The Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is set to go live with an e-commerce portal based on technology developed and supplied by Solit SA as part of its drive to align itself with that country's New Economy vision.
The facility, established in 1985 by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's Crown Prince and United Arab Emirates Minister of Defence, is one of the world's top veterinary research centres, offering a range of diagnostic and testing services to customers throughout the Gulf.
The CVRL will be able to track and process all procedures handled in its laboratories through the portal, from notification of dispatch of samples to receipt of results via the Web. Researchers will be able to process the results of all diagnostic tests performed and prescribe solutions in real-time.
The tools will also be configured to provide a comprehensive in-house laboratory system for the management of information and results, and to provide a full set of e-commerce capabilities.
"Customers of the laboratory can submit, track and view results of the tests through the Internet. This will enable greater transparency in CVRL's operations, while reducing the need to answer constant routine customer inquiries," says Renate Wernery, CVRL's project manager.
Development of the portal started in April and the first phase of the project will go live in November.
John Willson, senior accounts manager at Solit Middle East, says: "The CVRL, although not a formal government department, wanted to align itself with the Sheikh's mandate that all state departments must be e-enabled by October." Willson says the CRVL opted for the Solit solution after presentations from Solit Middle East convinced management at the facility that the tools were ideally positioned to meet their needs.
Willson notes: "The CRVL initially considered developing the system using its own in-house resources. However, it estimates that implementing the Solit tools instead of building the portal from scratch will accelerate the development of the system by four years."
The deal is a key one for Solit in the Middle East, because of the prestige attached to the CRVL and its focus on using leading technology to support its operations, adds Willson.
The system is based on Solit's CORePORT Portal Server and CORePORT Screen Generator Server software and runs on Microsoft Windows 2000, Internet Information Server and SQL Server. Solit Middle East will host the system on its high-end Intel-based server farm at its offices in Dubai Internet city, and the CRVL and its clients will access it through the Internet.
The South African-developed Solit CORePORT Server Suite is Solit's flagship product in international markets, including the Middle East, the UK, and Scandanavia.
Solit established its operation in the United Arab Emirates in 1999. Since then, the firm has signed up a number of customers, including Air Charter International, Department of Planning, Gargash Life Division and the Al Jimi Shopping Center.
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