The Dealer Services Group Of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) announces on Jan. 16 the licensing of its Application Service Provider (ASP) solution to their 250th customer location, bringing the total number of users to more than 13,000 nationwide.

According to ADP, its ASP solution provides delivery of sales, service, parts, and business applications as well as Internet access to dealers across a secure nationwide network.

Application hosting and network monitoring are managed offsite in an ADP-owned and operated data center. ADP says its ASP solution is highly flexible and can be tailored to provide as much or as little information access and system management as the dealer needs.

According to ADP, because the solution is highly scalable, ASP can be designed for a dealer with a single location or with several stores.

"We are now able to offer our customers a complete choice -- either an on-site, traditional system managed by the dealer or a complete outsourced solution through our ASP program," said John Gleason, vice president of sales with ADP Dealer Services. "If dealers choose our ASP solution, we effectively eliminate their systems administration headaches by moving the server offsite to an ADP Data Center. ADP takes over ongoing system administration so dealers can focus on their core business."

Dealership locations across the nation are now being serviced from ADP's data center in Chicago. In addition, dealer franchises for all

automotive manufacturers and major truck manufacturers are being managed through the ASP solution, according to ADP.

ADP says its ASP solution serves a wide range of dealerships sizes as well. Current customers range from a single point dealership with three users to multi-location dealer groups with thousands of users, according to Gleason.

ADP says its ASP is a complete solution that includes hosting services for dealer management systems and Web-based customer relationship

management (CRM) applications. It also includes a nationwide network that connects the dealer locations to ADP's ASP data center, according to Tim Hardin, vice president/general manager of ASP Services for ADP Dealer Services.

"Our nationwide network is automatically monitored to offer us a complete picture of each dealer location and our data center," Hardin said. "Our goal is to continuously monitor the network so that we proactively fix problems before they affect, or are even noticed, by our customers."

"Both automotive and truck manufacturers have taken notice that only ADP is offering this complete managed solution for their customers," said Dan McCray, product marketing vice president of ASP at ADP Dealer Solutions. "They also recognize the reduced technology risk and

long-term benefits of ADP's ASP solution. They understand the investment ADP is making to complete the complex nationwide network required to support ASP, but still offer an affordable solution to get their dealers off the technology treadmill. As the industry moves from satellites to high-speed connections for Web-based applications, ADP's ASP solution will be a big part of making this transition happen

smoothly for manufacturers and dealers. And, at NADA later this month in New Orleans, we will again highlight that ADP's ASP solution is the

most complete outsourcing program available in the industry today," McCray said.

"We are truly excited to reach this great milestone," Gleason added. "We now have more than 13,000 users under contract for our ASP solution with more dealers joining each month. ADP's years of hosting experience coupled

with ongoing resource investments have resulted in world class service and support for our ASP customers."

About ADP Dealer Services

ADP Dealer Services provides integrated computing solutions to more than 16,000 automotive and truck dealers throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

ADP Dealer Services Group is the third largest business unit of ADP. ADP, with approximately $7 billion in revenues and more than 500,000 clients, is one of the largest independent computing services firms in the world.

More information on ADP Dealer Services is available at www.Dealersuite.com.