During the past two years, Unisys and the Nova Scotia Department of Housing and Municipal Affairs worked to develop and implement a new electronic registry as defined in the new Personal Property Security Act (PPSA). This legislation is similar to Article nine of the Uniform Commercial Code in the United States. The project provides for transition from a paper-based, labor-intensive registry to a new electronic registry accessible through ACOL. Clients of the registry are now able to register and search information from remote locations, such as their offices and homes. ACOL offers the electronic commerce infrastructure that enables clients to complete registry transactions, including the seamless and secure transfer of electronic funds from client accounts to the appropriate government accounts.

David Wagner, President and CEO of Unisys Canada and the Honourable Guy Brown, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs will host the public launch of ACOL and the Personal Property Registry today at 3:30 PM, Atlantic time.

The ACOL system is specifically designed to provide on-line access by government clients to government databases, and the Personal Property Registry for Nova Scotia is only the first of many applications. "Unisys is committed to helping Atlantic Canada On-Line offer its customers improved access to government services and information," said David Wagner, Unisys Canada president and chief executive officer. "Through joint efforts and by capitalizing on the latest technology, we anticipate a number of other applications to be up-and-running within the next several months."

When personal property -- cars, mobile homes, furniture, airplanes, etc.-- is used as security for a financial arrangement between a borrower and a lender, supporting documents are filed with the Personal Property Registry. Prior to the new system, all information at the registry was paper-based and could only be accessed on a county by county basis via an actual visit to a county registry office. This process resulted in a fragmented, cumbersome and costly processing system. With the new system, the registry maintains a database of information about personal property. Clients are electronically directed to the institution or individual holding the security documents, eliminating the need to manually maintain actual documents within the registry. This new system will streamline operations, and make it easier for businesses and citizens to access information.

"It's a whole new way of doing business. The new Personal Property Registry, through ACOL, is both a technology solution as well as a reform of the legislation and business processes in the Personal Property Registry," said Mr. Brown. "It provides an electronic province-wide registry instead of the old system of 18 paper-centered, county-based registries. It will reduce the time and effort required to register information using a manual process, formerly taking days or weeks, to one that takes just minutes or hours. The new registry exemplifies this government's approach of employing technology in an effective manner, to improve efficiencies and provide quality service to the corporate and consumer communities of this province," Brown added.

In Nova Scotia, the Department of Business and Consumer Services is responsible for leading the government's partnership with ACOL. "This announcement is solid evidence that the ACOL-government partnership is working," said Business and Consumer Services Minister Wayne Gaudet. "Our department has a mandate to make business and individual dealings with government easier, and the registry will certainly do that."

It is anticipated the registry will evolve into an Atlantic regional system where the four provincial governments will operate within a similar legislative, technological and business framework. This cooperative approach is unprecedented in inter-provincial jurisdictions, and responds to the needs expressed by the financial and legal communities.

ACOL is delivered by Unisys and a consortium of partners including: CorporaTel, a leading client support center organization; and Software Kinetics, ISO 9001 certified software engineering company.

Unisys in the Public Sector

Unisys information management solutions are helping governments be more responsive to their citizens in major areas, including social services, justice and public safety, revenue and taxation, customs and postal services. As one of the top providers of commercial information services and technology, Unisys solutions are at work in the U.S. federal government, all 50 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces and more than 1,500 government agencies worldwide.

Unisys Information Services

As one of the three core businesses of Unisys Corporation, Information Services designs, builds, and integrates value-added business solutions that help clients improve their competitive edge and responsiveness to customers. To learn more about Information Services, access http://www.unisys.com/isg on the World Wide Web.

Unisys -- The Information Management Company

Unisys is one of a select group of companies with the portfolio of services, technologies and third party alliances needed to deliver the benefits of information management -- helping clients use their information asset to enhance their competitiveness and responsiveness to customers. Our expertise in information management is founded on the strengths of our three global businesses: consulting, solutions and systems integration; industry-leading technologies; and comprehensive services and products supporting distributed computing environments. Access the Unisys home page on the World Wide Web http://www.unisys.com and the ACOL home page at http://www.acol.ca for further information.

For additional information, contact Dan Baccino, Unisys Corporation (phone 215-986-3507); Lisa Spellman or Ken Day, Copithorne & Bellows (phone 617-450-4300); or Ed LeBlanc, Unisys (phone 506-451-8268).

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26 July 2002