Avista Advantage Secures Key Patents

Avista Advantage has obtained four patents for the software behind its rapidly growing e-commerce business.

With the Advantage Customer Internet Site and AviTrack, Avista Advantage reported revenues of almost $1 million during the first quarter of 2000.

Clients of the Avista Corp. subsidiary include Starbucks, AT&T, and Time Warner.

“The rapid growth of the Avista Advantage customer list demonstrates that businesses are realizing significant cost savings and increased efficiencies in ways that previously were not possible, with ACIS becoming an integral part of their business processes,” said Tom Matthews, chairman of Avista Corp.

ACIS enables users to validate bills, consolidate payment and create customized reports. AviTrak is the back-office software that supports ACIS.

The patents provide broad protection for Avista Advantage technology, Matthews said.

Avista Advantage President Gary Crooks said the company and its customers have just begun to tap the potential benefits of centralizing the collection of energy-use information.

Avista has retained Goldman Sachs & Co., Wall Street’s top investment bank, and the Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to assess ways to maximize the value of Avista Advantage, which is the dominant company in its business.

Another Avista subsidiary, Avista Labs, also secured multiple patents recently for its fuel cell technology.