff to easily access travel information and reporting tools, NS decided to overhaul and implement Context-Aware Intelligence to its systems, increasing customer satisfaction and employee efficiency. NS is focused on their key objectives – overall quality of information and rail services, personal security, transport capacity, train punctuality and a clean environment. In order to accomplish this, NS required the implementation of a wireless network designed to bring true mobility to their operations and dramatically increase the efficiency of their services, building the basis for improving customer care.
Solution
A Cisco end-to-end WLAN infrastructure provides high speed connectivity inside 50 train stations to a fleet of 10,000 Wi-Fi enabled Pocket PCs. The NS Desktop, based on the Appear Context Engine, enables the push and synchronization of personalized real-time information over the wireless network to handheld devices whenever the user enters or moves between authorized wireless zones depending on the context of the user, for example user profile, specific location, and connection type. In addition, the Appear Synchronization Module automates the complex synchronization processes, supporting file upload and download, version control, release management, and dynamic synchronization workflows between devices and the back office.
Appear IQ is used as a mission critical system and is deployed as a distributed architecture at 50 NS stations, supporting close to 10,000 devices and utilized by, among others, train conductors and customer service representatives. Frontline employees are able to synchronize their mobile devices in a few seconds, using the local Wi-Fi network to download their shift schedule and the latest information relevant to the journey, upload their sales registration, or report security incidents. Train drivers are provided with temporary speed limits before they board their train.
Other possible implementations of Appear IQ:
- Maintenance crews downloading maintenance information regarding trains or station equipment or receiving tasks, depending on their current location
- Security personnel sending and receiving silent geo-localized security alerts and accessing proximity-triggered video cameras
- Train drivers synchronizing their devices on board trains via an Appear distributed component embedded in the train’s intelligent network
Return on Investment
The NS Desktop, powered by the Appear Context Engine, is improving employee satisfaction and efficiency, building the basis for increasing customer service levels throughout the system.
The innovative deployment of this technology increases employee productivity by improving worker processes, yielding an improvement in efficiency of 25 minutes per day, per employee.
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“We had to select a reliable mobile software platform able to support our highly demanding requirements. The system must run 365 days per year, 24 hours per day, and support 10,000 users scattered throughout the country in over 50 stations. We selected Appear.”
Wim Liet, Head of Business Applications, NS Reizigers Production Services
“Only Appear Networks met our stringent requirements to deploy a distributed synchronization platform that selectively synchronizes applications according to user location, network type and job responsibilities."
Leonard de Roos, Head of Communication Devices, NS Reizigers Production Services
 Case Study in pdf format
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