A private number plate prov-ider is saving thousands of pounds a year, thanks to the University of Sunderland.

National Numbers, of Billingham, Teesside, was losing time and money by having to spend days sifting through the 7,500,000 registrations that the DVLA releases every six months.

Before approaching the university's business development team, National Numbers staff had to manually examine the long list of plates for sale, searching for unusual or sought-after combinations.

But thanks to a computer system pioneered at the university - Intelligent Systems Solutions (ISS) - the company is now saving about £20,000 a year.

Academics at the university's School of Computing and Technology created a software tool that automatically searches for all possible combinations, quickly and effectively.

National Numbers' chairman, Eric Craggs, said: "Staff at the university have created a very intelligent search facility, which is quick and can spot more combinations than we could."

Professor John MacIntyre, head of ISS, said: "This is only one example of how the team has helped local companies to be more innovative by using the latest intelligent and adaptive computing techniques."

The university's partnership with National Numbers is part an initiative backed by the regional development agency, One NorthEast, to increase the links between universities and industry.

National Numbers, set up in 1981, has thousands of plates for sale, which can be accessed on the company's website: www.nationalnumbers. co.uk