MediaTel

Michael Donovan, founder, worldwide chairman and CEO of DDS, has released a statement to the company's partners following news that it is to merge with MediaBank - its main US competitor.

"To our partners in the DDS community,

I founded this business over 40 years ago to provide efficient workflow systems for the advertising industry, and I'm happy to say that with all of your help, we continue to make this happen.

But today the landscape is different: fragmentation, automation and the rise of digital media have brought massive change. Which is why, if we're to continue serving all of you, I feel we need to change course. And the challenges we're looking to tackle will mean reaching out beyond Donovan Data Systems.

That's why, subject to US government approval; we're merging with MediaBank to form a new business called MediaOcean. The new company is going to change the way our industry works. Along with our current world class applications - including the new, re-invented iDesk for digital campaign management- we're going to create a single, neutral and universal operating system for advertising technology worldwide. Our aim is to empower our agency clients so that they'll be able to manage and overcome the challenges that digitalization and fragmentation have brought.

DDS and MediaBank both operate with similar goals, providing applications and services for traditional and digital media. By bringing our two companies together, we can pool our great industry knowledge and technical expertise to continue this work, as well as to achieve our additional goals of global applications and a universal operating system.

Why is this merger needed and why now? We all recognise that the advertising industry has reached a critical juncture where change is happening at a frenetic, headlong pace. In short, technology has changed the game for us all. This in turn calls for a fresh, ambitious approach, and that's what our new MediaOcean OS Project is all about.

We appreciate that this is big news and that you'll want to know more. I invite you to explore mediaocean.com, which outlines our vision and includes an FAQ. And over the coming weeks and months, we'll communicate with you regularly.

I look forward to growing together in this next phase of DDS' history, and the history of our entire partner family.

Saludos,

Michael."