AVT-Sponsored Study Clearly Demonstrates Rapid Return on Investment for Unified Messaging.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2000

AVT Corporation (Nasdaq:AVTC), today announced the results of its unified messaging return on investment study, which indicates tremendous time and cost savings using the AVT CallXpress(R) unified messaging solution in both a Lotus Domino(R) and Microsoft Exchange(R) environment.

Results from the study, analyzed by Comgroup, an independent telecommunications consulting firm, and available on the AVT web site (www.atvc.com), showed that both office and remote employees can gain a significant increase in productive time using the CallXpress unified messaging solution. Utilizing the AVT solution, mobile users experienced a time-savings gain of 70 percent as compared with the traditional means of checking messages. The first facet of the study compared users who were able to review and manage all of their voice, fax, and email messages over the telephone using CallXpress unified messaging with those who check messages on the road the conventional way by calling in over the telephone to listen to voice messages; calling an assistant at the main office to send faxes to the nearest fax machine; and connecting to the Internet with a laptop computer to download and check emails. One important point to note is that with unified messaging, mobile employees always have access to all of their messages at anytime. However, with the traditional means of retrieving messages on the road, users must often rely on in-office personnel for some messaging tasks such as forwarding a fax.

Office workers also gain significant and measurable time-savings by having all voice, fax, and email messages displayed in a single interface. Users experienced a 53 percent time-savings using CallXpress unified messaging to check all of their messages from within the familiar Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook interface, as opposed to the traditional means of checking voice messages over the telephone, fax messages at the fax machine, and emails at the desktop PC.

Another valuable outcome found in the study was an 80 percent time-savings to send a fax using the RightFAX module of AVT's unified messaging solution versus traditional means of sending a document from a stand-alone fax machine.

"The benefits of CallXpress unified messaging are amazingly straightforward, which is why more and more organizations around the world are implementing the technology," said Randy Ottinger, president of AVT CTI Software Group. "However, we wanted to quantify actual business results and provide the hard data to substantiate the productivity gains and cost savings associated with our solution. IT professionals now have solid facts to substantiate what was always assumed."

Results from the study show an average size AVT CallXpress unified messaging system pays for itself in 68 business days. The following example illustrates a 200-user system with 20 remote/traveling employees. Conservative values were used for average salary per hour. Typical system costs for CallXpress unified messaging is between $100 and $250 per system user. Costs for turnkey CallXpress unified messaging system were estimated at $250 per user seat, including the server and client software licenses (CallXpress and RightFAX), voice and fax cards, and the hardware platform and operating system. The study also includes another example that incorporates operating costs.

                         Office-based    Remote/traveling     Total
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Number of employees          180              20               200
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Time-savings                0.25             0.4
   (in hours/day)
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Average hourly salary cost   $12             $25
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Savings per day             $540            $200              $740
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System cost              $45,000          $5,000           $50,000
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Payback in days                                              67.56
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The AVT-sponsored unified messaging return on investment study is based on a variety of primary and secondary research methods. Time and motion studies were conducted which consisted of gathering typical office users, acquainting them with traditional faxing, voice mail, and email operations, and timing a variety of messaging activities. After establishing benchmarks, these users received training on CallXpress unified messaging and were asked to repeat their earlier tasks. Times were again measured and savings calculated. The completed study and all of the results are available from AVT Corporation.

AVT Corporation is a world leader in Managed Communications solutions, helping organizations control and meet the high demands of their communication workflow. The company specializes in developing and marketing its CallXpress unified messaging solution, its RightFAX and CommercePath fax and communications servers, and its MediaLinq electronic document delivery services. AVT has more than 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.

Comgroup is an independent telecommunications consulting firm based in Bellevue, Washington, which specializes in enhancing business performance through communications technologies. Its activities include research, strategic planning, procurement, installation, project management, and administration of voice, data, and Internet systems, local and wide area networks, network communications applications, and building infrastructures. Its clients include software and technology companies, medical centers, universities, commercial and residential property developers, and wide variety of businesses. Founded in 1985, Comgroup is a privately held Washington corporation. Comgroup maintains a site on the World Wide Web at www.comgroup-inc.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: News releases are available from the AVT web site (www.avtc.com) or AVT's Newsroom fax server. Call 425/820-4089 and follow the prompts. This document is number 77132.

CallXpress is a registered trademark of AVT Corporation. All company names and products are trademarks of their respective companies.