Press & Events

New contract, and now a new space

DURHAM, NC – February 17, 2005 -- With a lucrative new contract in place, Durham document management firm Active Data Services is consolidating its headquarter in Wake County. The company,which converts records such as those found in hospitals, accounts payable or human resource departments to digital files, last week signed a 10-year lease on 57,000 square feet at 400 Perimeter Park in Morrisville, said Howard Sadkin, a Corporate Realty Advisors senior partner who assisted Active Data in the deal. The new space will be occupied in May and is 30 percent bigger than the offices that Active Data leases in three buildings at Lincoln Park West off South Miami Boulevard. It should be big enough to handle the 30 additional workers who will be hired to help the company manage a new account with its biggest customer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.That deal, signed last month, will last at least three years and is worth at least $6 million.

Active Data is to manage data and print payroll checks, checks to providers, statements to insurance members, benefits booklets, identification cards and other items, said Michelle Douglas, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross, the state's largest health insurer. Before the deal, the insurer used two printing vendors: Active Data Services and Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas. The contract will lead Active Data to boost its full-time work force to 150. It also uses as many as 40 temporary workers. The company has an option on additional 23,000 square feet of space, Said Kenneth A. Eller Active Data's President and CEO.

The new space will include about 8,000 squarefeet of offices and about 15,000 square feet of computer processing space. The balance will be production space for scanning, printing, mailing and other services. "We're designing this to have the optimal process workflow" he said. "We'll have an ability to separate the storage of documents we're converting for security purposes. We're going to have our upgraded data center, uninterrupted power supply with a backup generator." That's important for a company that turns paper, microfilm, microfiche, optical disk and other media into adigital index format that makes it easier for businesses to manage data. It also personalizes paper and digital documents for customers.

Active Data Services, which recently signed a lucrative contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina expects revenue to increase about 23 percent in 2005. The company emerged from Lason, a Troy, Mich.-based company Eller and his partners in 2002 bought out Lason's Triangle operation, which itself was built from the acquisitions of SMI Imaging, Lassiter Presort, Atlantic Documentation Center and a division of Computer Science, Eller said. Active Data inherited a mixed bag of space 5,000 square feet of offices in a building separate from its 34,000 square foot production space,which in turn was separate from its 5,000-squarefoot warehouse. "It is a far better facility for us," Eller said. "We have a lot of the things our business needs to have a more stable operation." The efficiency should lead to improved fortunes, he said. The company had revenue of $11 million in 2004 up 10 percent from 2003. Eller projects revenue of about $13.5 million in 2005. The deal brings vacancy at the Duke Realty propertY to 8 percent, said Hooker Manning, a senior leasing representative.

About Active Data Services, Inc.
Active Data Services, Inc. is the market leader focused on the next generation Integrated Document Facility™, which provides a full complement of advanced, integrated information management services and solutions. Active Data Services, Inc. captures, manages and distributes millions of documents each month for enterprise and healthcare customers, providing cost savings, competitive advantages and improved customer relationships. The company was founded in April 2002, and is a privately held U.S. corporation headquartered in Durham, North Carolina within the Research Triangle Park. For more information on Active Data Services or the Active Data Healthcare Solution Suite, call Peter Ransome at 919-544-4633.