Inetium and Avtex, two technology firms of Pohlad Family Companies based here, announced today their plans to merge their operations into a single company, Avtex Solutions, LLC, effective Jan. 1, 2011.

The merger will unite two Pohlad-owned technology firms with complementary product and service offerings, creating a combined company focused on delivering technology solutions that enhance an organization’s productivity and its interactions with employees and customers. 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. Established in 1998, Inetium provides strategic IT planning and consulting services with specialization in portals, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM) and application development.

“We believe the merger is a win for both companies’ customers and employees, since it broadens our product and service offerings,” said Dave Johnson, who will serve as CEO of Avtex Solutions, LLC, and oversees the technology holdings of Pohlad Family Companies, which also includes Boston-based Arcadia Solutions. “We are very excited about the impact we can have in the marketplace, given Inetium’s deep background in Microsoft technologies, including SharePoint, CRM and .NET, which are very complementary to the core services offered by Avtex.”

Bob Denman, the current president of Avtex, will become the new organization’s president, while Keith Rachey, the current president of Inetium, will serve as chief strategy officer, in charge of developing new products and services that will enhance the core offerings of the firm.

Avtex Solutions, LLC, will continue to be based in Minneapolis; Inetium’s current office space at 3500 American Blvd., Suite 350, will be renovated to house the new company’s headquarters. The firm also has locations in Milwaukee, Appleton, Des Moines and Cincinnati. All told, the combined firm will employ more than 200 people.

“Collaboration and communication technologies are the cornerstones of effective organizations today,” said Denman. “Whether an organization is trying to improve the effectiveness of its internal employee interactions or improve customer service, these technologies play a vital role in helping to improve business processes and applications. More and more organizations are investing in these key platforms to improve their interactions with both internal and external customers. Our goal is to be a market leader in providing interaction solutions.”

As sister companies in the Pohlad organization, Inetium and Avtex have collaborated on multiple projects with customers over the last two years. “We have worked with both Inetium and Avtex to provide solutions aimed at improving Mediacom’s customer interactions in our contact center,” said Peter Lyons, group vice president IT, Mediacom Communications Corp. “Their services are quite complementary and the solutions they provided have significantly improved our ability to serve our customers at Mediacom.”

Inetium and Avtex both bring strong partnerships to the table. Inetium has been a Microsoft Gold Certified partner since 1999 and has won many awards for its work involving SharePoint, .NET, CRM and creative services. Avtex has been a Platinum Elite Partner with Interactive Intelligence (ININ) for more than a decade and has been a national leader in contact center implementations of the Customer Interaction Center platform. “Our partnerships have always played a very strategic role in our growth,” said Rachey. “We are excited to continue to grow our key partnerships as we merge.”

About Avtex
Acquired by Pohlad Family Companies in March 2008, Avtex is an application and systems integrator that designs, develops, deploys and supports enterprise IP telephony, networking, notification, messaging and contact center solutions enhancing business processes and enabling organizations to embrace their customers, partners and employees. For more information, visit http://www.avtex.com.

About Inetium
Inetium is an award-winning Microsoft Gold Certified partner. Acquired by Pohlad Family Companies in March 2006, Inetium provides technology consulting services to both mid-sized and large organizations throughout the United States. Inetium is committed to increasing people and organizational productivity by providing IT planning services, customer relationship management, business productivity, IT infrastructure, managed services, application development and creative services. Inetium maximizes the value of its customers’ technology investments by helping them properly align their business and technology goals. For more information, visit http://www.inetium.com.

About Pohlad Family Companies
Founded and built by Carl R. Pohlad, Pohlad Family Companies encompasses banking, financial services, commercial real estate, retail, automotive, entertainment and technology industries, as well as ownership of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. Based in Minneapolis, Pohlad Family Companies employs 3,500 people throughout 40 markets coast-to-coast. For more information, visit http://www.pohladcompanies.com/public/BusinessInterests.aspx.