COCAMAR COOPERATIVE IMPROVES PRODUCTIVITY WITH WYSE.

Cocamar Cooperativa Agroindustrial, an agricultural cooperative in rural Brazil with over 6,800 members, has announced a dramatic IT upgrade. One very large component to this overhaul was the replacement of desktop computers with Wyse Technology thin clients. To date, 400 thin clients have been installed, with the plan to have over 600 operating by 2009. Both companies are currently appearing at Citrix Synergy(TM) in Houston, Texas. Cocamar Cooperativa Agroindustrial is the winner of this year's Citrix Innovation Award.

Through their investment in Wyse hardware, software and services, Cocamar has solved one of its primary IT hindrances: reducing the intense need for desktop maintenance. Through the introduction of Wyse thin clients, Cocamar has slashed IT support time from 70 percent to 30 percent.

Cocamar is responsible for adding value to agricultural products. It performs extraction of oils and bran, refining and packing of oils, relies on the textile thread industry, has an operation of vegetable residues, performs roasting and milling of coffee and has a mineral salt plant. In order to achieve this, Cocamar has several plants, such as: fruit juices/nectars; soybean-based drinks; frozen fruits and concentrated fruit juice; vegetable creams and sauces; timber preservation and a warehouse chain.

According to Marcos Takehiro Enomoto, IT Manager for Cocamar, desktop support was particularly troubling during seeding and harvesting seasons. "Because of the harsh environment around planting and harvest, including large quantities of dust and soot, the IT team would routinely prepare to handle at least twice the usual amount of technical assistance issues. Because of the reliability of our Wyse thin clients, the last harvest went by without a single technical support call here in IT."

At the suggestion of the LCS dealer in Ribeirao Preto (SP), who specializes in centralized platforms for thin computing, Cocamar deployed Wyse S10 models, based on Wyse Thin OS, the high performance operating system for thin clients.

Enomoto was particularly surprised with the immediate benefits of the implementation: a 40 percent reduction in electricity consumption; significant reduction in maintenance and technical support in workstations; definition of user groups according to roles; increase in information safety with the elimination of viruses and hacker attacks; remote application updates and, consequently, substantial productivity gains.

"Before the centralized platform in servers with Wyse desktops, the IT team would spend 70 percent of our time solving routine technical problems. Today, 70 percent of our time is focused on creating improvements for the Cooperative, both in technological as in management solutions. During the remaining 30 percent of our time, we perform technical support and solve problems within our area," declared Enomoto.

"Desktop maintenance is a serious problem for many companies, and one that is particularly troublesome for Cocamar given the environmental conditions," said Maryam Alexandrian, SVP Worldwide Sales for Wyse Technology. "Given the speed with which many agricultural products need to come to market, the last thing Cocamar's members need is to spend time with tech support. To help reduce IT support issues in such dramatic fashion is very gratifying."

Cocamar has 41 business units distributed in the region of Maringa (PR) and also has distribution centers in Curitiba (PR) and Sao Paulo (capital and countryside), in addition to countless sales representatives in the Southeast and South regions. Due to this decentralized environment, the network is linked via MPLS and the Data Center is located in Curitiba, which also hosts ERP systems, e-mail, internet and three Citrix servers. Cocamar's IT team has 34 employees, including third-party. From these, only eight are from the IT infrastructure area.

About Cocamar

Amongst the main Brazilian cooperatives, Cocamar Cooperativa Agroindustrial, with a modern and agile structure, has a large and diversified group of industries where it processes virtually everything that is received. It also has a network of representatives for receiving agricultural products, commercializing production assets and providing services in over 30 cities in Parana.

The cooperative is responsible for adding value to agricultural products. With this, it performs the extraction of oils and bran, refining and packaging of oils, textile thread industry, mixers for vegetable waste, coffee roasting and milling and a mineral salt plant.

Cocamar has several plants, such as Fruit Juices/Nectars; Soybean-based Drinks; Concentrated and Frozen Fruit Juice; Vegetable Creams and Sauces; Timber Preservation Plant and Warehouse Chains.

For more information, visit: http://www.cocamar.com.br.

About LCS

LCS is located in Ribeirao Preto, a city in the countryside of Sao Paulo. Established in 2000, the company, with branch offices in Goiania and Curitiba provides IT integrated solutions with highly reliable products from leading companies in the world, providing the best results in Security, Access Infrastructure, Thin Clients, Servers and Storage.

For more information, visit http://www.lcstech.com.br.

About Wyse

Wyse Technology is the global leader in thin computing. Wyse and its partners deliver the hardware, infrastructure software, and services that comprise thin computing, allowing people to access the information they need using the applications they want, with better security, manageability, and at a much lower total cost of ownership than a PC. Thin computing allows CIOs and senior IT professionals to reduce costs, manage risk, and deliver access to information. Wyse partners closely with industry leaders Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, and others to achieve this objective. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices worldwide.

For more information, visit http://www.wyse.com or http://www.wyse.com/brasil or call 1-800-GET-WYSE.