Pitney Bowes Donates Software System to Help Protect Florida Families from Sexual Predators

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced the donation of a unique software system that radically simplifies web searches for registered sex offenders in Florida. The software, called the NeighborhoodTrac(TM) Family Protection System, makes it much easier for Florida parents to identify registered sex offenders living within a defined distance from any street address in the state.

The new system was developed last month by software engineers from Group 1 Software, a Pitney Bowes company, and was installed last week by a team from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The new website went live this morning and can now be accessed from the FDLE's Sexual Predators and Offenders home page: http://www3.fdle.state.fl.us/sexual_predators.

Under the terms of an agreement between Pitney Bowes and the State of Florida, Group 1 Software will provide all necessary maintenance and upgrades to the system completely free of charge for a period of three years. The estimated value of the donated software and services exceeds a half million dollars.

"Recent tragedies involving Florida children motivated us to develop and donate this system so that we could quickly bring additional security and peace of mind to the residents of Florida," said Michael J. Critelli, Chairman & CEO of Pitney Bowes. "We have world-class capabilities for creating software that links specific addresses to geographic boundaries or coordinates, or to other addresses. We cannot think of a more important purpose to which we can put these talents."

"This new feature, which will allow parents to search specific areas near their home, child's school, or neighborhood park, should greatly assist parents who are trying to protect their children," said Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist. "Pitney Bowes is an example of a good corporate citizen contributing to the safety of our communities."

"The number of visits to our website has soared in recent months," said FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell. "We are encouraged to know that more citizens are aware and using this important safety tool. The enhancements we are unveiling today will help parents and law enforcement do a better job of protecting innocent citizens across our state."

This address-locating technology has wide application in the insurance, telecommunications, marketing and online mapping industries. Group 1 Software, through its Centrus division in Boulder, Colorado, is an industry leader in this field, providing vital data to corporate and web-based clients. Consumers are familiar with one application of this software when they use popular online mapping and driving direction sites. It is Centrus software that identifies the addresses and orients them properly on the map. More information about this technology is available at http://www.pb.com/neighborhoodtrac.

Prior to today, Florida residents who wanted to identify and locate potentially threatening people living in their area could search only by ZIP code, county, city, or by the name of the registered sex offender. With approximately 35,000 registered sex offenders in the state's database, common searches in more populous areas could return hundreds of results, requiring residents to sift through multiple pages, often without knowing the exact location of each sex offender's street address. For residents living near a ZIP code or county boundary line, the process was even more challenging.

Group 1 Software's geocoding technology has now greatly simplified the search process. With the new system, residents can now type in any address (their home, their child's school, etc.) and the system will return a list of registered sex offenders ranked by order of proximity to the searched address.

Moreover, the reported residence of each registered sex offender can now be digitally mapped, providing a quick and intuitive way for parents to let their kids know which streets or houses to avoid.

Steve Walden, Vice President and General Manager of Group 1 Software's Centrus division, noted that the NeighborhoodTrac(TM) Family Protection System should be of widespread practical use in Florida. The state's database of registered sex offenders is one of the largest in the nation, and an estimated 95% of the state's population lives within one mile of at least one registered sex offender.

"Type in an address, and just a couple of mouse clicks will now bring up the precise information needed to answer the question on any concerned parent's mind: 'How can I keep my child safe?'" said Walden. "We are proud to deliver and support this software, which will help millions of Floridians enhance their family's security."

About Group 1 Software

Group 1 Software, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes, develops software that provides an integrated Customer Communication Management (CCM) solution, which maximizes the value of customer data and improves the effectiveness of customer communications. Group 1 Software's solutions are an essential component of enterprise applications, serving to consolidate, cleanse and enrich corporate data, and generate personalized business documents for multi-channel delivery, customer care and efficient business processing. The Company's solutions are utilized by over 3,500 organizations worldwide in the financial services/banking, GIS/mapping, retail, telecommunications, utilities, insurance and other industries, including Entergy, GEICO, L.L. Bean, MapQuest, QVC, Siemens, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo. For more information about the Company, visit http://www.g1.com/.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes is the world's leading provider of integrated mail and document management systems, services and solutions. The $5.1 billion company helps organizations of all sizes efficiently and effectively manage their mission-critical mail and document flow in physical, digital and hybrid formats. Its solutions range from addressing software and metering systems to print stream management, electronic bill presentment and presort mail services. The company's 85 years of technological leadership have produced many major innovations in the mailing industry, and it is consistently on the Intellectual Property Owner's list of top U.S. patent holders. With approximately 35,000 employees worldwide, Pitney Bowes serves more than 2 million businesses through direct and dealer operations. More information on the company can be found at http://www.pb.com/.

Media Contact: Matthew Broder Pitney Bowes Inc. 203-351-6347 203-554-7703 cell