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West Corporation Acquires IPC’s Command
Systems Segment
Omaha, NE, Longmont, CO, Jersey City, NJ and Montreal, QC – November 5, 2008
West Corporation and IPC Systems, Inc., today jointly announced
that they have entered into an agreement whereby West will acquire IPC’s Command
Systems segment (d/b/a Positron Public Safety Systems (“PPSS”)) and combine it with
West’s Intrado operations. Together, the two companies will deliver fully-integrated 9-
1-1 solutions for public safety.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending regulatory approval,
and will be funded with cash on hand. The total cost before transaction expenses is
approximately $167 million. West does not intend to update its 2008 guidance as a
result of this transaction.
PPSS is a leader in fully-integrated, premise-based public safety solutions that enable
Enhanced 911 call handling, computer-aided dispatching, mapping, automated vehicle
location and radio communications capabilities to allow public safety agencies to better
coordinate responses to emergency events. Based in Montreal, Quebec, PPSS has been
providing public safety solutions for more than 20 years, with deployments in over 3,000
public safety answering points (“PSAPs”) worldwide. PPSS has sold more than 2,000
positions of its Voice-Over–IP Emergency Response (“VIPER”) call handling platform.
Intrado provides 9-1-1 systems and services to virtually all major communications
carriers, supporting over 2 billion 9-1-1 calls to date. The company is engaged with
carriers and public safety to deliver advanced 9-1-1 services. The Intrado Intelligent
Emergency Network, Intrado’s next generation, IP-based emergency communications
architecture, is deployed in support of public safety agencies throughout the country.
Today, services and products needed to deliver 9-1-1 are spread across multiple entities,
making it more difficult for public safety agencies to deliver life saving applications to
citizens. Together, Intrado and PPSS will build upon their respective expertise in
network and premise-based solutions to deliver essential new services like 9-1-1 text
messaging – allowing people in emergency situations to send text messages to PSAPs.
“For many years the PPSS and Intrado teams have worked independently to shape the
evolution of 9-1-1. I look forward to working collaboratively with the talented
employees of both companies to provide seamless delivery of complete end-to-end
emergency communications and response solutions from the network to the desktop,”
said George Heinrichs, Intrado president.
PPSS currently has 360 employees, 240 of whom are located in Canada. The current
PPSS management team is expected to remain in place.
“We are excited and enthused about being part of Intrado,” said Darrin Reilly, PPSS’
president. “We both are fully committed to improving the quality of emergency
response. By working as a unified team, we can provide the public safety community
with enhanced services and critical information about a 9-1-1 call that will save more
lives.”
About Intrado
For nearly 30 years, Intrado has played a key role in helping to define, build and
maintain the nation’s complex emergency communications infrastructure. Today
Intrado, a subsidiary of West Corporation, provides the core of the nation’s 9-1-1 system,
supporting over 240 million calls to 9-1-1 each year. For more information please visit
www.intrado.com.
About Positron Public Safety Systems
Positron Public Safety Systems Inc. (“PPSS”), a division of IPC, is a leader in fully
integrated public safety solutions for call handling and applications that enable end-toend
dispatching solutions and services. PPSS has more than 20 years’ experience
delivering indispensable applications to the public safety market. With installations
throughout the world, PPSS’ global footprint extends from the United States and
Canada through Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Find out more at
www.positron911.com.
About West Corporation
West Corporation is a leading provider of outsourced communication solutions to many
of the world's largest companies, organizations and government agencies. West helps
its clients communicate effectively, maximize the value of their customer relationships
and drive greater profitability from every interaction. The Company’s integrated suite
of customized solutions includes conferencing, emergency communications, automated
notifications, automated voice services, customer acquisition, customer care and
accounts receivable management services.
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West has a team of 41,000
employees based in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please
visit www.west.com.
About IPC
IPC is a leading provider of indispensable communications solutions to global
enterprises. With almost 35 years of expertise, IPC provides its systems and services to
the world’s largest financial services firms, as well as to public safety; government;
power, energy and utility; and transportation organizations. IPC offers its customers a
suite of products and enhanced services that includes advanced Voice over IP
technology, and integrated network and 24x7x365 management services to over 40
countries.
Based in Jersey City, N.J., IPC has 1,400 employees throughout the Americas, Europe
and the Asia Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.ipc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements can
be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans,"
"anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar
terminology. In particular, the expected growth, expected market share, expected cost
savings, any projections or estimates regarding West’s future revenues, operating
margins, expenses, net income, cash flows, capital expenditures, effective tax rates and
client behavior, as well as the assumptions underlying or relating to such expectations,
are forward-looking statements. These statements reflect only West's current
expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties
include the ability to integrate or achieve the objectives of our recent acquisitions,
including the PPSS transaction, West's ability to complete future acquisitions,
competition in West's highly competitive industries, extensive regulation in many of
West’s markets, West's ability to recover on its charged-off consumer receivables,
capacity utilization of West's contact centers, the cost and reliability of voice and data
services, availability of key personnel and employees, the cost of labor and turnover
rates, the political, economic and other conditions in countries where West operates, the
loss of any key clients, West's ability to purchase, and finance the acquisition of,
charged-off receivable portfolios on acceptable terms and in sufficient amounts, the
nature of West's forward flow contracts, the non-exclusive nature of West's client
contracts and the absence of revenue commitments, the possibility of an emergency
interruption to West's data and contact centers, acts of terrorism or war, security or
privacy breaches of West's systems and databases, West's ability to protect proprietary
information or technology, West's ability to continue to keep pace with technological
developments, the cost of pending and future litigation and other risk factors described
in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission including West's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2007 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements
were made. West undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forwardlooking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
©2008 IPC Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Positron VIPER is a trademark of Positron Public Safety Systems Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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