Ameritech Selects Intergraph for Field GIS; Field View Leverages Existing AM/FM/GIS Data; Demonstrates Huge Savings in Time and Money.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1997--Ameritech (Chicago, Ill.), one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, has purchased $600,000 of software, hardware and services from Intergraph Corporation. Ameritech will use Intergraph's Field View product to automate its locate center operations and improve engineering productivity.

Ameritech is expanding services in its primary service area covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The company is investing in more buried facilities to keep pace with a growing economy where Ameritech has an ongoing need to respond to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.

With this increased growth in access lines, it becomes critical to provide faster response to customers' requests for locating cables. "A pilot program demonstrated we could improve our average time to screen a locate ticket from 4 minutes to 2.5 minutes," said Mike Meyer, ARES project Manager at Ameritech. "When you save time, you save money."

The new solution will reference up-to-date outside plant data managed and maintained in Ameritech's AM/FM/GIS, termed ARES (Ameritech Records & Engineering System), which is based on Intergraph's FRAMME(R) software running on the Microsoft Windows NT(R) operating system 

Improving and automating work flows

Locate requests go through One-Call centers and can range from a contractor performing major site work to a homeowner improving his or her landscape. In the past, those answering the calls would have to search through paper maps or microfiche files to determine if Ameritech facilities were present and at risk. Unclear or out-of-date records meant that crews had to be dispatched to physically locate facilities.

Under the new automated system, call-takers type in streets, cross streets or an exact address and the system retrieves information immediately. It displays existing facilities that are color-coded to indicate whether they are in-ground or overhead. Then the decision can be quickly made to either proceed with the work or to dispatch a locater to stake the precise location of the facilities.

Plans are underway to expand Intergraph solutions throughout Ameritech's Construction and Engineering organization. In addition, plans call for further expansion throughout Customer Provisioning and Maintenance to be used by outside technicians.

Linda Thompson, a Manager of Ameritech's Customer Provisioning and Maintenance, commented that "Ameritech is an early adopter to screen one call tickets and has implemented Intergraph's Field View application to automate this process. It has screeners that quickly locate facilities and determine whether a locating technician needs to be dispatched to stake the location. In a very competitive market, this allows Ameritech to respond faster and provide the best service possible to our new and existing customers."

In summary, design engineers will use FRAMME to enhance and improve their work flows while marketing planners will utilize it for forecasting customer growth. Construction and field personnel will use Field View, with information downloaded from the main system, to locate, verify and update facilities.

Field View has been implemented initially at Ameritech's locate centers in Oak Lawn, Illinois and Saginaw, Michigan. Ameritech officials predict that approximately 1,000 employees will be utilizing the system by the end of 1997.

Ameritech Background Information

Ameritech (NYSE:AIT) serves millions of customers in 50 states and 40 countries. Ameritech provides a full range of communications services, including local and long distance telephone, cellular, paging, security monitoring, cable TV, electronic commerce, on-line services and more. One of the world's 100 largest companies, Ameritech (www.ameritech.com) has 68,000 employees, 1 million shareowners and more than $23 billion in assets.

Intergraph Background Information

A member of the Fortune 1000, Intergraph Corporation is the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems. Products range from point solutions, meeting individual and departmental needs, to integrated, enterprisewide systems. Noted for delivering interoperable systems and applications, Intergraph bases it products on Windows(R), Windows NT and UNIX operating systems. Intergraph Software Solutions (ISS) develops and markets integrated software for the Technical Desktop - the combination of compatible technical applications and personal productivity tools in a single desktop computer. Technical applications include computer-aided design, engineering, analysis, manufacturing, publishing and earth sciences. ISS also provides core system software, high-end applications, and training, consulting and implementation services. -0-

Intergraph, the Intergraph logo and GeoMedia are registered trademarks and FRAMME and GeoMedia Web Map are trademarks of Intergraph Corporation. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Intergraph Software Solutions, Huntsville

Joe Francica, 205/730-8620 or [e-mail]

www.intergraph.com