Award-winning Marketing and Technology Consultancy Expands Services to South Central Region

AUSTIN, Texas — February 26, 2008 — Ascentium Corporation, a leading interactive marketing and technology consultancy, today announced the opening of its Austin, Texas office. The new office will support growing business opportunities throughout the South Central region. Ascentium is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and is committed to recruiting the best talent in the region to support the delivery of Microsoft solutions and create award-winning interactive experiences, products and business solutions.

“Ascentium is a valued partner that has achieved National System Integrator (NSI) status and, as such, really understands Microsoft’s business model,” said Greg Urquhart, general manager, National SI and ISV Partners at Microsoft Corporation. “They have built successful Microsoft-based service practices in other areas of the U.S. where we’ve partnered. I expect them to do the same in the South Central region.”

In addition Jennifer Heard, general manager, South Central District at Microsoft Corporation, said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Ascentium to Austin and Microsoft’s South Central District. Their deep expertise with Microsoft technology, combined with their marketing and creative capabilities, means they can offer dynamic and innovative user experiences that drive business growth for our customers in the area.”

Some top Ascentium talent already established in the Austin office includes:

• Jim Keane, director of the Ascentium Austin office, was previously the director of the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) in Austin and a former Enterprise Strategy consultant for Dell. He will focus on ensuring business value and customer satisfaction, the same values that helped him contribute to Microsoft’s ranking its South Central presence as the #1 region nationally in 2007.

• Clint Batte, creative director, is charged with continuing to build out Ascentium’s impressive creative and marketing portfolio in this growing market. He brings more than 14 years of experience in the advertising and design industry, working with brands such as Nintendo, NetFlix, Target, Nabisco, General Mills, AT&T Wireless, Cingular and Microsoft.

• Jennifer O'Callaghan, director of marketing, is responsible for leading all the marketing services in the region. She has more than 10 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry managing national brands such Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless, and Motorola.

• Darren Simmonds, technology discipline lead, is responsible for driving the technology discipline and enterprise application development capability in this region. He is a technical architect with expertise in.NET development and database technology. He has delivered highly successful work for clients such as Koster’s Finance, Microsoft, Dell, Airborne Express, ChemPoint and Safeco Insurance.

“By integrating world-class creative, marketing and technology we will continue to attract amazing talent to this regional office, and create a new genre of services firm where we deliver cutting edge, next-generation digital experiences,” said Robert Miles, chief technology officer and managing partner of Ascentium.

Ascentium Services
Committed to providing its customers with solutions to a broad range of business problems, Ascentium offers an extensive range of services, including:

• Interactive Marketing (Next Web)
• Interactive Technologies (Silverlight, SeaDragon)
• eCommerce (Rich Internet Commerce)
• Portals & Collaboration (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server)
• Application & Product Development (.NET and WinFX)
• Customer Relationship Management (MS-CRM)
• Business Intelligence (PerformancePoint and SQL)

About Ascentium Corporation
Ascentium Corporation (www.ascentium.com) is an interactive marketing and technology consultancy that delivers award-winning experiences, products, and information-driven business solutions to achieve its clients’ strategic objectives. Making Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for the past three years, Ascentium continues to see substantial growth in creative and marketing, Web initiatives, collaboration, enterprise content management, systems integration, custom development, customer relationship management, and strategic business engagements. The company’s clients include Amazon, Intel, Nike, Nintendo, Dell, Expedia, InfoSpace, Microsoft, Providence Health Systems, and Starbucks. Ascentium is headquartered in Bellevue, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Spokane, Wash., Portland, Ore., and now Austin, Texas.

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Contact Jim Keane at 512.695.5900 or email southcentral@ascentium.com to find out more.