ATX

ATX started operations by developing "off-the shelf" tax preparation software. Since 1998, the company has been headquartered in Caribou, Maine with approximately 235 employees at the site. The product line now includes a full range of integrate products for accounting firms, plus it Command Accounting software line for businesses.

ATX employs over 50 people as programmers, in addition to a variety of marketing, financial management and client support professionals. ATX announced, in Sept. '03, an expansion that will create 80 new jobs at the Caribou office. The new positions will be a mix of programmers and technical support professionals, as well as client support for the busy tax season.

ATX is a subsidiary of UCG, a Rockville, Maryland based porfolio company. UCG had also acquired Kleinrock, a leading tax research software and on-line service company. The acquisitions lead to the merger of ATX and Kleinrock for the creation of the "Total Tax Office", ATX's comprehensive tax preparation software package, and then Total Integrated Office which added accounting and financial statement engagement software to the mix. ATX also employs more than 85 people in Fort Pierce Florida and 25 people in Maryland. ATX was named to the INC. Magazine 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies for the past five years in a row, placing it in the select "INC 500 Hall of Fame".

More than 70,000 tax professionals use software developed by ATX Forms, Inc. of Caribou, making the 12-year old company an industry leader in tax prepartation, and tax research and relatedsoftware and publishing products. William Tasker, ATX Customer Service Manager, attributes the company's success to offering a "comprehensive package for a lot less money than our competitors."

Steve and Glynn Willett, the brothers who founded ATX, used their own capital, avoided deep debt and located the business in northern Maine, taking advantage of the region's low labor and property costs to craft a competitive business. Maine 's first-in-the-nation investment in ATM fiber optic based network was instrumental in making Maine a viable location for the business.

"It wouldn't have been possible without the internet," Tasker said. " Maine was early to recognize the infrastructure needed for Internet Commerce."

Tasker was the company's fifth employee when he joined its ranks a decade ago. ATX now employs about well over 200 employees in Caribou, and about 70 in Fort Pierce, Florida, where the company develops the thousands of calculating and linked forms used in ATX software. "The first year I was here, sales were $270,000. Now they're over $30 million," he said. Sales, marketing, financial management, IT services and primary programming functions operate out of Caribou. ATX has been able to attract programmers from throughout the country to Caribou, in part because of its quality of life. "For the right kind of person, it's a great place to raise a family and not have all the scary aspects of urban life," Tasker said.

As ATX continues to grow for the future, credit has to be given to the quality of employees who have helped the company build a true "we care" relationship with its customers. Dave Olsen, Executive Director of Accounting Products, comments "Building new product markets, such as we are doing with accounting software for businesses, can only be successful if we maintain the customer centered focus that has gotten us where we are. The community we are in and the kind of people we hire make that possible."