The Systemhouse International (UK) Ltd arm of Toronto-based integrator SHL Systemhouse Inc says it has been chosen by Brussels-based postal consortium Unipost to develop and install a network initially linking the postal administrations of France, Germany and Ireland. The $5m Community-funded project is intended to enable European postal administrations to track and analyse the movement of mail from country to country, and eventually to drag under-achieving administrations into line with service levels reached by the best-run. Aiming as it is to improve cross-Europe postal services in time for the Single Market next year, some would argue that the three administrations included at the outset are hardly the worst offendors in terms of quality of service. Unipost director of finance and administration Bryan Lee-Smith replies that the decision was made to get the thing off the ground with more advanced administrations such as Deutsche Bundespost, La Poste in France and An Post in Ireland but the goal is rapidly to extend the network to the rest of the Community. Other suppliers involved are Digital Equipment Ireland and AEG Electrocom, AEG AG’s electronic recognition and sorting arm.
