BRUSSELS, June 11, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The European Commission has chosen the consortium headed by Fi SYSTEM, the new technology integrator and the leader in multi-access solutions in Europe, to strengthen its Internet communication and information strategy.
Its know-how in Internet technology, its expertise in European Affairs and its perfect command of all eleven official languages of the European Community were all strong assets that led the European Commission to select the consortium of Fi SYSTEM, its Belgian subsidiary ASCII and GPlus Europe. This ambitious project aims to ensure that the general public is better informed about European issues and to communicate more effectively with the citizens of the European Union.
The contract reinforces ASCII's position as marketleader for information and communication on issues related to the European Institutions. Apart from the daily update of the Europa site (http://europe.eu.int), ASCII will also produce texts on all the policies of the European Union and conceive, create and manage multilingual portals and Web sites. ASCII will also support the Commission in its bid to move closer to European citizens and will help with the creation of interactive communication on the sites, part of the concept of creating an eCommission.
The contract signed between ASCII and the Directorate General Press and Communication of the European Commission runs for five years (47 persons implicated) and is worth some EUR 20m. It is the biggest contract ever signed by the Fi SYSTEM Group and is an example of a strategy offering a complete range of services from technology development to content editing.
"It's excellent news for Fi SYSTEM's positioning vis-a-vis the European institutions," said Dominique Orban de Xivry, director of ASCII. "The Brussels team is now eager to mobilise all its resources on the project which starts in July."
The European Union's Web site, Europa, is one of the largest sites of any institution (with more than a million documents on line) and is one of the most consulted sites in the world (more than 350 million hits a month).
Created in 1984 and a subsidiary of Fi SYSTEM since February 2000, ASCII is a highly valued partner of both the European Parliament and the European Commission. Specialised in content creation and management, ASCII is set apart from its competitors due to its particularly well-qualified technical and editorial team of around 60 people as well as its multicultural environment. More than fifteen different nationalities are represented in ASCII. These considerable assets make the Brussels based company a market leader.
About Fi SYSTEM (www.fisystem.com)
Fi SYSTEM, EUROCLEAR: 6588, the Consulting and Services company integrating new technologies into the core of the Information System of major European companies, places the experience and expertise of its European teams at the service of the projects of French and international key accounts in the areas of distributed architecture, Web-based (thin client) systems and multi-channel problems. This expertise, which has been accumulated over the course of the past 10 years through more than 2000 projects and missions, allows Fi SYSTEM consultants to accompany clients in everything from Consulting (Technological, Marketing and Functional Consulting) to Application Management, by proposing complete services for the realization of project ownership based on new technologies (J2EE and Microsoft .NET application servers, Open Source, technical frameworks, functional and technical urbanization of Information Systems, dedicated software packages or specific developments).
Fi SYSTEM has been chosen by more than 60% of the French CAC 40 and by 25% of companies listed on the Eurostoxx 50 (such as AGF, Alcatel, Axa, Altadis, BNP-Paribas, British Telecom, Credit Lyonnais, EADS, European Commission, France Telecom, Heinz, Interrail, LVMH, Michelin, PSA Group, PPR, Procter & Gamble, Rai, Renault, RoyalMail, SNCF or Vivendi Universal) and was ranked number 1 integrator specializing in e-business and new technologies (2001 rankings from the PAC and Markess research agencies) in the French Top 20 and European Top 120 fastest growing companies, all sectors included, in the European Fast 500 Trophy, organized by Deloitte & Touche.
Fi SYSTEM has offices in France, the U.K., Belgium and Italy. Fi SYSTEM, which is registered on the Paris Stock Exchange (Nouveau marche de la Bourse de Paris -- EUROCLEAR: 6588; Reuters: FISY.LN; Bloomberg: FIS NM) is a member of the IT CAC 50 and of the Euronext NextEconomy segment.
To contact Thierry Thevenet by telephone, simply contact Virginie Heuze, at Press Relations.