The Dealer Services Group of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. announced October 29th the completion of the installation of their ASP solution in 71 Sonic Automotive, Inc. dealer locations. ADP's ASP is a powerful new technology program that provides delivery of sales, service, parts and business applications and Internet access to dealers across a secure network hosted in a professionally managed environment.

Sonic has locations throughout the country connected together by their own private frame relay network, SonicNet, which give their ADP stores direct access to the ADP data center in Chicago. Because ASP is an offsite solution, it can be tailored to provide as much or as little information access and system management as the dealer needs. Therefore, it can be scaled to handle a single location or several stores regardless of data volume.

Instead of locating the system within the dealerships, ADP's ASP solution is "offsite" with the server and software located in a secure data center with 24/7 support. ASP provides each dealership location with a managed server strategy that connects manufacturers, systems and dealers. These systems are protected by a world-class facility having fully redundant on-site power, temperature control and disaster recovery systems.

The wide array of business applications offered through ADP's ASP solution all comes from the same single source vendor solving many integration challenges. By linking several dealership locations to a single system, dealers can gain efficiencies by consolidating the number of computer platforms and software versions that they use to meet various computing needs.

"There are several benefits we will derive from the move to ADP's ASP solution. First, we can leverage the resources of ADP for redundancy, security, and improved support. ADP maintains all systems, data, updates, and backups within its ASP solution. ASP solutions and outsourcing are the cornerstone of our Information Strategy Plan. We have now completed networking all of our dealerships nationwide on SonicNet, our wide area network, and the migration of all stores off their local servers to the servers in the ASP model. This supports our initiative for standardization of technology in our dealerships. This means we can deliver the best of breed in technology to our dealerships-large and small-with the higher quality than previously found at a typical dealership," states David Boatman, CIO of Sonic Automotive.

"ADP's ASP model will allow us to leverage the economies of scale as we continue our growth through acquisition, and ultimately we will realize cost savings from the corporate home office to the dealership. In the future, we will gain even more efficiencies by consolidating information on finance nad operations into a single data warehouse to support operations, eCommerce, and financial activities. This future is most probable with the use of ASP," adds Boatman.

"We are extremely excited to be able to offer our ASP solutions to Sonic Automotive. We know that with ADP's ASP, Sonic now enjoys access to the best software and hardware without the installation and support headaches of the past," said Dan McCray, vice president ASP product marketing for ADP dealer services.

In less than four months, hundreds of ADP support associates across the country have completed the 71 Sonic installations of ADP's ASP solution. Today in the ADP Chicago data center Sonic is renting access to over 4,000 ADP Elite online connections.

"We have been providing innovative services and solutions for Sonic Automotive since they became a publicly owned company. We know that with our ASP solution, we can provide Sonic with a comprehensive solution to their Dealer Management System needs," said Mark Hnilicka, vice president of operations for ADP dealer services strategic account group.

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 $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.

About Sonic Automotive

Sonic Automotive, Inc. is the second largest automotive retailer in the United States operating 165 dealership franchises and 30 collision repair centers nationwide. As a specialty retailer and service provider, Sonic's diverse revenue model and disciplined acquisition of strategy continues to fuel the company's success. For more about the company, visit www.sonicautomotive.com.