RYLAND Multifleet is set to enjoy savings of about 70% on the cost of communicating with National Car Rental by using the Internet rather than the telephone. The leasing and fleet management company is using the Internet to carry out booking, quotation and reservation checking for its short-term hire vehicle supply.

Ryland contracted Cambridge-based Internet services provider PSINet to provide the communication system it required, and PSINet continually monitors the network's service by sending a continuous stream of signals to each of its customers. Each customer has a router, and if this fails to respond to the signal, PSINet's network management team is immediately called into action, with engineers frequently tackling problems remotely.