Dear Friends,
I am writing to you to inform you that Avencia is changing its name. This will come as a surprise to many of you, so I want to make sure you hear it from me directly. Avencia will now be known as Azavea – pronounced like ‘azalea’. There is no particularly good reason for this, and this was not a change that we sought - we liked our name just fine. So what happened?
Beginning about three years ago, Avencia became the target of a trademark dispute that sought to have our registered trademark canceled. While neither company has ever had any experience with a customer demonstrating confusion between the two names, the other party has persisted in their effort. We have vigorously defended ourselves since then but now taking it to its conclusion in federal court will be even more distracting and expensive. This has reached the point where our continued defense will jeopardize the financial stability of the firm, and distract us from focusing on our clients. That is simply not acceptable, so we have decided to throw in the towel.
In collaboration with my colleagues as well some of our clients, partners and friends, we have chosen Azavea for our new name. What does it mean? You might ask. My brother-in-law is from Pakistan. While we were brainstorming for a new name, he mentioned that ‘zavea’ means ‘perspective’ in Urdu. We liked the sound of it and its evident connection to geography. So after a few spelling tweaks to enable us to create a strong trademark, we adopted Azavea.
While we have a new name, the company’s mission remains the same. We will continue to perform research and create software that brings together the best aspects of geography and the web. We remain committed to providing our clients access to advanced geospatial technologies (GIS) through highly-crafted and easy-to-use web and mobile solutions, and personalized geospatial analysis services.
More than ever, we aim to combine our experience solving tough geospatial problems, commitment to tailored service, and a genuine desire to “do well by doing good” in order to help our clients create more dynamic, vibrant communities
We are proud of our team for sticking through the ups and downs of this trademark dispute and have valued their input throughout this 3-year process. We will continue to hire smart people who get a kick out of working on projects with social value, and who are passionate about making a difference in the world around them. Lastly, it is our wish to continue creating an environment where our colleagues can both flourish and be challenged.
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Sincerely,
Robert Cheetham
President & CEO
Azavea
cheetham@azavea.com