40+ years of exceptional software and services
AdvantageCS is a privately held corporation located in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA. As a software developer since 1980, we have enjoyed a worldwide reputation for superior products and services. AdvantageCS is a trusted partner of many global companies, and our experienced, professional staff average more than 12 years with the company.
In 1980, Townsend and Bottum, a power plant construction company headquartered in Ann Arbor, merged their data processing department with the software development division of Project Management Associates (PMA), a wholly owned subsidiary, to form a new company named T and B Computing.
PMA was developing a project management product called Track50 which ran on the Prime minicomputer 50 Series. PMA had recently created Infomatics, a timeshare company managing Prime hardware. T and B Computing was given the goal of selling software development services.
Ron Ghormley, then Vice President at Townsend and Bottum, was named the first CEO of T and B Computing. Cecil Murray, who had come from Infomatics, became the first president.
T and B Computing began with 2 product lines: project management software Track 50 and accounting software INTACT 50. The first clients were book and magazine publishers, and thus a new product line was formed: INTACT 50 for publishers.
Images above, from left to right: Ron Ghormley, Cecil Murray, the T and B Computing office, and INTACT 50 advertisements. (1980)
In 1988, T and B Computing was sold by Townsend and Bottum to Thomas S Monaghan, Inc. Thomas Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, was acquiring technology companies at the time.
In 1989, we developed a replacement of INTACT 50 called Publisher’s Advantage Computing System®, or “Advantage,” for short.
The company became an independent corporation in 1992, when its current shareholders purchased it from Thomas Monaghan. Shortly thereafter – in 1997 – we changed our name to Advantage Computing Systems to better reflect our presence in the market.
Images above, from left to right: An advertisement for Publisher's Advantage (1990), a group of Business Analysts (1992), sales & marketing staff Cindy Twiss and Mike Loveland (1994), and a group photo taken on Halloween (1996).
Since 1997, Advantage Computing System's (shortened to AdvantageCS in 2013) modern era has been defined by two key factors: the continuous refinement of the Advantage product and the company's successful expansion into European markets.
The Advantage subscription management platform has undergone numerous UI, developer framework, and functionality changes over the last two decades to best serve our clients' evolving business needs. Initially designed to cater to print publishers, Advantage's functionality has since expanded immensely to become an industry leading subscription and membership management solution for digital and physical products.
Although we had British clients as early as 2001, the expansion into European markets really began with the signing of Bayard Presse as a client in 2007. After this initial signing, European clients started flooding in, and now, nearly 45% of our clients are European!
In 2025, AdvantageCS will celebrate its 45th year in business. Although the company has undergone numerous name, ownership, and product changes over the last four decades, our core values - innovation, trust, reliability, and collaboration - have been and will always be the foundation of our success.
Left to right: An in-person training session (2005), a group company photo (2017), current Director of European Operations Philippe van Mastrigt and VP Dan Heffernan's presentation at FIPP 2024, and a group photo from the most recent European Advantage Users Group Conference (2024).
Start with our newsletter.
