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  • Unisys ES7000 servers at Medscheme deliver five times the performance of RISC servers at one-third the price

Unisys ES7000 servers at Medscheme deliver five times the performance of RISC servers at one-third the price

Leading health fund manager deploys Unisys ES7000s to replace previous RISC-based servers; will use excess capacity to consolidate multiple UNIX and Windows NT-based servers
By Unisys
Johannesburg, 13 Feb 2001

The Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES7000 systems at Medscheme, South Africa`s largest health fund manager are in production and delivering phenomenal performance and price advantages compared to the systems they replaced, Unisys said today.

Medscheme is using its 32-processor ES7000 to speed the processing of over 6 million health claim transactions a month submitted by over 2 million member beneficiaries, resulting in faster claims payment. The new system delivers five times the online transaction performance of the 24-processor RISC-based system previously used to support the claims processing solution.

At one-third the price of a RISC-based upgrade to the system it replaces, the Unisys ES7000 enables Medscheme to accommodate forecasted growth in new customers and managed healthcare administration cost-effectively, while maintaining high levels of customer service. The ES7000 at Medscheme runs Caldera`s UnixWare Data Center Edition operating system.

The industry-standard Intel technology on which the Unisys ES7000 is based helps Medscheme take advantage of enterprise-class scalability and reliability without being locked into proprietary technology from a single vendor.

Medscheme has also purchased a 16-processor Unisys ES7000 for disaster recovery, solutions development and quality assurance.

Based on the revolutionary Unisys Cellular MultiProcessing (CMP) architecture, the ES7000 provides an array of capabilities required for enterprise-class e-business computing and well known to users of large-scale computers, but unprecedented in environments using Microsoft and Intel technology. A de facto standard architecture in the market for large-scale Intel-based servers, CMP technology has become the lead platform for enterprise Intel based computing.

"Unisys was able to demonstrate superior system performance with its Intel-based architecture compared to our previous RISC-based server," said Medscheme`s Group IT director, Hankie Vogel. "This consideration, coupled with a considerably lower cost of purchase, support and growth, had a significant impact on our final decision to implement Unisys ES7000 technology."

Designed for the power of future Intel IA-64 Itanium processors, the ES7000 today accommodates up to 32 Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, which can be field-upgraded to IA-64 Itanium when that technology becomes available or combined with Itanium processors in the same server. These advantages enable the ES7000 to match the performance of proprietary systems in enterprise-class e-business and other critical applications at a fraction of the price.

"Nothing is as effective in measuring server performance and cost effectiveness than actual customer experience in executing day-to-day operations," said Barry Holt, Managing Director of Unisys Africa. "This signals to enterprise users that the Unisys ES7000 can compete on a performance basis with mainframes and high-end RISC UNIX platforms, while using industry-standard technology that gives customers maximum flexibility in solutions deployment."

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Medscheme

Founded in 1971, Medscheme is South Africa`s largest independent health fund manager. It has branches in over 27 locations in the country, and won the 2000 SA Non Listed Company Award.

Medscheme`s clients include South Africa`s top 100 companies, as well as small and medium-sized employers, union workers and state employees. It has a member base of over 900 000 member families in 5 countries.

Unisys

Unisys is an e-business solutions company whose 36,000 employees help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy.

Unisys people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organizations for success in this new era.

The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys e-@ction Solutions for e-business based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multivendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies.

The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers.

Unisys is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area.

For more information on the company, access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web at www.unisys.com.

Investor information can be found at www.unisys.com/investor.