Unisys to Automate Florida's Traffic Citation System.

BLUE BELL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 1997--

State Becomes First In The U.S. To Address Electronic Creation

and Processing of Traffic Citations

Unisys Corporation's Information Services Group Thursday announced it has been awarded a $6.2 million contract from the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers to implement the TCATS (Traffic Citation Accounting and Transmission System) across Florida's 67 counties.

Under the terms of the agreement, Unisys will provide a total solution, including hardware, software and systems integration services.

A first-in-the-nation effort, TCATS combines mobile computing, advanced communications and imaging technologies that will enable the State of Florida to process faster and more efficiently the 3 million-plus traffic citations its law enforcement agencies dispense on a yearly basis.

"TCATS is a collaborative venture among the State of Florida, the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers, and Unisys," said Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Information Systems Director, Randy Esser. "TCATS will help us to collect traffic violation data faster and with greater accuracy, while improving statewide revenue accountability."

Faster than a speeding motorist

During the project's pilot phase, 20 Florida Highway Patrol troopers, who now manually write traffic tickets, will be armed with pen-based laptop computers and printers. The laptops, embedded with handwriting recognition software, will "recognize" the troopers' hand printing and automatically convert it to easily readable text.

While the offending motorist will receive a print out of his or her violation on-site, an electronic copy of the citation will be sent through a communications switch over a high-speed statewide network operated by the Florida Association of Court Clerks and nomptrollers, and then routed to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) and the appropriate county's Clerk of Courts.

The "electronic" citation will reach its destinations within hours - instead of days. Additionally, data will need to be captured only once, greatly improving accuracy and reducing the need to re-key statistical and citation inventory data (tracking of ticket identification numbers), now a common practice.

"TCATS represents an important first, not just for Florida, but for every state in the U.S.," said Warren McGhin, vice president, Unisys Justice and Public Safety Practice. "Improvements in issuing and processing traffic citations will ultimately lead to safer highways and help capture lost revenue. Unisys is proud to be a part of this project."

Due to their key role as the primary point for payment on traffic citations, the Clerks of Court have actively pursued improvements in systems and processing for several years. TCATS is the latest step in a long-standing and productive partnership between the Clerks and DHSMV.

TCATS will be the first comprehensive solution that will improve accuracy and speed processing for clerks and law enforcement personnel in all counties.

"This is a very exciting project for all of us," said President Ed Brooks, of the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Clerk of Court for Putnam County.

He added, "We have expectations for collecting more money on many of those hand-written tickets that are currently unreadable and, at the same time, getting information out faster to DHSMV. The clerks are in the lead on improving operations between the counties and the state government."

A flexible solution

TCATS' modular, expandable client/server architecture will allow each Florida county to custom configure its own on-site system.

Any combination of Traffic, Civil, Probate and Cashiering System modules may be integrated in TCATS, plus a number of selective options, from an integrated voice response system that will allow motorists to pay citation fines by credit card over a touch-tone phone, to an imaging application that enables high-speed "heads-up" data entry of citation data.

Unisys in the Public Sector

Unisys information management solutions are helping governments be more responsive to their citizens in major areas, including social services, justice and public safety, revenue and taxation, customs and postal services.

As one of the top providers of commercial information services and technology, Unisys solutions are at work in the U.S. federal government, all 50 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces and more than 1,500 government agencies worldwide.

Unisys Information Services

As one of the three core businesses of Unisys Corporation, Information Services designs, builds, and integrates business solutions that help clients improve their competitive edge and responsiveness to customers. To learn more about Information Services, access www.unisys.com/isg on the World Wide Web.

Unisys -- The Information Management Company

Unisys is one of a select group of companies with the portfolio of services, technologies and third party alliances needed to deliver the benefits of information management -- helping clients use their information asset to enhance their competitiveness and responsiveness to customers.

Our expertise in information management is founded on the strengths of our three global businesses: consulting, solutions and systems integration; industry-leading technologies; and comprehensive services and products supporting distributed computing environments. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web -- http://www.unisys.com -- for further information. -0-

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CONTACT: Unisys Corp.

Dan Baccino, 215/986-3507

Internet: [e-mail]

or

Copithorne & Bellows

Ken Day, Lisa Spellman, 617/450-4300

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