Trumbull software company garners helicopter contract

By FELICIA HUNTER,
correspondent

Source: http://www.connpost.com/business/ci_4348851

TRUMBULL - The problem: Modernize a computer software program used to maintain critical data for one of the largest law-enforcement departments in the country.

The solution: Get Sapphire.

Through its Trumbull-based U.S. arm, UK-headquartered Sapphire International Inc., is developing a customized application for the Houston Police Department's Helicopter Patrol. The program will allow the division to better track its patrol, administrative, maintenance, inventory, budget, systems administration and training flight-management components.

Sapphire won an $87,850 contract for the project, which should be completed by the end of this year, according to Vice President Richard Zboray.

Required work involves converting the old DOS-based system to a state-of-the-art, Windows-based system, Zboray said.

"It should enhance operations," he said, adding the current application has become obsolete. "It's antiquated and they can't interface with other systems."

"It brings us into the 21st century," said Houston Police Officer Pilot Roberto D. Saenz.

The Helicopter Patrol provides a variety of round-the-clock public-safety services, including law-enforcement air support, search and rescue, surveillance and Homeland Security regional air support, Saenz said. With eight helicopters, one fixed-wing aircraft, 31 pilots, five observers and 10 support personnel, the unit routinely covers a five-county area and has the potential to respond in a 15-county area that is home to 7 million people, he said.

According to Saenz, the upgraded system will help ensure pilot safety. Among other features, it will signal alerts for maintenance.

"It provides a level of assurance that the aircraft has been maintained properly and that records are up to date."

Efficient information retrieval and transfer also are attributes of the new system, said Saenz.

"Anyone in the department can access the data. If my chief wanted to know how many chases the Helicopter Patrol was involved with in FY05, he can do it," Saenz said.

Personnel had been keeping handwritten records before 1993, when a switch was made to a computerized format,

Saenz said. A Sapphire-owned software program was used for that initial conversion.

When it became clear about five years ago an upgrade was needed, Saenz, then assigned to oversee the database transfer, wanted to build on the existing program rather than purchase several different applications. Sapphire was the logical vendor choice, he said.

"It's the only [company] that met the criteria," he said. Customized for the Houston patrol, the new software is called FoxFlight.

The original software program, DataEase, led to Sapphire's current presence in Trumbull, said company founder and CEO Stephen Page. After Sapphire was established in England in 1979, it began distributing software from then-Trumbull-based DataEase International. The two companies merged in 1991. Sapphire also has a small office in Draper, Utah, and divisions and partnerships throughout the world.

Naeem Ullah, Sapphire's head of U.S. consultancy and project manager for FoxFlight, is working closely with the St. Petersburg, Russia office to develop basic coding for the application.

Ullah is experienced with disaster-related and law-enforcement needs. The company worked with the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to provide software for tracking remains after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the first phase of an emergency call-center application for the city has been completed.

For FoxFlight, "We do a kind of systematic approach. At each stage we get feedback," Ullah said. Sapphire also offers hands-on training and follow-up support.

Saenz described the company as "the epitome of American business."

"Personally speaking, we were impressed with the commitment level of Sapphire," he said. "They're very good businesspeople. They really treated us well."