Canadian Automotive Repair & Service Expands Network
12 May 1999
Canadian Automotive Repair & Service Expands Interactive Distance Learning Network From Arel
ATLANTA--May 11, 1999--Initial Success
Following an initial two-month successful start-up of its new interactive distance learning network from Arel Communications & Software, Ltd. , Canadian Automotive Repair & Service (CARS), will expand the network to 450 sites by the end of the year.
CARS, a not-for-profit organization established to serve the human resource and training needs of the Canadian car and truck repair and service industry, began offering training programs using Arel's IDEAL (Interactive Distance Education and Learning) system in March.
Based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, CARS is using the Arel system to provide a variety of technical training courses for its clients including the Canadian Tire Corporation and Midas. The organization currently has 200 remote sites operational, with an additional 105 scheduled to come online by the beginning of June.
Approximately 80 of these sites will be supplied with a French-language LCD display for messages on the Arel Interactive Response Unit (IRU). Currently, Arel is the only existing IRU vendor in the industry with multiple language support.
IDEAL is a one-to-many system which enables an instructor to broadcast, control and conduct a fully interactive session from one center to a large number of participants in remote locations in real time. Participants in "virtual classrooms" can actively participate in the lecture and interact with the instructor by using personal IRUs connected to a PC-based site control unit.
IDEAL is a software-based, open architecture platform, which operates in Windows 95/98 and NT environments. The interactive distance learning session includes broadcasting live video and two-way audio and data.
"We have been providing classroom training for the Canadian car and truck repair industry for years," said Dan Bell, president, CARS. "Establishing an interactive distance learning network removes the barriers to training faced by many of our members who live in remote areas of the country."
"We looked at several systems and selected Arel because it seemed best suited to the needs of our clients. Our system tests and initial use of the Arel system has shown it to be a very effective and easy-to-use way of providing our clients with the training programs they need to be successful," he said.
"The Arel IDEAL system provides an effective and real-time way for organizations and companies like CARS to bring important information to members or employees scattered across a wide geographic region," said Ben Yishai, president, Arel Communications and Software, Inc.
"This growing relationship with CARS is important to Arel as we move our technology into new arenas. CARS marks Arel's initial foray into the automotive industry where there are many manufacturers, dealers and other companies who stand to benefit from the efficiencies and technological advantages of interactive distance learning," he said. "We expect that additional automotive companies will soon begin utilizing the Arel system."
Arel Communications & Software, Ltd. , Yavne, Israel, and its Atlanta-based U.S. subsidiary, Arel Communications & Software, Inc., market the IDEAL (Interactive Distance and Education Learning) family of interactive distance learning products. The Company's ArelNet Ltd. subsidiary designs, develops, produces and markets value-added communication and IP telephony products for telephone carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs) and other network operators worldwide.
For more information about Arel Communications and Software and the IDEAL system, please call Ben Yishai at (770) 396-8105, ext. 201 or visit the Arel website at www.arel.net.
This press release is available on the KCSA Worldwide web site at www.kcsa.com.