Pohlad Family of Companies Acquires Avtex

Third company in IT acquisition plan
MINNEAPOLIS--(Business Wire)--
The Pohlad family of companies has expanded its information
technology (IT) holdings for the third time in two years with the
addition of Avtex, Inc., a unified communications solution provider
based in Minneapolis.

The deal closed today. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1971, Avtex designs, installs and supports technology
needed for call centers and customer contact centers, as well as IP
telephony systems and other messaging applications for businesses. The
company has grown rapidly by providing premise based and hosted
unified communications solutions that bring together telephone, email,
text messaging and call centers into a single, highly secure customer
contact system that transcends traditional phone and data systems.

Under Pohlad ownership, Avtex will operate as a separate company,
retaining its current headquarters location and all of its 100
employees, including its senior management team. Since 1998, Avtex has
acquired five companies to expand its services and geographic reach.
Most recently it acquired Perimeter Technology of Georgia, expanding
its southeast operations.

"We think Avtex is a great fit, since they have both a strong
management team and excellent growth potential," said Dave Johnson,
chief technology officer for the Pohlad family of companies.

"We've been successful growing to this point as a standalone
entity, but to take the next leap, we need a partner like the Pohlad
organization," said Bob Denman, Avtex president. "It's a nice match
for us, at the right time, given our shared interest in capitalizing
on the significant marketplace opportunities we seek to increase
service offerings and geographic reach. It's also great news for our
customers and employees, who will both benefit from this move."

Johnson indicated that acquiring Avtex fits with an important
marketplace trend. "Unified communications is the fastest-growing
segment of the IT industry because it brings together all of the forms
of communications that were separate in the past. It's a very exciting
business for us to be in," he said.

The acquisition also rounds out the three-pronged IT strategy the
Pohlad organization has been pursuing in the managed services IT
arena, Johnson said. In 2006, the Pohlad organization acquired
Inetium, a Minneapolis-based IT firm that focuses on improving
business productivity through IT strategy, solutions and services. In
July 2007, it acquired Arcadia Solutions, a Boston-based IT consulting
firm specializing in the deployment, benchmarking and optimization of
emerging business technologies in the health care, financial service
and high technology industries.

"We can start to provide IT solutions across all three companies.
Arcadia does the high level analytics that help companies understand
their customers. Inetium does the installation of customer
relationship management and workforce automation systems," Johnson
said. "And now Avtex provides the underlying communications platform
and application expertise to bring it all together."

About Avtex - Avtex provides multimedia contact center,
enterprise-wide communications solutions and emergency notification
solutions. A Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and Interactive
Intelligence Platinum Partner, Avtex has a staff of software
developers, systems engineers, network engineers, system design
consultants, project managers, customer support personnel and field
technicians that are trained, certified and specialize in mission
critical applications. Based in Minneapolis, Avtex supports over 650
customers across the United States and in six countries. In addition
to Minneapolis, Avtex has offices in Milwaukee and Appleton, Wis., Des
Moines, Iowa, Omaha, Neb., Cincinnati, Ohio and Atlanta, Ga. To reach
Avtex, call 800.323.3639 or visit http://www.avtex.com

About the Pohlad family of companies - The Carl R. Pohlad family
holdings include significant interests in financial services,
beverage, entertainment and real estate industries, as well as
ownership of the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball team.

Lilja Inc. for the Pohlad family of companies
Media Contacts:
Mary Lilja, 952-893-7140
mcl@lilja.com
or
Avtex, Inc.
Jolene Peters, Marketing Director, 952-832-3725
jpeters@avtex.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008