HiQ delivers extensive service solution for management of horse breeding and trotting in Finland

The Finnish Trotting and Breeding Association Suomen Hippos has chosen HiQ as its partner to develop an extensive information system for the administration of horse breeding and trotting in Finland.

The service solution – known as Heppa – will replace Hippos's current system, which has been in use for more than 20 years. Key functions of the current system include the administration of a central register of Finnish horses as well as the management of several types of horse racing and breeding-related data. The new system will include several interactive services. "In the future, trotting coaches will be able to enter horses into races through the Internet, and the registration of foals will become easier. Also different kinds of payments, such as racing insurance premiums, can be taken care of through our system and we will receive notification of payments in real time," explains Jukka Niskanen, Communications and IT Manager for Hippos. The partner for the system update was found through a competition. Hippos chose HiQ based on strong references. "It was clear that HiQ has a very methodical and thorough approach. They clearly have a good capacity to grasp and create large and complex systems," Jukka Niskanen says. Finland is one of Europe's major trotting countries and the popularity of the sport has increased in recent years. Trotting races in Finland attract approximately 1.7 million spectators each year and the total annual turnover in horse betting is approximately EUR 200m. "The system that we are currently updating is the heart of the Finnish horse economy and trotting institution. Our customer base is growing constantly and at the same time the expectations of our services are becoming higher. Our network includes 43 racing tracks, 16 horse breeding associations and 150 professional coaches around Finland. Through the Internet we are able to serve them all as equally and flexibly as possible," says Hippos's Managing Director Pekka Soini. The users of the current system consist mainly of personnel at Hippos House, the race tracks and the horse breeding associations. As the system is updated, the pool of users will expand significantly. "In the definition phase of the project we went through all the possible user groups and their requests and requirements. We have identified more than 20 user groups, including coaches, veterinarians, horse owners and the media. The new system is likely to have thousands of users," says HiQ's Project Manager Pekka Ketola. Hippos will also update its server equipment as part of the system update process. It chose HP's scalable NonStop Integrity server with Itanium processors. "Hippos is HP's oldest NonStop client in Finland. More than 25 years ago, it was among the first in Finland to use NonStop's predecessor Tandem. Now Hippos is the first in Finland to use HP's Itanium-based NonStop server," says HP's Sales Manager Sami Tiilikainen. The new Heppa system is scheduled to be functional by autumn 2007. Further development work is scheduled to commence immediately after the first version is completed. For further information please contact: Pekka Neva, Managing Director, HiQ Softplan Ltd, Tel. +358-9-4355 8634 Pekka Soini, Managing Director, Suomen Hippos, Tel. +358-50-338 9484 Jukka Niskanen, Communications and IT Manager, Suomen Hippos, Tel. +358-400-600 280 Annika Billberg, Head of Corporate Communications, HiQ International, Tel. +46 8 588 90 015, +46 704 200 103