CDWC Cdw Corp (MM)

CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDWC), a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government and education, today demonstrated the business value of consolidating and simplifying an organization�s telecommunications infrastructure. CDW provided design assistance to implement simplified, converged audio, video and data network solutions for Summer Bay Resorts, Pentax Medical and The Riverside Company, unlocking the solutions� business value and encouraging profitable revenue growth for the customers. CDW works with a broad set of telecommunications partners, including Global Crossing (NASDAQ:GLBC), a leading global provider of telecommunications solutions, to provide services and products that meet customers� business and technology requirements alike. Global Crossing�s portfolio of fully managed, converged IP services includes Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), IP VPN, Remote VPN access, Internet Access and IP Video designed to meet the exacting performance and reliability needs of customers� mission-critical communications. These services are supported by a comprehensive suite of managed solutions, simplifying the management and maintenance and improving the security and reliability of the converged IP solution. �Organic and acquisition-driven growth can create a tangle of telecommunications contracts and systems that constrain a company�s growth and sap valuable resources from new initiatives,� said Ian Kieninger, manager of CDW�s Voice and Data Specialist Team. �Working with telecommunications providers such as Global Crossing, CDW can cut through that tangle to consolidate, simplify and reduce the cost of telecommunications. The net result is fewer resources spent on maintenance and more resources available for business investment.� Summer Bay Resorts: A cool SIP for open source fans Summer Bay Resorts, a rapidly growing vacation ownership company with timeshare developments in Tennessee, Florida, Nevada and Missouri, also operates more than 500 operator seats at call centers Florida and Missouri. Running 24 hours a day, in 2006 the call centers handled 7.1 million phone calls supporting Summer Bay�s marketing and customer service operations. Summer Bay IT Director Dave Kurz had tried without success to locate a single service provider that could deliver a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution that supported the company�s Asterisk open-source VoIP infrastructure at all four of the company�s locations. As well as preferring a single carrier to ease management of the system, he wanted consistent reliability and quality of service. Kurz turned to CDW, whose technology specialists worked with him and Summer Bay Network Administrator Jason Brown to understand their requirements, identify all practical options and provide a comprehensive comparison of them. �When we speak directly with service providers, each presents itself as the best, of course,� said Kurz. �But since CDW represents so many providers, they do a great job of comparing the options openly and fairly, without pushing us toward any particular one.� Global Crossing�s SIP-enabled enterprise VoIP solutions matched Summer Bay Resorts� needs and now enable Kurz to manage all four locations and call centers with ease while reducing the company�s annual telecommunications expense by more than 50 percent. Pentax Medical Company: Frame-breaking technology and stellar service Pentax Medical Company, a manufacturer of life care systems, imaging systems and optical component products, operates ten widely dispersed locations across the United States, including sales and distribution centers. Director of IT Vito Micciolo and Infrastructure Manager Luis Collado were seeking a single provider that could serve all locations with Pentax�s voice, data and Internet services with improved availability and maximized cost savings. They also wanted to simplify management of their system through consolidated billing services that had not been available from previous providers. Over a three-month period, CDW and the Pentax team reviewed a range of options and planned to upgrade the firm�s aging frame-relay system to a new multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) wide-area network WAN. Pentax selected Global Crossing as its new service provider, and CDW facilitated additional details such as Web-based and audio collaboration services, calling cards and conference bridges. Beyond the benefit of the MPLS WAN for improved Internet service, Pentax valued its improved voice connectivity and the advantages it presented for disaster preparedness. �Our experience with Global Crossing has been excellent. We�ve had several sites at 100 percent availability, with most at better than 99.8 percent, and on the rare occasion when there is an outage in the system, they call us before we have time to call them,� adds Collado. �Plus, we have reduced our total service bill by about $22,000 per month � more than half of what we had been paying with the former provider.� The Riverside Company: Big-company benefits for small-company bottom lines The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm with headquarters in New York, New York. Director of Strategic Analysis and Sourcing Jonathan D. Kinney and his team saw voice/data services as one area where all 48 Riverside portfolio companies based in the U.S. and another 11 in Europe could potentially economize and improve their operations by contracting with a common service provider. CDW had provided core technologies to Riverside for several years, so Kinney turned to CDW in search of telecommunications service options that would leverage Riverside�s buying power for all of their holdings. CDW and Global Crossing finalized their agreement with Riverside in August 2006 and so far have completed installations at 19 of Riverside�s portfolio companies. Participation in Riverside�s strategic sourcing programs is optional for the portfolio companies, but the CDW / Global Crossing program has gained great momentum and participation continues to grow. �Most providers we spoke with were inflexible about allowing Riverside to leverage our combined buying power to benefit our portfolio companies, but to CDW�s and Global Crossing�s credit, they saw the business advantage of doing so,� Kinney said. �Our properties now have access to an offering of WAN services, conferencing, local calling, international long distance and all of our special services.� About CDW CDW�, ranked No. 342 on the FORTUNE 500, is a leading provider of technology solutions for business, government and education. CDW is a principal source of technology products and services including top name brands such as APC, Acer, Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Panasonic, Quantum, Samsung, Sony, Symantec and ViewSonic. CDW's direct model offers customers one-on-one relationships with knowledgeable account managers and access to more than 820 on-staff engineers and advanced technology specialists who customize solutions for customers� complex technology needs. CDW also provides same-day product shipping and post-sales technical support. CDW was founded in 1984 and employs approximately 5,640 coworkers. In 2006, the company generated sales of $6.8 billion. For more information, visit CDW.com. Where You Can Find Additional Information In connection with the proposed merger between CDW and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, CDW filed a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC on July 2, 2007. CDW will also file with the SEC, and furnish to its shareholders, a definitive proxy statement soliciting proxies for the meeting of its shareholders to be called with respect to the Merger. CDW SHAREHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT IS FINALIZED AND DISTRIBUTED TO THEM BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. CDW shareholders and other interested parties will be able to obtain, without charge, a copy of the proxy statement (when available) and other relevant documents filed with the SEC from the SEC�s website at http://www.sec.gov. CDW shareholders and other interested parties will also be able to obtain, without charge, a copy of the proxy statement (when available) and other relevant documents by directing a request by mail or telephone to CDW Corporation, 200 N. Milwaukee Ave., Vernon Hills, Illinois 60061, Attention: Corporate Secretary, telephone: (847) 465-6000, or from CDW�s website, http://www.cdw.com. CDW and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be �participants� in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders of CDW with respect to the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may be considered �participants� in the solicitation of proxies is set forth in the preliminary proxy statement described above. Statements about the expected timing, completion and effects of the proposed merger between CDW and Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, and all other statements in this filing other than historical facts, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, each of which is qualified in its entirety by reference to the following cautionary statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. CDW may not be able to complete the proposed merger because of a number of factors, including, among other things, the failure to obtain shareholder approval, the failure of financing or the failure to satisfy other closing conditions. Other risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements are described in the reports filed by CDW with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including without limitation CDW�s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006.