FOSTER CITY, Calif.--Feb. 5, 2004-- EFI, the world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for commercial and enterprise printing, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire ADS Communications, Inc., the leading provider of service automation software for the office equipment industry. The acquisition price is $11.5 million in an all cash transaction and EFI expects to close the deal by the end of February. "The automated equipment maintenance systems from Automated Dispatch Systems (ADS) offer excellent synergies with our product portfolio for the office equipment channel, particularly in the exciting area of Intelligent Device Management," said Mike Stramaglia, EFI General Manager of Enterprise Solutions, Service Automation. "EFI is focused on increasing our customers' productivity and ROI. With ADS' automated response, tracking and reporting dispatch software, office equipment dealers and service providers can significantly improve their efficiency and price competitiveness. And their customers will enjoy less copier and printer downtime and faster service response times." "We are excited to join the EFI team as their worldwide reputation, deep relationships with equipment manufacturers and distribution partners, and financial strength will allow us to have greater impact on our customers' service offerings and profitability," said Robert Glovitz, CEO of ADS. "Automated Dispatch Systems is the established leader in office service automation and becoming part of EFI's culture of innovation will help us to continue to stay on the leading edge." ADS' current customers include major companies such as IKON, Canon, Ricoh and Imagistics. The privately held company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and has approximately 50 employees. EFI anticipates that the ADS acquisition will not have a significant impact on the company's recently released revenue outlook or overall 2004 financial results. The acquisition is a strong fit with EFI's strategy of providing best of breed productivity solutions for customers in all of its markets, in this case the office equipment channel. ADS software has natural synergies with EFI's recently announced Intelligent Device Management (IDM) software that automatically monitors customers' consumables use and provides continuous remote diagnostics and troubleshooting. Combining IDM's remote tracking and diagnostics with ADS' automatic service dispatch will allow EFI to offer its dealer and service channel - and their customers - faster, more efficient and less costly approaches to increasing equipment reliability and customer satisfaction.