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KCT Railway Operations Management Virtualized

Stratus, Railware and VMware combine to reduce server count and improve security at major U.S. terminal

Maynard, MA. and RONKONKOMA, NY, Feb. 12, 2007 – Stratus Technologies, Inc. and Railware, Inc. announced today that the traffic management and control system for one of the nation's largest terminal rail operations is now running as a virtualized application, consolidating multiple functions onto a single fault-tolerant platform.

Located in the geographical heart of the U.S., the Kansas City Terminal Railway Co. (KCT) manages more than 350 train moves daily, interchanging traffic between Class 1* and local railroads. Train dispatchers control terminal traffic from multi-screen workstations utilizing Railware's Enterprise Control and Information Systems (ECIS) application suite. Smooth operation relies on the application logic, SQL server, and front-end processor functions, each of which had been running on its own Windows back-end server. Using VMware Server virtualization technology from VMware with a Stratus® ftServer® 4300 system, Railware created a Windows Server 2003 virtual machine for each function and deployed them on a single fault-tolerant server designed for 99.999 percent uptime reliability.

"We pride ourselves on efficiency, accuracy, and reliability, and we expect that every aspect of our business, no matter how small, operates to the highest standard of service," said Brad Peek, KCT chief financial officer. "The virtualization project managed by our partners at Railware puts us at the forefront of our industry with one of the most beneficial and productive technologies offered up by the high-tech industry in quite some time."

(*Class 1 railroads are the largest, as determined by revenue criteria. The U.S. is home to five and Canada to two Class 1 railroads.)

In addition to developing the rail traffic management and control software, Railware has also managed and maintained KCT's traffic control operations for the past seven years. Last year, Railware certified Stratus ftServer systems to run its software and installed a server at KCT as part of a regular technology upgrade and service optimization project. The virtualization project took shape from there.

"This terminal management application is the definition of 'mission critical,'" said Ross Pirtle, Railware president. "A rail traffic delay can quickly cascade across the country, which can result in lost revenue, increased operating cost of potentially thousands of dollars per hour, and traffic-pattern congestion that can take weeks to stabilize. Transitioning our system to a virtual environment lets us provide levels of security and availability previously not attainable, and disaster recovery is now as easy as copying a file. We feel confident doing this for Kansas City Terminal Railway because of the extremely high levels of reliability provided by the Stratus ftServer hardware and the virtualization software from VMware. We simply would not have created a virtualized system otherwise."

Having virtualized its applications, Railware believes it has a competitive edge and can offer other transportation clients improved availability, security, disaster recovery, performance, flexibility and server capacity utilization with its ECIS software suite and support services.

About Railware, Inc.

Railware, Inc. provides state-of-the art software solutions to the transportation industry, specializing in the development of control and operations management system software. With years of experience in successfully bringing technology solutions to the market and to the customer, the staff at Railware can provide best-in-class support to ensure the systems necessary to facilitate continuously available operations. For more information about Railware, Inc., see www.railware.net.

About Stratus Technologies

Stratus Technologies is a global solutions provider focused exclusively on helping its customers achieve and sustain the availability of information systems that support their critical business processes. Based upon its 25 years of expertise in server and services technology for continuous availability, Stratus is a trusted solutions provider to customers in manufacturing, life sciences, telecommunications, financial services, public safety, transportation & logistics, and other industries. For more information, visit www.stratus.com.

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