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To: DMaA who wrote (25504)	12/2/1998 11:15:00 AM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 45548

CellIT, Inc. Receives New Funding to Expand Global Distribution of Breakthrough Call Center Solution - BW, 09:02 a.m. Dec 02, 1998 EST 3Com and Advent International Make Equity Investment to Propel CellIT's Computer Telephony-Based Product Suite MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1998-- CellIT, Inc., a leader in providing comprehensive, standards-based solutions for the call center industry, today announced that 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq:COMS) and Advent International have made a $10 million equity investment in the fast-growing Miami-based company. The new funding will enable CellIT to quickly expand global distribution strategies of its award winning Call Center Professional (CCPRO) product suite, increase its presence and support infrastructure in key markets and further its research and development efforts. "Our partnership with 3Com and Advent significantly enhances our ability to drive and benefit from the rapid growth and advances occurring in the call center industry," said Mario Villena, CellIT vice president of sales and marketing. "We will be able to deliver our state-of-the-art products and services to more customers through more channels." CellIT's award-winning CCPRO, the industry's first enterprise-wide multimedia system for the call center industry, replaces the numerous and disparate systems required in today's call center with one distributed system. Available in both narrowband and broadband versions, CCPRO is a three-tier client-server telecommunications platform that supports advanced multimedia solutions for both low and high-volume call centers. CCPRO's comprehensive call center product suite leverages standards compliant networking equipment and telephony components, a Windows NT sever platform and an SQL database repository to provide a single implementation at less than two-thirds the cost of traditional multi-vendor integrations. In addition, CCPRO provides: superior scalability via broadband inter-chassis trunking; blended inbound and outbound functionality; unified reporting; seamless routing of calls between multiple centers; and remote agent and supervisor support. "CCPRO is the most state-of-the-art computer telephony solutions available for call centers today," said Lindsay Jones, a partner with Advent International, one of the world's largest private equity investment firms. "This is an enormous market opportunity and we are excited to be working with CellIT to help the company roll out its product on a worldwide basis." CellIT's turnkey solutions reduce the technology capital and operating costs of a typical call center from 30 to 40 percent by eliminating peripheral components and delivering converged voice and data applications to a representative's PC desktop terminal. Desktop solutions are customized to the precise specifications of a call center, raising productivity while reducing complexity. "Call centers are one of the key early adopters for building converged networks that are already transforming the way companies do business," said Mike Dolbec, 3Com vice president for business development. "This strategic investment in CellIT's leading call center technology is part of our strategy to bring converged network solutions to our customers." CTI Magazine named CCPRO "1997 Product of the Year," and in January 1998, named it the magazine's "Editor's Choice." Computer Telephony magazine awarded CCPRO its "1998 Product of the Year" as well as its "Best of Show" honor at the Computer Telephony Demo Fall Show in October 1997. Call Center magazine also named it "Best of Show" at the Computer Telephony Expo in March 1998. Call Centers and associated electronic commerce solutions enable businesses to effectively and efficiently manage customer relationships and facilitate accurate customer transactions over the telephone and Internet. According to Frost Sullivan, the call center industry is growing at approximately 27 percent a year, and the global market for call center solutions is projected to approach $20 billion by 2002. "CellIT, now more than ever, has the products, partners, distribution channels and customer service capabilities to bring the flexibility and dramatic cost savings of computer telephony-based solutions to any business that communicates with its customers over the telephone or Internet," said CellIT's Mario Villena. About Advent International Advent is one of the world's largest private equity investors, with more than $3 billion under management and operations throughout North American, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The firm is an active investor in information technology with a portfolio of more than one hundred investments in the sector. About 3Com With more than 200 million customers worldwide, 3Com Corporation connects more people to information in more ways than any other networking company. 3Com delivers innovative information access products and network system solutions to large, medium and small enterprises; carriers and network service providers; PC OEMs; and consumers. 3Com -- More connected. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at www.3Com.com or the press site at www.3Com.com/pressbox. About CellIT CellIT, Inc. was founded in 1996 to provide open-architecture, state-of-the-art solutions for the call center industry. Since merging in 1998 with FiberTel, Inc., a leader in telecommunications systems integration, privately held CellIT has provided complete turnkey solutions in the design, deployment and maintenance of distributed call centers. Copyright 1998, Business Wire o~~~ O