Richmond, VA, November 12, 2008 [Updated and reissued as of April 6, 2010] - The Greater Richmond Technology Council has awarded AgilQuest Corporation and AgilQuest’s president and founder John Vivadelli its Technology Sustainability Award for 2008. The Technology Sustainability Award is awarded to the Central Virginia-based company that demonstrates innovative business services and solutions that produce or utilize cutting edge technology to develop or refine sustainability practices.

In presenting the award, Chip Farmer, Executive Director of the GRTC said, “AgilQuest has clearly demonstrated that their workplace management technology, which is in use at many blue chip organizations, is helping their clients reach sustainability goals that far exceed the norm.”

AgilQuest was nominated for the award by Russell Jay, General Services Vice President for Orange Business Solutions of Oak Hill, VA. Russell described how AgilQuest’s technology and services were used by Orange to address project and sustainability goals.

Stated Mr. Jay, “John Vivadelli believes that `the greenest, most sustainable building is one that is not built.` To extend this thought John has dedicated his career and his company to showing client organizations how they can increase the utilization of selected facilities and divest others that are grossly underutilized thereby reducing building costs and energy consumption.”

AgilQuest provides a software system, that includes AgilQuest's patented technology, and service methodology which manages office space, measures its actual use and provides strategic information to corporate executives on how often each workspace is actually used and identifies the workers who would benefit by trading their underutilized, permanently assigned, workspace for the ability to choose to work from anywhere – home, corporate office, or anyplace that meets their needs.

Use of this innovative solution leads to the elimination of unneeded workspaces which mirrors John’s credo of making organizations greener and more sustainable. Organizations that operate a smaller number of highly utilized facilities reap the rewards of reduced rents, reduced carbon footprint, reduced energy requirements, reduced maintenance costs and increased sustainability.

According to Mr. Jay,”This is not just theory, and we at Orange Business Services (a business unit of France Telecom) have become greener and more sustainable with the help of AgilQuest’s innovative software products to consolidate our operations and dispose of properties that were underutilized.

“The AgilQuest OnBoard system allows our workers to find and reserve the most productive workspaces for their needs and provides them with telephony services at the reserved workspace. OnBoard tracks the actual use of each workspace which is the information we need to determine consolidation and divestiture options.

“At Orange Business Services we use AgilQuest’s solutions as the basis for implementing our alternative workplace solution which we call FlexPlace, now deployed in 40 countries. FlexPlace addresses our business need for flexible employee working environments while promoting an eco-friendly shared environment. FlexPlace (and AgilQuest) puts the focus on how people actually work and how those various workstyles contribute to a healthier workforce and healthier planet.

“In summary, AgilQuest’s solutions measure the actual use of an organization’s real estate portfolio on a daily basis which provides the business intelligence needed to reduce the amount of real estate the organization acquires/builds/operates to run their business, which is orders of magnitude more effective at reducing energy costs or carbon footprints than any LEED initiative we could implement.

“We have aggressively implemented FlexPlace in conjunciton with a more flexible remote working policy (telework) within Orange Business Services. In the last two years we have increased the number of sites that implemented the FlexPlace workplace strategy to about 40 countries. Introducing FlexPlace drives other space optimization actions like improved workplace utilization and careful identification of legitimate and clandestine teleworkers. We have measured the benefits of FlexPlace in three major categories; cost savings, energy reduction and carbon emission reduction. Our results are as follows:

• Cost Reduction: In 2005 and 2006 we cut the number of facilities we needed to support our workforce in half and achieved our $30M savings target, in 2007 and 2008 we cut another $40M in property-related costs for a grand total of about $70M over these four years.
• Energy Consumption Reduction: In 2005 and 2006 we cut our energy consumption by an estimated 50 billion BTU’s per year. In 2007 and 2008, we estimate our savings to be over 60 billion BTU’s per year.
• Carbon Emission Avoidance: in 2005 and 2006 we cut our carbon emissions by an estimated 1,500 MTCE (metric tons of carbon equivalent per year primary). In 2007 and 2008, we cut our carbon emissions by an estimated 2,000 MTCE per year.”


Orange’s FlexPlace system has received: (1) CoreNet’s (Mid-Atlantic chapter) Innovation in the Workplace Award; (2) a Telework of Virginia award as one of the top five companies in Virginia with an employee-friendly teleworking program that contributes to a more environmentally-friendly workplace; and (3) recognition as the top company in the geographic area for eco-friendly work-styles from Commuter Connections, sponsored by the Council of Governments of the greater Washington area.

About AgilQuest Corporation
AgilQuest Corporation is dedicated to making an organization’s workplace as agile as its workforce. Founded in 1994 AgilQuest delivers mission critical, enterprise software and consulting expertise that gives corporate management the power to make real estate and facility decisions that can result in millions of dollars in cost savings.

About Orange Business Services
Orange Business Services is the recognized leader in global, integrated and customized communication infrastructure solutions that enable key business processes of its customers. Orange Business Services combines its network expertise with unmatched seamless network reach and local support provided by its 9,300 employees in 164 countries to manage more than 152,000 user connections across the world.

About The Greater Richmond Technology Council
The GRTC is a member-driven association of businesses and organizations working together to ensure the continued growth of Central Virginia`s dynamic technology-based economy. The Council includes both Technology and Associate members dedicated to the development of an infrastructure that supports the growth of existing technology industries and identifies the Greater Richmond region as a location of choice for new and emerging technology companies.