Boston-Based Marketing Database Associates Inc. To Establish Europe's First Web-Based Voice Interactive Customer Service Center in Northern Ireland.Business Editors BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2000 Marketing Database Associates Inc. (MDA (1) (Monochrome Display Adapter) The first IBM PC monochrome video display standard for text. Due to its lack of graphics, MDA cards were often replaced with Hercules cards, which provided both text and graphics. See PC display modes and Hercules Graphics. ), of Rockland, Mass., a leading provider of marketing management services, will invest more than $15 million in a new Web-based customer service and data technology center in Derry, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland: see Ireland, Northern. Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland occupying the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. Area: 5,461 sq mi (14,144 sq km). Population (2001): 1,685,267. , the Industrial Development Board (IDB (ITS Data Bus) An interface between devices in an automobile endorsed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Designed to fulfill the goal of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), the ITS Data Bus enables engine diagnostic equipment, GPS navigation systems, ) for Northern Ireland announced here today. The new center -- the first of its kind in Europe and only the third worldwide -- will provide MDA clients with interactive, Web-enabled services, said Timothy J. Maroney Jr., president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of MDA. The state of the art customer care technology, WebCall(TM), will offer e-mail, on-line chat and Voice-Over Internet Protocol See Internet and TCP/IP. (networking) Internet Protocol - (IP) The network layer for the TCP/IP protocol suite widely used on Ethernet networks, defined in STD 5, RFC 791. IP is a connectionless, best-effort packet switching protocol. (VOIP (Voice Over IP) A digital telephone service that uses the public Internet as well as private backbones instead of the traditional telephone network. Many companies, including Vonage, 8x8 and AT&T (CallVantage), typically offer calling within the country for a ), where customers can speak directly with a customer service representative. "Northern Ireland is the right place for MDA," Maroney said. "The e-business advantages we discovered in the region, including an extensive, well-educated work force and high-speed digital communications Transmitting text, voice and video in binary form. See communications. network, will help us deliver industry-leading customer service technology. For the first time, our clients will be able to increase customer satisfaction and retention on-line, a major problem until now. The Derry call center will be part of our wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , MDA Europe, Ltd., and will position us to offer WebCall and other database technologies at competitive rates to clients in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Europe." MDA, which provides database and direct marketing program management services to companies in the energy, automotive and healthcare industries, is the latest in a growing number of Boston-area information technology companies to invest in Northern Ireland. Other Boston-area investors include: Liberty Mutual, Segue Software, Stream International and Raytheon. IDB will provide MDA with an employment and training grant to help finance the company's Derry operation. In announcing the grant, IDB's CEO, Bruce Robinson said: "We welcome MDA's investment as the latest in a series of significant endorsements of Derry as a world-class e-business location. MDA, Stream and Segue, as well as TeleTech Holdings of Denver, are among a growing group of customer relationship management companies that are relying on Northern Ireland's steady supply of people with skill sets in both customer care and information technology." Maroney will join other Boston-area business leaders along with IDB's Robinson during a breakfast briefing and panel discussion today, November 16, at Boston College's Shea Room, to highlight trade and investment opportunities in Northern Ireland for New England companies. The event, co-sponsored by IDB and the Massachusetts Port Authority Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, is a port district in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It operates the airports, seaport, and Mystic River Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding areas. (Massport), in association with Boston College's Irish Institute, will focus on e-business in Northern Ireland. The panel will include executives of Liberty Mutual, which operates a software development facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Amacis, a customer relationship management software company with operations in both Boston and Belfast. The conference will be joined by a trade delegation of approximately 30 Northern Ireland companies from a broad range of industries including software and technology. British Consul General George Fergusson will deliver opening remarks. IDB provides support for companies that invest in Northern Ireland. Boston is home to one of IDB's five North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. offices. The others are located in Atlanta, Chicago, San Jose and Toronto. Established in 1992, MDA has made a name for itself by being first to market with new technologies that provide customized marketing solutions for its clients. They include Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, Nissan North America, Inc., Commonwealth Edison, Keyspan Energy and Bostongas. Among the company's solutions is marketingdata.com(R), a business-to-business Internet and e-business portal that enables utilities and deregulated energy service companies to generate new revenues through localized e-business infrastructures on existing client web sites. The new Northern Ireland facility will handle a significant portion of customer service requests generated by the marketingdata.com portal. |
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