Rocky Mountaineer Vacations Takes Aim at a Moving Target With Cisco SMB Wireless Solution

Premiere Canadian Tour Operator Improves Business Efficiency With High Security Wireless Functionality

VANCOUVER, BC - October 3, 2006 - Rocky Mountaineer Vacations (RMV), an award-winning Canadian provider of premiere travel, is boosting efficiency with a wireless solution from Cisco Systems with enhanced security features. The Cisco solution - providing wireless security capabilities, management, mobility and connectivity to data and business applications - was implemented by Compugen Inc.

As part of the Armstrong Hospitality Group Ltd., RMV offers rail and motor coach services, sightseeing tours and hotel accommodations. The company’s rail travel operation transports 140,000 travelers during the April-to-October vacation season, throughout British Columbia and Alberta. The company is undergoing major growth, expanding its rail routes and exploring new technologies, including wireless solutions, for its business processes and travel customer offerings.

In addition to vacation packages, RMV draws significant revenue from food, beverage and souvenir sales. These services are facilitated by a point-of-sale (POS) solution located in train cars and rail stations that captures and stores data while the train is in motion until it can be transmitted from a wireless access point. RMV received slow, unreliable service from its previous wireless solution - sometimes waiting up to four days to receive data - impeding business processes.

In spring 2006, the company turned to Compugen, a Cisco Silver Certified and Wireless LAN Specialized Partner, to explore larger-scale wireless solutions that would provide a reliable infrastructure for its POS solution.

“We knew there was major potential for success with wireless,” said Ben Guanzon, director of IT for Rocky Mountaineer Vacations. “When we approached Compugen for a reliable, highly secure solution with high availability and a proven reputation, their response was, ’You have to go with Cisco.’”

After undertaking a full survey with Cisco wireless-site survey equipment, Compugen implemented a Cisco wireless network solution (802.11b), including Cisco Aironet® 1300 Series access points with integrated antennas. This was an ideal equipment choice as it is configurable for access point roles, offers enhanced security mechanisms, and is optimized for harsh outdoor environments with extended operating temperature range.

Despite facing a tight deadline in the midst of RMV’s travel season, Compugen successfully completed the first-of-its-kind deployment at each RMV site.

“The rugged terrain and openness of Rocky Mountaineer Vacations’ train station environments made this one of the most complex wireless implementations we’ve ever undertaken,” said Terry Mirza, senior client executive at Compugen. “Despite challenging environmental factors and tight deployment timelines, we’ve proven what amazing things can be accomplished through strong partnership and best-in-class technology.”

“When most people think about business uses for wireless technology, they think in terms of a traditional office environment,” said David De Abreu, vice president of commercial operations at Cisco Systems. “The Rocky Mountaineer Vacations implementation is a great example of what a little creative thinking and openness to new technologies can do for any business from an operational and customer service point of view.”

Compugen continues to work with RMV to help ensure coverage saturation and expand the capabilities of its solution, including offering wireless connectivity for both staff and guests during travel.

“Our growth has taught us we need to be flexible and open-minded about every area of our business, particularly when it comes to technology,” said Guanzon. “Compugen is a company that shares that philosophy and Cisco is the perfect partner to help us accomplish our goals.”
About Rocky Mountaineer Vacations

Rocky Mountaineer Vacations offers year-round Canadian vacation packages and is best known for the world-acclaimed Rocky Mountaineer train, a two-day, all daylight rail journey between Canada’s West and the Canadian Rockies. Since its inception in 1990, the company has become the largest privately owned passenger rail service in North America and has hosted over 900,000 guests from around the world. In May 2006, RMV expanded its rail network to four when it premiered two additional Western Canadian rail routes, the Whistler Mountaineer train and the Rocky Mountaineer Fraser Discovery Route. RMV was honoured with a World Travel Award as “World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train” in 2005 and 2006. With sales representation in 18 countries, the company has established an international reputation attracting guests from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe.
About Compugen, Inc.

Compugen, one of the largest Canadian-owned IT solutions providers, has been providing practical, real-world IT infrastructure solutions since it was founded in 1981 by current president and CEO Dr. Harry Zarek. Today, Compugen’s experienced team of IT professionals helps medium and large corporations and government agencies across Canada with enterprise-level solutions that optimize IT costs and leverage technology for better business results. Compugen offers a complete design-build-run-maintain lifecycle suite of professional IT services and is a top-level partner in Canada for Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Citrix, Cisco, Tripwire and other technology leaders. Complete information on Compugen and its comprehensive range of IT solutions and services can be found at www.compugen.com.
About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing Canadian news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/global/canada/index.html.

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