MapInfo Corp has just licensed its ProServer intranet server application suite to British Telecommunications Plc, to provide the mapping functionality in its Touchpoint multimedia kiosks (CI No 2,890). Two hundred of the kiosks, manufactured by ICL Plc, went on trial in London last October, each featuring a color touch screen and printer to receive vouchers, coupons and maps plus a Freefone telephone line that gives access to the vendors of goods and services featured on-screen. MapInfo ProServer provides the capability to answer queries entered by users. When a query is made, it is transmitted to a server at British Telecom on which ProServer resides, and it in turn is triggered to generate a map corresponding to the input data. Depending on the results of the trial, there are plans for a further 10,000 kiosks to be placed in locations such as train stations, hotels and shopping centers. Last month MapInfo agreed to give ProServer support to Windows NT on Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha servers (CI No 3,092). The servers in use at British Telecom are Pentium Pro systems from Hewlett-Packard Co.
