A successful volume test, simulating an inbound load equivalent to 10,000 calls a day, took place on a new Cobalt voice processing system during Sunday, February 24th. The new system, which provides an automated telephone enquiry service, forms just one part of a larger program of work. The overall project is being managed by EDS for the United Kingdom Central Council (UKCC), and involves the upgrading or replacement of many of the council's core database systems.

The completion of this milestone test marked the end of the first phase of work for Cobalt, which had focused on developing and testing the system integration links. The emphasis in the second phase will now switch to refining the customer interface prior to the launch of the system, as a whole, on April 1st 2002.

Notes to editors

EDS (www.eds.com) is a leading global services company, with more than 140,000 employees in 58 countries. Its aim is to provide strategy, implementation and hosting solutions for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy. EDS enables a total of more than 13 billion business, consumer and government transactions every day.

The UKCC (www.ukcc.org.uk) is the nation's statutory and regulatory body for all nurses, midwives and health visitors and has more than 500,000 registered members. The UKCC is mandated to maintain an up-to-date record of all those individuals who are eligible to work in the UK. Using this data, a service is provided which enables employers to check the details that relate to each registered individual. In April 2002 the UKCC will transform into a new regulatory body, called the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).