Wyse Customer Amerisure Insurance Recognized by CIO Magazine as One of The CIO 100 Award Honorees

Virtualization Initiative Transforms Business While Reducing Costs

SAN JOSE, Calif. – 06/03/2010 - IDG's CIO magazine and Wyse Technology, the inventor and global leader in cloud client computing, today announced Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company as a recipient of the 2010 CIO 100. The 23rd annual award program recognizes organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology (IT).

Amerisure was honored for its virtualization efforts, including replacing all of their PCs with virtual clients.  Amerisure has been a Wyse customer since 2006.

Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company is a regional property and casualty insurance group with experience insuring American businesses since 1912.  Amerisure targets mid-sized commercial enterprises in manufacturing, construction and healthcare through strategically located Core Service Centers across the United States. 

"This year's CIO 100 awards draws well-deserved attention to companies that are not only innovating with IT but creating genuine business value as well," said Maryfran Johnson, Editor in Chief of CIO magazine & Events. "These winning companies and their IT organizations are an inspiration to businesses everywhere."

In 2006, Amerisure had a typical IT infrastructure; one of everything.  As a result, they were frozen from making any changes for fear of breaking something.  They were even apprehensive about updating versions of their existing infrastructure software.  Amerisure realized they needed a dramatic change and all signs pointed to the efficacy of a complete, strategic virtual transformation.  Not simply to virtualize the IT infrastructure, but to virtualize their very business.

A few years later, Amerisure has been able to benefit from a five-year total savings of $8.5 million as a result of a wholesale virtualization initiative with the help of virtual clients from Wyse Technology.

"The goal of the IT team at Amerisure was an aggressive one," according to Jack Wilson, Enterprise Architect at Amerisure.  "We wanted an agile infrastructure, ubiquitous access to systems and data from anywhere, at any time and on any device.  All of this while also supporting our business objectives of reducing cost while increasing functionality.  With the help of Wyse and Citrix we've been able to reach these objectives, and we're honored to be recognized by CIO for our hard work."

"The team at Amerisure should be very proud of themselves for such a distinguished award," according to Maryam Alexandrian, Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales and Channels at Wyse.  "While many organizations try to be cautious about massive IT projects, the Amerisure IT team realized that many of the benefits they envisioned with a completely virtualized environment would be undermined if they didn't virtualize the entire organization – from data center to desktop.  This award is recognition of their decision to virtualize not just their IT systems, but their entire business."

The 2010 CIO 100 awards will be presented at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on August 24th at the conclusion of the twelfth annual CIO 100 Symposium® and Awards Ceremony.

About the CIO 100
The recipients of this year's CIO 100 award were selected through a three-step process. First, companies filled out an online application form detailing their innovative IT and business initiatives. Next, a team of judges reviewed the applications in depth, looking for unique practices and substantial results. Finally, CIO editors reviewed the judges' recommendations and voted on the final 100. Once the top 100 honorees were selected, several honorees were chosen to receive an additional special award. The recipients of this special award will be revealed at the CIO 100 awards ceremony in August.

Complete coverage of the 2010 CIO 100 awards will be online at www.cio.com on June 1, 2010 and in the August 1st issue of CIO magazine.

About CIO Magazine
CIO produces award-winning content and community resources for information technology executives thriving and prospering in this fast-paced era of business, as well as create opportunities for information technology and consumer marketers to reach them. The CIO portfolio includes CIO.com, CIO magazine (launched in 1987), CIO Executive Programs and the CIO Executive Council. CIO properties provide business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT's role in achieving business goals. The U.S. edition of the magazine and website are recipients of more than 200 awards to date, including three Grand Neals from the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards and two Magazine of the Year awards from the National Society of Business Publication Editors. CIO websites and magazines appear in more than 25 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France and Germany. CIO are produced by CXO Media a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading technology media, research and event company.

About Wyse Technology

Wyse Technology is the inventor and global leader in cloud client computing, leveraging its industry-leading thin and zero client computing-based desktop virtualization software, hardware and services. Cloud Client Computing is the ultimate client computing solution for our time. It replaces the outdated computing model of the unsecure, unreliable, un-green and expensive PC. It delivers the most optimized security, reliability, total cost of ownership, and user experience with the lowest energy usage. It simply connects all the dots: Thin and zero client computing, unified communications, desktop virtualization and the web for users to reach the clouds – in a private, public, government or hybrid cloud. It is software. It is hardware. It is services. It is in business. It is at home. It is on the go. It is freedom – so users can focus on what is important. Wyse partners with industry-leading IT vendors, including, Cisco®, CSC®, Citrix®, IBM®, Microsoft®, and VMware®. Wyse also partners with globally-recognized distribution and service partners along with its award-winning partner programs to service any customer, anywhere and anytime, in the world. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, U.S.A., with offices worldwide.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE. All brands and names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective holders.