Cocamar Cooperativa Agroindustrial Improves Productivity Through Wyse Thin Client Installation

Wholesale Upgrade of IT Infrastructure Slashes IT Support Issues

SAN JOSE, Calif. and SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – 05/21/2008 - Cocamar Cooperativa Agroindustrial, an agricultural cooperative in rural Brazil with over 6,800 members, today 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™ 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 Ribeirão 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 Maringá (PR) and also has distribution centers in Curitiba (PR) and São 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.