Esker's facility in Stillwater to house fax server center

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jan 25, 2000

STILLWATER (JR) -- Esker on Monday announced the creation of "Centers of Excellence" to concentrate resources for its North American fax server and host access lines of business into two locations.

The fax server center will be in Stillwater, France-based Esker's U.S. headquarter. The host access center will be at Esker's Madison, Wis., facility.

The centers will combine Esker's U.S. sales, support, quality assurance, and development staffs.

In addition, product managers will reside in the Center of Excellence that houses all functions associated with their product responsibilities.

To achieve this concentration of staff, Esker will close its remote offices in California, transferring key employees and sales and support functions to the centers in Madison and Stillwater.

Esker currently has about 60 employees in Stillwater. Four employees will be transferred to Stillwater from California and four new positions will be created.

Esker expects the concentration of resources into the centers to give it a competitive advantage by reducing time to market for future versions of its software, improving the quality of its offerings, and providing enhanced customer service while lowering expenses. These centers will also become hubs for managing distributor, reseller and partner relationships, including business development activities and the delivery of enhanced channel programs and support.

Esker reported revenues of $29.4 million in 1999, a 44 percent increase from 1998. Revenues from North American operations were up 80 percent.