Commerce

Spectria, a leading technology consulting firm, has developed a prototype of a new, knowledge-management-based information portal called SmartShips, for Modern Maritime, Inc., a professional services company for the marine industry.

Upon full implementation, this new portal, based on Microsoft's new Share- Point knowledge management server, will provide the marine industry's first-ever online regulatory compliance and quality management consulting service based on an easy-to-use enterprise software system. The new Modern Maritime portal model can be applied to other heavily regulated industries where safety, quality and environmental management systems are pervasive.

Spectria provides expertise in many facets of eBusiness development and implementation for corporations, government agencies and academic institutions across the United States and around the world. "The Modern Maritime portal is an excellent example of how one of the oldest industries in the world can benefit from advances in eBusiness technology," said Luis Curet, vice president, Spectria. "This new portal will dramatically reduce the time needed to complete the appropriate regulatory paperwork and give professional mariners greater efficiencies to help them improve the bottom line. The underlying technology infrastructure for this portal can serve as a model for other industries faced with a high degree of regulatory compliance for ongoing operations." "We're pleased with the result our new information portal has achieved to streamline the complex paperwork required in the maritime industry," said Captain Jamie Clarkson, president and CEO, Modern Maritime. "Spectria was able to expand our management system concept into a working prototype in less than 30 days. The rapid development time combined with the system's ease-of-use have exceeded all of our expectations.'" Optimizing Microsoft's SharePoint Knowledge Management Server, Spectria deployed Microsoft's new SharePoint knowledge management server to deploy the portal as a Web-based application, a task not originally intended by Microsoft.

The SharePoint search engine provided a structured search result scheme that was ideal for Modern Maritime. Spectria further produced a complete and comprehensive document change history record, helping users work with the most recent documents available for processing industry regulatory paperwork.

Modern Maritime, Inc. is a professional services company specializing in innovative solutions for marine management systems, regulatory compliance and marine information systems. Modern Maritime is headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H. with personnel located throughout North America and the Caribbean.

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