The Moroccan Post Office, Barid Al-Maghrib, has selected Bull to act as project manager on the automation project for its International Mail Center in Casablanca. In its capacity as coordinator for the project, Bull will be leading a group of partners including AddressVision Inc. (AVI), its subsidiary specializing in automated mail solutions used to process more than 50% of all international mail, and National Presort Inc. (NPI), a major mail sorting machinery manufacturer. The project will also use Prime Vision BV's postal address recognition engines.

Of the seven proposals tendered, Barid Al-Maghrib chose Bull because of its performance record and the high-level functionality of its solution, as well as for its overall costing plan assessed over a ten-year operating cycle.

"Bull is a strategic partner for Barid Al-Maghrib. This major project will enable us to significantly improve our performance, and will assure our position as an international player in the mail sorting field," explained Anas Alami, Chief Executive Officer of Barid Al-Maghrib.

This project will involve the implementation of four NPI mail sorting machines, of which two are equipped with a letter-weighing machine that automatically sorts individual items of mail according to their weight. These machines will be linked up to the AVI software suite. The AVI solution comprises a series of independent functional modules within an open architecture that conforms to international industry standards, making it possible to attain especially high rates of postal address recognition.

Bull chose to create a Center of Postal Expertise within its international Services Center based at the Casanearshore business park in Morocco. As a result of impressive achievements locally, this Service Center today specializes in telecoms and the public sector, focus both on software applications and IT infrastructures. The Postal Expertise Center will have a regional remit covering both Europe and the countries of the Mediterranean basin, and will benefit from skills transfer by AVI's teams.

"Morocco is a highly strategic country for Bull, where it already has numerous government and private sector customers. I am especially proud that Barid Al-Maghrib has chosen us as its partner, in this program to modernize its business. Our subsidiary AVI's mail sorting automation solution has an excellent reputation for robustness, technological innovation and openness, having already won over some the world's largest postal businesses," explained Didier Lamouche, Bull Chairman and CEO.