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Aspect's New Uniphi Suite Gathers Strong Reseller Support in North America And Europe Norstan and Voicetec Endorse Next-Generation Contact Center Solution NEW ORLEANS, eBIZ 2004, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aspect Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:ASPT), a leading provider of enterprise customer contact solutions, today announced reseller support for Aspect(R) Uniphi Suite from Norstan Communications Inc., a leading provider of communications solutions and services based in Minneapolis, Minn., and Voicetec B.V., an independent solution provider and distributor of advanced VoIP-based communications solutions based in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands. Announced earlier today at eBIZ 2004, Aspect Uniphi Suite is a next-generation solution for managing and measuring customer interaction activities. The product is delivered in a tightly integrated software format based on open industry standards to meet the requirements of advanced contact centers both today and in the future. "Contact center solutions providers have come a long way in integrating applications for managing communications, workforces and information. But, next-generation solutions such as Aspect Uniphi Suite take that further by using standards-based, open technology to pull a wide range of contact center functionality together tightly into one environment that offers a single point of control for managing and analyzing customer interactions and relies on tools familiar in the IT world," said Art Schoeller, senior analyst, The Yankee Group. "Products like Uniphi Suite can help IT and contact center experts collaborate more effectively and ultimately enable businesses to better integrate the contact center into their overall operations. The integrated suite approach also provides distribution partners a more complete platform to deliver enhanced services and applications, so they don't have to struggle to assemble multiple, disparate solutions to solve customer problems." Aspect solution resellers Norstan and Voicetec are applauding Aspect's latest innovation at Aspect's customer conference, eBIZ 2004, in New Orleans this week. Uniphi Suite offers investment protection by delivering new capabilities in an open standards-based software format that supports existing PSTN and IP environments. Both companies point to Uniphi Suite's centralized administration, single-agent interface spanning a variety of media channels and ability to leverage existing infrastructures for remote locations as significant capabilities that simplify contact center management. Also appealing to resellers is Uniphi Suite's ability to operate in PSTN, IP-PBX or hybrid environments to deliver advanced contact center capabilities, making it possible for users to add new functionality without disrupting service. "As the market shifts to IP communications, companies need the assurance that mission-critical applications housed in their contact centers are secure," said Scott G. Christian, president and chief executive officer of Norstan. "With Uniphi Suite, Aspect provides the framework for supporting true centralized applications convergence in the contact center. Customers continue to benefit from the intellectual and monetary capital investment in existing infrastructure, while expanding their communications capabilities in a secure environment using this new open architecture. Norstan, which has enjoyed a 15- year relationship with Aspect, can continue to leverage our expertise in IP- based contact center platforms by packaging Uniphi Suite and other technology partners' offerings to create value for our customers." "With Uniphi Suite, Aspect brings together two decades of contact center application-functionality development into one open software product that provides a smooth migration path to IP," said Hanjo Huizing, chief executive officer of Voicetec. "Our enterprise customers are asking for contact centers that can bridge traditional mission-critical applications with newer products such as IP-PBX's using open standards. Uniphi Suite will help us address this trend by offering a single operating environment that meets the business requirements of our customers, while simplifying and centralizing contact center management with integrated business rules and a single routing engine for a variety of media and agent locations." An open contact center operating environment, Uniphi Suite supports a common set of technology standards, including Web services, SOAP, SIP, VXML, HTTP and SNMP. Uniphi Suite also leverages one set of business rules across each application in the suite and enables systems administrators to define, develop and deploy contact centers virtually anywhere more quickly and easily than previous enterprise applications of this scale. Customers can develop once and deploy once across the entire enterprise, resulting in significant up-front cost savings. In addition, Uniphi Suite features a single-agent desktop for managing customer interactions across media channels including voice, e-mail and Web and for providing centralized reporting and analytics. "Aspect Uniphi Suite enables our customers to focus more resources on their customer-care strategies and business requirements because it simplifies contact center operations by providing a single point of control for managing applications that handle communications, workforces and information," said Brian Gentile, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Aspect. "We are pleased to have the support of respected resellers like Norstan and Voicetec because their Aspect product expertise combined with complementary products and services enable them to reach a wide range of customers in two very important geographies for Aspect." About Norstan Communications Inc. Norstan Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NRRD) is a full-service communications solutions company that delivers voice and data technologies and services and remanufactured equipment to corporate end-users and public-sector companies. Norstan offers a full range of integrated technologies for converged solutions, customer contact solutions and ProtectNet Life Cycle services. The company has offices located throughout the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit the Norstan Web site at http://www.norstan.com/. About Voicetec B.V. Voicetec B.V. is an independent solution provider and distributor of advanced communications solutions based on VOIP, e-mail and Web. The company is enriched with years of professional experiences in the fields of voice processing, telecommunications and IT. Voicetec distributes and markets communication solutions that help companies improve customer relationship management and employee productivity while letting them reap the benefits of tremendous cost savings. By using advanced eService software, Voicetec's customers can distinguish themselves by offering their clients an optimum service level, which is the crux of successful business. About Aspect Uniphi Architecture Uniphi Suite is the latest development originating from Aspect's Uniphi architecture. The architecture is designed to unify the contact center and the enterprise by integrating the applications that drive customer communications, contact center and customer information, and workforce productivity -- resulting in better insight to business and customer activity. The Aspect Uniphi architecture extends Aspect's vision of delivering proven, multi-product solutions, whether PSTN, IP-hybrid or pure VoIP, while still lowering total cost of ownership and protecting contact center investments as new technologies and standards emerge. About Aspect Communications Aspect Communications Corporation is a leading provider of contact center solutions and services that enable businesses to manage and optimize customer communications. Aspect's global customer base includes more than two-thirds of the Fortune 50 and leading corporations in a range of industries, including transportation, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail and outsourcing, as well as large government agencies. The company's leadership is based on 19 years of expertise. Aspect is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices in countries around the world. NOTE: Aspect, the Aspect logo and the phrases and marks relating to other Aspect products and services discussed in this press release constitute one or both of the following: (1) registered trademarks and/or service marks of Aspect Communications Corporation in the United States and/or other countries or (2) intellectual property subject to protection under common law principles. All other names and marks mentioned in this document are properties of their respective owners. DATASOURCE: Aspect Communications Corporation CONTACT: media, Jennifer Stroud, +1-615-221-6842, or , or investors, Carrie Kovac, +1-408-325-2437, or , both of Aspect Communications Web site: http://www.norstan.com/ Web site: http://www.aspect.com/

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