Advantica awarded Tempe, Ariz., water contract

CARLISLE, PA, Jan. 5, 2006 -- Advantica has been contracted by the city of Tempe, Ariz., for the design and implementation of an integrated geospatial information system (GIS) to enhance the planning, maintenance and operation of the Water Utility Department's water, sewer, storm water and flood irrigation assets.

The multi-phase project is designed to replace the Tempe Water Department's reliance on the City's MicroStation^®-based automated mapping technology with a new, state-of-the-art ESRI^® spatial asset management platform that will integrate with network modeling, work management, document management, customer billing and other departmental and enterprise systems.

"Advantica's performance history with Tempe projects, as well as their knowledge and experience with water networks, makes them the provider of choice for this solution," said Don Hawkes, city of Tempe Water Utilities Department Manager.

Advantica previously worked with the city of Tempe to study the importance of using integrated GIS to increase efficiency within the Water Utilities Department and among all city departments and identify the needs and requirements to develop a city-wide enterprise GIS system. The GIS design and implementation contract will establish systems and business processes within the Water Utilities Department for maintaining GIS water asset data that may be shared city-wide.

"Today's utilities are being asked to do more with less -- increase efficiency and production while maintaining premium customer service," said Melissa Rohland, Director of Operations, Planning and Commercial Systems at Advantica. "By implementing an integrated GIS in conjunction with other departments, the City will have the most accurate and up-to-date data on which to base decisions in serving their customers."

The city of Tempe is the seventh largest city in Arizona. The municipality's water operation division is responsible for the maintenance and rehabilitation of more than 800 miles of water lines throughout the city.

Advantica (www.advantica.biz) is dedicated to enabling the owners and operators of energy and utility assets, through use of advanced technologies and systems solutions, to more successfully plan, manage and leverage their assets to achieve their business vision. Advantica offers two families of asset integrity solutions, one focused on the through-life understanding of the condition of operating assets and one on the safety of operating assets. The company also offers two families of performance improvement solutions, one focused on ever-improving best planning and design, and one on operation of network assets. We satisfy the unique requirements of each client through the appropriate combination of professional services, including consultancy, and Stoner Software™ products.

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