Benefits Include Better Data Collection Workflow and Improved Data Management

Redlands and Sunnyvale, California—March 17, 2009—ESRI and Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced that American Water (NYSE: AWK), the largest investor-owned water utility in the United States, has selected the GeoCollector and Trimble GPS Pathfinder ProXH receiver solutions for field data collection. The GeoCollector and ProXH solutions combine geographic information system (GIS) software and Global Positioning System (GPS) hardware that make it easy to collect subfoot position and descriptive information about assets in the field and efficiently transfer the information to a utility's central database.

The GeoCollector solution combines ESRI's ArcPad mobile data collection software, the Trimble GPScorrect extension for ArcPad, and the Trimble GeoXH handheld from the GeoExplorer 2008 series GPS unit. The Trimble ProXH GPS receiver solution is used in conjunction with a field computer and Trimble's GPScorrect extension for ArcPad. Both solutions provide better information and streamline data collection workflows to reduce data management costs and provide a highly accurate method for collecting positional data.

"With GeoCollector or ProXH, we can collect utility as-built information quickly in the field and efficiently incorporate it into our central GIS," said Mark Khodash, GIS applications project manager for New Jersey American Water. "This gives us a faster turnaround for updating our asset data, getting better information back out to our field personnel and, ultimately, better service to our customers." American Water serves approximately 15 million customers in 32 states.

Michael Gray, operations and maintenance manager of American Water field operations, said, “The move also gives us the flexibility to add new GIS capabilities as we grow our system.”

The GeoCollector and ProXH solutions leverage standardization on ESRI GIS technology, which includes ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server. "Standardizing on ESRI software, along with GeoCollector and ProXH, provides benefits in the areas of asset management, operational planning, sharing information with field-workers, and creating a comprehensive view of assets and operations for managers," said Howard Crothers, senior account executive for ESRI.

Two additional considerations for choosing the GeoCollector and ProXH products were ESRI's coordinated national purchasing and technical support services and the precise accuracy of the Trimble GPS unit.

"We are delighted that American Water chose a Trimble-ESRI solution to fulfill their spatial data collection requirements for subfoot accuracy and that it is already reporting significant productivity gains from the solution," said Peter Large, general manager, Trimble Mapping and GIS Division.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and governments significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety, and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers, and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
For more information, visit Trimble's Web site at www.trimble.com.

About ESRI

Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com.



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Susan Harp
ESRI
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