Palo Alto, California. February 27, 1996
A Hewlett-Packard Company/Oracle client/server solution will help Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) compete in the deregulating utilities marketplace, the companies today announced.
BGE is migrating its financial applications from a legacy IBM mainframe environment to an HP/Oracle solution. The new HP system, which uses Oracle's Cooperative Financial Applications, is designed to allow BGE to better understand the cost of its products and services for customers and to provide timely information for decision makers in the company.
"BGE's corporate cost-control and accounting systems were built nearly 20 years ago," said Gene Taylor, Business Information System (BIS) project manager for Baltimore Gas & Electric. "In today's competitive marketplace, those systems don't provide the flexibility we need to stay competitive. We need a more flexible system that will give users timely, business-critical information. The implementation of the HP/Oracle solution will be a key milestone from the standpoint of BGE's overall migration to a client/server environment."
The Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 created a marketplace in which utilities are now competing on a wholesale level. To survive in this new business climate, BGE asked Price Waterhouse to help it determine which software and hardware platforms would allow the company to meet new customer demands most successfully.
On Price Waterhouse's recommendation, BGE decided to replace its existing cost-management system, which lacked the flexibility to keep pace with changing needs and also prevented timely access to data. The new solution offers an activity-based cost-management system that allows users to view project and activity costs across the company and other necessary dimensions.
After defining its key business and IT objectives for the new financial system, BGE searched for an IT partner that would help to create a solution to meet BGE's overall information-systems strategy for the future.
"We looked for an IT partner who understood our goals and was willing to work cooperatively with us to implement the system," said Taylor. "The IT partner also had to have a clear understanding of client/server environments and open-systems architecture. We chose HP for its willingness to partner with BGE and Oracle to provide a total solution that met all our business-critical criteria."
Using an HP 9000 Model T500 server for data repository, BGE employees will be able to access Oracle's Cooperative Applications from PCs for timely information regarding project and activity costs, accounts payable, purchasing and inventory.
HP's Professional Services Organization (PSO) is providing consulting on BGE's network architecture to ensure that the applications run smoothly on the new system. PSO also is providing systems training for BGE employees operating the Model T500 server.
With assets of nearly $8 billion and approximately 8,000 employees, BGE combines a core utility business with diversified, non-utility operations. It serves more than 1 million business and residential customers in an economically diverse, 2,300-square-mile territory encompassing Baltimore City and all or part of 10 Central Maryland counties.
BGE has recently entered into a merger agreement with Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO). Once the merger is approved, the new company -- Constellation Energy Corp. -- will become the nation's ninth-largest utility. This HP/Oracle solution will be a key part of the new company's overall business and customer support strategy.
In 1993, HP focused its effort toward meeting the needs of the utility industry to address growing market demand for open-systems, client/server solutions. Deregulation of the utility industry in the United States and United Kingdom and the need to meet growing demand for electricity in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa have created a significant market opportunity for HP's leading, open, client/server computing solutions. HP's Utilities Business Practice is supported by a dedicated group of professionals with industry-specific knowledge.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 105,200 employees and had revenue of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.