Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AVCOM Technologies surprised the IT community Monday by announcing plans to shutter all of its nationwide locations.

The company officially stopped taking orders as of Jan. 31, 2003, but it will honor all orders taken prior to that date and it will complete all engineering and 'Professional Services Group' engagements, the company said in a statement.

The company will also assist its customer base in transitioning to other solutions providers.

The 20-year-old reseller of security, storage, and networking solutions from Sun Microsystems, Veritas, Cisco, Oracle, Hitachi Data Systems and others, attributed its demise to the reduced demand for high-end solutions, the "over-distribution" of IT products and services, falling margins, and the overall weakness of the economy.

AVCOM representatives also cited influence by shareholders who were displeased with the company's lagging financial performance over the past year.

AVCOM's equity will be shared among its shareholders, the company said.

"Unfortunately, the continued downturn in the economy, the widespread acceptance of gray-market products, and the resulting drop in AVCOM revenues has forced us to take this action," said Brad Bishop, president and CEO of AVCOM, in a letter to employees.

"Our executive management team, along with the board of directors, decided to take certain necessary and appropriate actions to maximize its shareholder value," continued Bishop. "This was a very difficult decision."

Over the past two decades, AVCOM claims to have delivered more than a billion dollars worth of IT solutions to corporate America.

The company's assets will be sold and auctioned off at: www.avcom.com/ASSETSnow.

AVCOM has been named one of Silicon Valley's fastest growing companies every year since 1992.

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