Redlands, California-ESRI today announced the deployment of the ArcGIS 9 suite of software by Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO). The utility will now be able to use a seamless information environment to support outage management, design, staking, planning, and other enterprise GIS technology applications. Proposed by CGI and Miner & Miner, the implementation also takes advantage of Miner & Miner's ArcFM Solution and CGI's PragmaLINE Outage Management Solution (OMS).

CGI is providing primary implementation services for the comprehensive turnkey solution. Mesa Solutions will provide implementation services including conversion of data from existing legacy systems. SMECO is a member-owned electric cooperative serving more than 130,000 customers in four Southern Maryland counties. The co-op has provided power to residential and commercial customers for more than 60 years. "There will be several areas where the enterprise deployment provides real value to the customer by ensuring greater network reliability, service, and restoration capabilities," says Ken Capps, SMECO. "The implementation allows us to utilize best-in-breed utility applications as a total solution package based on our business and technology needs." ArcGIS will integrate with SMECO's core IT environment and will work with LogicaCMG's WMIS work management system, Advantica Stoner's SynerGEE network analysis application, asset management, customer service, and other systems. ESRI will support the deployment and configuration of ArcFM including ESRI's ArcGIS, ArcIMS, and ArcSDE through the following tasks: Provide on-site training on ArcGIS fundamentals; configure the Web-based interface using ArcIMS; provide training for the ArcIMS configuration; assist Miner & Miner with final system and performance tuning; and advise on the installation/configuration of ESRI's ArcGIS base software including ArcInfo and ArcEditor. The utility will take advantage of ESRI's ArcGIS 9 desktop and server software products including ArcInfo, ArcEditor, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS. In addition, SMECO will utilize ESRI's geodatabase and the ArcGIS electric data model. "The new GIS applications will allow SMECO to leverage geospatial information in day-to-day operations and for future planning," says Kenny Cousins, account manager at ESRI. "The implementation will provide a true enterprise GIS environment where many different activities and processes will be integrated using one technology platform." Designers will have an advanced means for all types of work including generation of construction work sketches, job cost estimates, performing structural and network analysis, and maintaining facility data. GIS will provide a new level of efficiency and productivity and will provide a single information source for data automation, management, analysis, and dissemination. What previously involved isolated data silos and applications will now entail a complete solution based on open, industry-standard technology.

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About ESRI
Founded in 1969, ESRI is the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI software is used in all 200 of the largest cities in the United States and in more than 60 percent of counties and municipalities nationwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,700 business partners. ESRI's goal is to develop comprehensive tools that enable users to efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a difference in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. www.esri.com.

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