Case Study
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Industry: Non-Profit Organization
Ingres Products: Advantage Ingres Enterprise Database, Ingres Premium Support
Accessible from all corners of the globe, an Ingres database works 24 x 7 to help solve crimes against children.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ("NCMEC") is an organization with a global network dedicated to solving cases of child abduction and child sexual exploitation. NCMEC and its international partner, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, rely on critical information distributed by an Advantage Ingres Database and delivered by web-based applications written in Java. Over the last 20 years, NCMEC's reliance on technology has grown from a single Ingres database with "very simple, single-user transactions to a powerful Advantage Ingres Enterprise Database that runs both internal and external systems for our organization," says Peg Flick, the CIO of NCMEC.
"Technology empowers us to achieve our goal-finding missing children and helping to prevent child sexual exploitation. The reliability and the support of the Ingres database product are vitally important to our success," Flick says. "Together with the coordinated efforts of government agencies and our own Ingres-driven technology, we have assisted in the recovery of nearly 99,500 children."
NCMEC's web site receives 2.8 million hits per day and is available 24 x 7 x 365 to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of its critical information. An Advantage Ingres database houses critical case records accessed via various NCMEC web-based applications, distributed throughout the organization, and to a global network of International Centre web sites. Ingres's technology supports NCMEC's multi-user, multi-language environment. "Each country configures its own web site according to its own specifications and its native character sets," says Flick.
NCMEC utilizes Ingres's Premium Support whereby dedicated support engineers, with an in-depth knowledge of the customers' systems, provide personalized support and ensure holistic focus on the success of NCMEC's systems and projects.
"The support I receive from Ingres Premium Service has been crucial to the success of our efforts at NCMEC. A team of senior engineers is at the ready to make sure the system is always running smoothly," says Flick.
Today, the organization's enterprise consists of several user communities. A secure intranet offers access to over 200 employees, as well as Federal agencies and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). It also provides public access to NCMEC's Web sites, MissingKids.com and CyberTipLine.com, a call center and online reporting resource, staffed 24 x 7, which processes leads regarding missing and exploited children.
"We depend on Ingres technology to provide us with a robust and scalable database that can handle our internal case management system, distribute information worldwide via customized web sites, and provide real-time leads we receive with CyberTipline."
Peg Flick
Chief Information Officer
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Future plans with Ingres include development employing Ruby on Rails to create data-driven Web sites, all running in the Ingres Enterprise Database Server.
For more information about the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children visit: http://www.MissingKids.com and http://www.CyberTipLine.com.