PROCESSORS

ESRI today announced that ESRI France, its French distributor, is supporting the world famous Vendée Globe race with a real-time geographic information system (GIS) mapping display of the participating yachts. ESRI France has been a technical partner in major sailing races originating in French waters since 1998 including the Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques Vabre, and Vendée Globe. The Vendée Globe is a nonstop solo sailing event that circumvents the globe. It is 26,000 miles in length and takes the competitors approximately three months to complete. Competitors start from and finish at es Sables d'Olonne, France, sailing around the world from west to east. The race originated in 1989 and is run every four years. This year's event began on November 7 with 20 entries. A December 21 dispatch on competitor Nick Moloney's Web site describes the harrowing conditions the racers must endure, "A painful few days ahead for the front-runners pounding upwind and trying to avoid icebergs." The GIS implemented by ESRI France allows sailing enthusiasts throughout the world to track the real-time progress of the competitors. In the first month of the race, the servers, powered by ESRI's IMS technology and ArcSDE software on SQL Server, generated more than 20 million maps. Additional information can be found in French on the ESRI France Web site at www.esrifrance.fr under "Site cartographique du Vendée Globe." The Vendée Globe Web site can be found at www.vendeeglobe.org/fr.