ORLANDO, Fla., May 5, 1997 — Today at Microsoft Tech Ed, Ryder Transportation Services, a business unit of Ryder System Inc., joined a growing list of corporations choosing the Microsoft® Visual Basic® development system 5.0, Enterprise Edition, for developing enterprise solutions. Ryder is using Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, Enterprise Edition, to create a set of mission-critical vehicle maintenance applications in conjunction with the Microsoft Windows NT® operating system and Microsoft Transaction Server. Ryder needed a scalable solution because it will deploy the applications to more than 7,000 workstations that service more than 180,000 vehicles, the largest such fleet in the world. Ryder is the leader in providing integrated logistics and transportation solutions enabled by world-class technologies.
Ryder is using Visual Basic 5.0 to meet rigorous system-development schedules and design goals on target and on time, with objectives to implement strategic customer service initiatives, continuously improve business processes and reduce costs associated with process management. Significant performance and productivity enhancements in Visual Basic 5.0 are enabling the Ryder development team to create solutions faster and to offer flexibility in building and distributing components. Advanced performance features in Visual Basic 5.0 – including a native code compiler, multithreaded component creation, and productivity enhancements such as component-based development and a highly productive, intuitive development environment – will enable the company to achieve its design goals and were key elements in the company’s decision.
“This project is a global undertaking that increases our ability to model the best maintenance practices worldwide using the best technologies in the world,” said Mitchell Habib, director of global maintenance technologies at Ryder. “Hands down, Visual Basic 5.0 was the best tool for the project, providing the flexibility, productivity and power necessary to meet our goals and rigorous schedules.”
“Ryder’s reputation has been built on the timeliness and quality of the services they provide their customers,” said Jon Roskill, director of visual basic marketing at Microsoft. “We are delighted that they have chosen Visual Basic, Enterprise Edition, and Windows NT Server as the underpinnings to their worldwide maintenance development strategy. Their choice to use Visual Basic to further raise the bar on core business competencies and global services is evidence that Microsoft is ready for the enterprise.”
Visual Basic 5.0 Delivers Performance and Productivity Across the Board
Ryder wanted to re-create a world-class vehicle maintenance system that will handle maintenance activities including these:
-
Planning and scheduling vehicle maintenance
-
Work order and task management
-
Parts purchasing and inventory management
-
Vehicle repair history and specification analysis
-
Customer communications
“This system will enable our maintenance service team leaders and technicians to provide increased customer service,” said David McClymont, group manager, global maintenance technologies at Ryder. “Technicians will have immediate access to a virtual ‘Ryder Universal Bay’ that will provide access to vehicle information regardless of where a vehicle travels.”
Component-Based Development Enables Flexibility
A key factor to the success of Ryder’s Shop 3.0 vehicle maintenance applications is the flexibility offered by Visual Basic 5.0 component-based development. Ryder will develop for a variety of implementations starting with day-to-day operations and strategic customer initiatives, and eventually will update some legacy systems with Microsoft enterprise solutions.. Visual Basic 5.0 component-based development with ActiveX
™
technologies offers these advantages:
-
Code reuse. This increases developers’ productivity by enabling them to build reusable components that can be leveraged by other developers.
-
Team-based development. Large project teams can be broken into smaller teams, making it easier to manage projects and mitigating the risks associated with large projects.
-
Deployment flexibility. Application components can be deployed on client, distributed server and central server locations.
About Ryder
Ryder is the world’s leading provider of integrated logistics and transportation solutions that enable businesses to improve customer service, reduce inventory and speed products to market. These benefits are becoming increasingly important to businesses as they achieve parity in more traditional competitive arenas such as product price and product quality. Ryder is an international, market-driven company focused on two core competencies – logistics and asset management – which are leveraged across all of its business units including integrated logistics, full-service truck leasing, lease financing, commercial truck rental, finished vehicle distribution and public transportation services. It is the world’s largest full-service truck leasing company, with nearly 1,000 locations serving approximately 13,000 customers and 180,000 vehicles in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Brazil and Argentina. For more information, visit the Web site at (http://www.ryder.com/) .
About Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0
Visual Basic 5.0 is Microsoft’s flagship product for its new developer tools suite, the Visual Studio
™
97 development system. As the premier rapid application development tool, Microsoft Visual Basic is used by more than 3 million developers. Microsoft Visual Basic is the most efficient tool for creating traditional client/server and Web-based applications and components. For more information, visit the Visual Basic Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/vbasic/
Microsoft TechEd is the definitive technical conference for building complete solutions with Microsoft technologies.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Visual Basic, Windows NT, ActiveX and Visual Studio are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages
