Amadeus Consulting Launches the Technology Behind Chicago's Bike Sharing Initiative

BOULDER, CO, August 21, 2010 (Press-News.org) Amadeus Consulting, a custom software development company, created the enterprise kiosk portal for the city of Chicago's B-cycle bike-sharing program managed by bike rental and tour company Bike and Roll Chicago. The project is the second to launch in the United States, following the Earth Day launch in Denver, Colo. on April 22, 2010.

Chicago B-cycle offers 100 bicycles at six B-stations around the city. Amadeus Consulting integrated the bike kiosk application built on Microsoft Silverlight to integrate with each kiosk's hardware. The membership-based program includes an intuitive Web interface, iPhone and Droid applications that let users pick up and drop off the red bikes at each center and view data including distance traveled, calories burned and carbon offset.

"We developed the Denver application for B-cycle and our company is very proud to continue to work with B-cycle on this launch in Chicago," said Amadeus Consulting CEO Lisa Calkins. "As a company that includes sustainability in its Guiding Principles, we really like when we can develop a really challenging technical solution that is good for the environment, too. And we look forward to partnering with B-cycle for additional launches of the system."

Bike users can check out bikes and register on the B-cycle website or at any of the more than six B-stations along Chicago's busiest lakefront and Loop locations. The cruiser-style bikes accommodate the needs of all types of bike riders. Upcoming bike-sharing projects are planned in additional cities around the nation.

The bike-sharing system includes the following features:

• Offers a secure e-commerce engine and rich user experience from the web and through the fully automated bike rental kiosks

• Includes multiple levels of interaction: locally on kiosks and globally on a cloud-based server

• Supports B-cycle's back-office operations with applications providing process automation, operations analytics and proactive event management for functions including bike inventory, servicing and user statistics

• iPhone application allows riders to locate B-cycle bike stations, access their web account and visit the B-cycle website

• Provides a secure custom e-commerce engine to handle B-cycle's payment transactions

"Amadeus Consulting is thrilled to be involved in the continued development of the technology behind B-cycle, a program that promises to transform public transportation," said Jay Millard, Chief Marketing Officer at Amadeus Consulting. "We look forward to working hand-in-hand with B-cycle as it continues to expand into major markets across the nation."

About Amadeus Consulting

Amadeus Consulting is a custom software development company dedicated to creating intelligent technology solutions with successful business results. Amadeus Consulting is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner as well as a Silverlight Partner, winner of the Microsoft Office XP Challenge, and has Microsoft Partner Competencies in Custom Development, Mobility and Data Management Solutions. The company is an expert in custom software applications such as rich Internet applications, content management systems, e-commerce, surveys, social networking sites, data collection and management, browser plug-ins, and mobile application development including iPhone , BlackBerry , iPad , Windows Mobile and Android . Amadeus Consulting has continued to rank in the prestigious Mercury 100 list of the fastest-growing private companies in Boulder and Broomfield counties since 2007, and has placed on the Inc. 5000 list since 2006.

Amadeus Consulting is a custom software development company, specializing in .NET solutions, iPhone applications, and several other web and software technologies. We are headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you with your next application development project.