Micro General Corporation (Nasdaq: MGEN), the leading provider of production and workflow software systems to the title and real estate industries, Thursday (Jan 18) announced the selection of Cable & Wireless (NYSE: CWP), the global telecommunications group, as its network provider to perform ASP operations for the Real Estate, Escrow and Title industry.
The virtual private network (VPN), employing networking technology from Cisco Systems Inc. will be developed for MGEN’s ASP, which when complete will enable users to access and transmit industry-related information pertaining to mission-critical intranet and Internet applications.
“The selection of Cable & Wireless as our preferred network backbone and Cisco as our VPN provider were strategic decisions for Micro General,” said Jim Murry, Micro General CIO/CTO. “We believe that each of these companies will provide us with the innovative technology, services and support necessary to provide our customers with the best network services available in the industry.”
On Sept. 1, 2000, Micro General and Cable & Wireless initiated a pilot program at 13 sites in California, Illinois and New Mexico to test rapid deployment and scalability for a range of software applications and services used by MGEN customers. Cable & Wireless will now connect all of Micro General’s remote locations via a VPN across Cable & Wireless’ Internet backbone.
Micro General’s selection of Cable & Wireless was based upon its premier Tier One global IP network that offers connections to more than 70 countries worldwide, as well as superior network availability, speed and packet delivery. Cable & Wireless’ mega-node network design will enable multiple dialup paths to the network and “never busy” engineering.
Developed in collaboration with Cisco Systems (hardware provider) and Network Catalysts (consultative support), Cable & Wireless’ ASP-enabling platform will offer a best-of-breed combination. For example, Cisco is supplying a powerful package of products that comply with its new SAFE blueprint for secure e-Business for Cable & Wireless’ data centers and regional offices. The resulting Internet backbone has a capacity of 360 terabytes per week with operating speeds of up to 4.8 gigabytes per second.
“This agreement represents a best-of-class approach, assisting Micro General in the delivery of services through the Cable & Wireless’ ASP platform,” said Rob Ayers, VP marketing, Cable & Wireless North America. “We are very happy to support Micro General to ensure that its customers receive fast and reliable access to the web where and when they need it.”
By summer 2001 the Internet platform will provide service to more than 1,100 locations nationwide. The technology will be available to MGEN’s many business partners, including more than 7000 independent agents, financial institutions, real estate offices and other businesses seeking fast and reliable access to title documentation. Additionally, the technology will be offered in conjunction with RealEC Technologies, Micro General’s fully integrated transaction management services affiliate.
Micro General’s web-enabled version of their production Escrow/Title system called “NGS,” will be deployed beginning in the second quarter of 2001, expanding these technological capabilities across the country. The ability to rapidly transfer title documentation over the Internet promises to facilitate growth in the title industry and represents a significant competitive advantage for MGEN’s customers, which currently constitute 30 percent of the U.S. title services market.
Micro General is a full-service enterprise solutions enabler offering a complete range of information technology services to the title, real estate and financial services industries. Primary expertise is found in the areas of managed application services, application development and integration, network, dat
a and infrastructure management and IT outsourcing.
Services include Internet-enabling software and technologies; title, trust accounting, escrow and real estate related software development; and eCommerce transaction and document management capabilities. With more than 400 current installations, other service offerings encompass software and hardware installation, training and support capabilities.
