PRESS RELEASE
November 10, 2008
E-Mail: John@rosepointnav.com
Rose Point’s New ECS Software! Redmond, WA - November 10, 2008 Rose Point Navigation Systems today announced the release of Rose Point ECS, a new software product designed specifically for the coastal and inland commercial market. The software was designed around the consensus requirements of three of Rose Point’s launch customers: American Commercial Lines, Seacor Marine and McAllister Towing. Each of these companies has deployed the software fleet wide and have been using it in their day to day operations for between six and eighteen months. Why would these major companies choose a previously unknown supplier for such an important product? Each of the launch customers conducted independent evaluations of other software products and found them lacking in one area or another. The three key reasons for choosing Rose Point ECS were: reliability, ease of use, and specific details of how certain features were implemented. The software design is based on technology used in Coastal Explorer, Rose Point’s popular and well respected software product for non commercial users. The user experience has been highly refined to meet the needs of a wide range of boaters, as a result the commercial captains find it very easy to learn and use. "The specific feature requests we received from our launch customers did not encompass the entire vision we have for the software. We’ve added a long list of additional features before introducing the software to the industry", said Jeff Hummel Director of Sales and Marketing at Rose Point. "As word spread through the industry other companies joined our early adopters. We are in the unique position of having delivered over 400 systems before the product was released to the market."
Rose Point ECS includes many features designed to reduce workload and increase operational efficiency of each type of user; inland towboats, offshore supply vessels, and other commercial vessels. Other features address needs like GPS prioritization, voyage recorder, screen customization and a rate of turn course predictor. The software’s Passing Point Predictor indicates where other vessels will be encountered in restricted waterways; e.g., a river or on a user created route. One operator has experienced on average a 4 miles per boat/per day increase in completed river miles. The increases come from two areas, higher confidence in night and low visibility situations and higher confidence in knowing that it is possible for an up-
bound vessel to make a turn and be well out of the way of a down-bound vessel. Whereas in the past the up-bound vessel may have pushed into the bank and waited, they now save time by continuing on. Other features include the ability to search and locate river mile marks, Gulf Lease Blocks, commercial marine facilities or any of the other 2 million+ place names and have the chart scroll to that location on the screen. Many Gulf of Mexico operators use lease blocks, not latitude and longitude when planning offshore trips. Now rather than manually searching a chart, they can find it instantly. About Rose Point Navigation Systems Rose Point is the leading developer of PC based navigation systems. The company was founded in 2003 by Brad Christian, an ex-Microsoft developer, and is located in Redmond, Washington. The company produces Coastal Explorer and other software products. The software is sold under license to a number of companies around the world, it is currently offered in 5 different languages and a variety of product names.
For more information on Rose Point Navigation Systems or Rose Point ECS visit www.rosepointnav.com.