AVT Corporation Announces Preliminary Financial Results for Its Quarter Ended March 31, 2000.

Business Editors and Technology Writers

KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2000

AVT Corporation (Nasdaq:AVTC) today announced anticipated results for its first quarter of 2000.

Based on preliminary information, the Company expects to report diluted earnings per share of between $0.08 and $0.12 on approximately 33.9 million average shares outstanding. Included in these earnings is a non-recurring gain on the sale of marketable securities in the first quarter 2000 of approximately $1.8 million. Excluding the one-time gain, the Company expects to report diluted earnings per share of between $0.05 and $0.09. Diluted earnings per share for the first quarter 1999 were $0.13 on approximately 31.3 million average shares outstanding. The company expects revenue for its first quarter of 2000 to be approximately $23 to $26 million versus $28.8 million in the first quarter 1999. The company expects to release actual financial results on April 20, 2000.

Commenting on the anticipated results, Richard J. LaPorte, AVT's Chairman and CEO stated, "While we remain optimistic about the fundamentals of our core business, first quarter sales of our customer premise product lines, which include our PhoneXpress, CallXpress, and RightFAX brands, have been unexpectedly soft in all of our primary markets. We believe the main issue has to do with Y2K continuing to have an impact on both our channel partners and customers. It appears IT departments are either recovering from the fatigue of implementing Y2K upgrades last year, or continuing to fight problems that have spilled over into this year. In either event, our sales partners are telling us that many potential AVT customers have delayed new purchase decisions until their schedules allow them to take on new projects. As a result, our channel partners have reported that their new sales pipelines were at unusually low-levels in January and February. The good news is that IT department schedules are now beginning to clear, and our partners' pipelines are filling up once again. Furthermore, we have not encountered any new competitive threats to the leadership positions we have established in our core customer premise markets."

In spite of our slow start this year, we believe the dynamics of our markets and the acceptance of our products are as strong today as they have been over the recent past. Our MediaLinq services business, which grew at approximately 25% last year, continues to grow at a record pace this year. Positive cash flow has remained strong during the quarter and our overall financial position has never been stronger with over $80 million in cash and no debt on our balance sheet. Anticipating a more normal business environment, we expect our customer premise business to return to its previously projected growth rates. However, it is prudent for us to caution our shareholders that the issues affecting sales this quarter may continue to affect our results in the near term and there is no assurance that we will recover all of the expected revenue by the end of this year. In the long run however, we are confident that our unified messaging, mobility and electronic document management technology will play a critical role in the future B2B communications plans of enterprises throughout the world, returning AVT's financial performance to the level our shareholders have come to expect."

AVT Corporation is a world leader in Business-to-Business communications solutions, helping organizations control and meet the high demands of their communication workflow. The company specializes in developing and marketing it's CallXpress unified messaging solution, its RightFAX and CommercePath fax and communications servers, and its MediaLinq electronic document delivery services. AVT has over 50,000 systems installed worldwide, with 80% of the Fortune 100 using the company's award winning products and services. AVT is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington and has main offices in Tucson, AZ, Portland, OR, and San Francisco, CA. In addition, AVT has sales and support offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Tokyo. Founded in 1982, AVT is publicly traded under the symbol "AVTC" on the NASDAQ National Market. AVT maintains a site on the World Wide Web at www.avtc.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including technical and competitive factors, which could cause the Company's results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such risks are detailed in AVT's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

NOTE TO EDITORS: News releases are available from AVT's Newsroom fax server. Call 425/820-4089 and follow the prompts. This is document number 77137. News releases can also be found on AVT's World Wide Web site at www.AVTC.com.