Sovereign Selects Avotus' ICM Usage Management.

TORONTO and BOSTON -- Avotus(R) Corporation said today that it has completed a sale of its Intelligent Communications Management(TM) (ICM) solution to Sovereign Bank of Wyomissing, Pa. The bank will use Avotus' Usage Management software corporate-wide to collect and report telecommunications

In addition, Sovereign will use Avotus technology to poll data from its Nortel Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems. It will also use Avotus software to collect data directly from Cisco switches which are used to consolidate branch office communications services.

Avotus Usage Management will allow Sovereign management to understand how, when and where the company's communications components are being used. This enables them to track and evaluate usage, allocate and bill costs to divisions, departments and individuals.

Avotus Usage Management will also enable Sovereign to report, manage and monitor usage in order to identify originating phone numbers and the numbers called to highlight misuse, record information for regulatory compliance and enforce usage policies. All usage information will be available through a Web portal that will present flexible, customizable reports. In addition, Avotus Usage Management also will integrate with Sovereign's employee directory through LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and with enterprise systems to facilitate management, reporting and cost allocation.

Commented Gregg Newkirk, PBX manager, Voice, Video & Data Services, at Sovereign, "We looked at several communications management vendors but we found Avotus to have the most flexibility and the greatest detail in their reports. The Web reporting and our ability to better monitor voice traffic on the network will give us greater control over our communications."

"By selecting Avotus ICM, Sovereign has the most robust usage management solution available," said Alan Gold, chief marketing officer for Avotus. "ICM will make it easy for them to integrate into their enterprise systems and it will present precise information to the individual level."

About Avotus

Avotus is the leader for groundbreaking technology-based telecommunications and data expense management (TEM) solutions. The company has a 20-year history of empowering companies of all sizes to gain lasting control over their complete worldwide communications environment through the effective management of their voice, data and converged communications spend. Only Avotus brings together e-procurement, expense, and usage management into a fully integrated solution. Avotus provides dramatic and verifiable cost savings of as much as 50% of an enterprise's current communications spend and a triple digit in-year ROI. Combining technology, automation, communications experts, and industry best practices, Avotus solutions make it possible to not only realize significant spend reduction but to continuously verify and permanently implement all cost and process improvements. Avotus offers the widest, deepest and most flexible solution set available including an onsite enterprise implementation, a hosted Application Service Provider (ASP) model, and a completely outsourced value-added managed solution.

For more information about Avotus communications management solutions, customers, and partners, visit www.avotus.com.

About Sovereign Bank

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a $59 billion financial institution with more than 650 community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 10,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, trust and wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 19th largest banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit www.sovereignbank.com (http://www.sovereignbank.com) or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.

Avotus is a registered trademark and Intelligent Communications Management is a trademark of Avotus Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

EDITORS - For further information:

Jo Martell Avotus Corporation Burlington Centre 35 Corporate Drive, 4th floor Burlington, MA 01803 781-685-4861 (USA) 905-568-6895 (Canada) Jo.Martell@avotus.com

Sandy McLaughlin Soucy Communications Group 162 Great Rd. Acton, MA 01720 USA 978-266-1700 SMcLaughlin@scg-pr.com