Avanquest Global Software Publishing Appoints North American, European Directors; Lang, Michels to Lead Operations of International Value-Added Republisher.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

DENVER & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2003

Avanquest Global Software Publishing today announced the appointments of Robert Lang and Bertrand Michels as directors of its North American and European operations, respectively. Avanquest is a worldwide provider of software publishing services which was launched today in a separate announcement.

Both Lang and Michels will continue in their current positions with the BVRP Software Group, which formed Avanquest together with a number of subsidiaries and partners. Lang is president of BVRP U.S.A., based in Denver, CO, while Michels serves Paris-based BVRP as its general manager in charge of business development.

Lang has nearly 20 years' experience in software marketing and management, specializing in opening retail and OEM distribution channels. He has worked with a wide variety of software genres including telephony, messaging, graphic design and security, as well as educational and reference titles.

"Avanquest's value to software developers lies in our ability to push their products into the global marketplace more quickly and more thoroughly than was possible before," said Lang. "Our unique experience in software development combined with our close local relationships with retailers allows us to do this in a way other publishers can't."

During Lang's 6-year tenure as president of BVRP U.S.A., he has grown the company to $10 million in annual revenue. Before joining BVRP, he served as director of product management for Radish Communications, a communications software firm later acquired by SystemSoft. In this role, he was responsible for design and delivery of Radish's VoiceView telephony applications to major PC OEM and modem customers including Sony, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, AST, Packard Bell and Canon.

Prior to Radish, Lang was product group manager at market-leading modem manufacturer Hayes Microcomputer Products, where he led business development, product planning, technology acquisition, sales and marketing. Lang received his B.A in Economics from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1984.

Bertrand Michels has been with BVRP since 2001, when it acquired ABSoft, the French software republisher Michels had founded and led as CEO since 1985. Under Michels' leadership ABSoft, a retail seller of utility and security software, went public in 1997 and has grown into a 70-person firm with annual sales of over $15 million. From 1997 until 2001, Michels was also co-founder and CEO of Mobile Partners International, which successfully applied a business model similar to Avanquest's to the European mobile computing market and now covers 17 nations throughout Europe.

Avanquest consists of a number of BVRP subsidiaries and partners, including ABSoft and BVRP U.S.A., which reach over 15,000 retail outlets and every distribution channel in territories registering over 80% of the world's total packaged software sales. These companies provide Avanquest with a wealth of experience in software development and publishing and long-established relationships in retail, enterprise, OEM and other distribution channels throughout North America and the European Union, as well as in Australia and South Africa.

"Expanding into new European Union markets has become easier over the past decade, but still presents a daunting, time-consuming and expensive challenge to most software developers," said Michels. "Now, at no initial cost, developers have a single point to reach all other markets throughout the EU, North America and a growing number of countries in other regions, as well."

About Avanquest Global Software Publishing

Formed in June, 2003 and headquartered in Paris, France and Denver, CO, Avanquest Global Software Publishing is a coalition of companies offering worldwide publishing resources to software developers everywhere. Avanquest has long-established relationships across all channels of distribution in markets covering over 80% of the world's total software sales. Network members include BVRP Software and ABSoft (France), Elibrium (U.S.), Guildsoft and Kommunicate (U.K.), MicroBasic (Germany), Questar (Italy), Manaccom (Australia) and Phoenix Software (South Africa). For additional information, please visit http://www.avanquest.com.

About BVRP Software

With subsidiaries based in France, Great Britain and the United States, the BVRP Software Group, a worldwide leading publisher of communications software, is also a major provider of personal and professional software designed for Mobility, Security and Internet use. BVRP Software products are marketed in over 100 countries, through e-commerce, OEM partnerships and IT resellers. Ranked in the European Software Top 50 by Infoconomist in September 2002, the group posted revenue of $37.5 M in 2002. Since December 1996, BVRP Software has been listed on the Nouveau Marche of the Paris Stock Exchange (Euronext: 5478). Additional information on BVRP is available at http://www.bvrp.com.