For technology-driven CICLA, only Caché meets the requirements

Key Benefits

• High Performance
• Scalability
• The Web

When your business is built on information technology-when you wouldn't be in business if it weren't for technology-then every decision you make regarding your IT infrastructure becomes critical. For Credit Information Center for the Americas (CICLA), the leading credit bureau in the Dominican Republic, no other database met its demanding requirements for performance, scalability, and the Web except InterSystems' post-relational Caché.

CICLA's Web-based Credit Report Generation application provides timely and accurate information to 60 percent of the nation's banks and credit card and loan issuers. "Oracle is in the region, but it doesn't offer us what Caché offers," explained Asdrubal Pichardo, CICLA's CIO.

Performance is CICLA's primary reason for choosing Caché. "We have to provide instant and accurate data to our customers," said Angel Caminero, CICLA's general manager. "High performance is what gives us the advantage that keeps us ahead of our competitors, and Caché's speed is unmatched by any other product on the market." CICLA's response time is blazingly fast-complete, detailed credit reports are delivered in a matter of seconds.

CICLA developed its application using Caché ObjectScript, a powerful, object-oriented programming language designed for rapid development of complex applications. Pichardo said Caché ObjectScript offers simplicity and elegance that allows CICLA to adapt very easily to the constant changes demanded by customers. Currently CICLA serves over 900 remote or external users, plus 10 at CICLA's premises.

"Oracle is in the region, but it doesn't offer us what Caché offers."

- Asdrubal Pichardo
CIO
CICLA

But the business is growing. A year ago, CICLA was processing 7,000 requests per month. Today, the company handles more than 50,000 report requests-an average of 2,000 requests per day or roughly four requests per minute in a nine-hour day-and the Caché-based application has handled the growth seamlessly. "We have scaled to serve thousands of requests without sacrificing performance," said Pichardo.

CICLA's is a 24x7 operation, so reliability and stability is a must. "Our system uptime is 99 percent; we couldn't accomplish this without Caché. Other products say they are reliable, Caché really is," said Caminero.

And while applications built with other technologies sometime require entire staffs of database administrators, CICLA's application requires none at all.

Performance, scalability, and reliability are the standing requirements for CICLA-and Caché more than meets the demands-but Caminero feels that Caché's ability to connect to the Web is what makes CICLA's application truly innovative.

"Caché web technology allowed us to deploy a three-tier client/server architecture and greatly extend the reach of our application," said Caminero. "Using Web technology, we no longer have to install our proprietary client access software on the end user's PC. All the end user needs is a Web browser. Any change to the client software is done on our Web server."

In fact, the use of Caché WebLink enhances CICLA's performance. Response over the Web via Frame Relay is in milliseconds versus multiple seconds in dial-up mode.

The client side of CICLA's application addresses every need of its user base by letting CICLA provide different types of access depending on a customer's size and need. Along with access through a Web browser, the CICLA application can be accessed using CICLAX Millennium, a Windows application developed in-house with Microsoft Visual Foxpro. End users can access credit reports using CICLAX Millennium either through dial-up access over an analog phone line or TCP/IP via a leased line with Frame Relay using Windows 95, 98, or NT. And CICLA's customer service department connects using a set of forms and menus that run on ASCII terminals.

CICLA's strategy is to continue using technology to compete. The company has plans of expanding throughout the Caribbean area and Central America. "Our business depends on the confidence of our customer," said Caminero. "The immense power of Caché is key to our application's success."