Concerto Software And Aspect Communications Complete Merger And Form Aspect Software

Concerto Software and Aspect Communications today announced completion of their merger. The transaction was approved by a majority of Aspect Communications' shareholders on 21 September 2005. The new entity, privately held by Golden Gate Capital, Oak Investment Partners, company management and others, will now operate as Aspect Software.

The newly formed Aspect Software brings together more than 30 years of contact center expertise and innovation with a robust, market-leading product portfolio that includes predictive dialers, automatic call distributors (ACD), unified contact center systems, self-service interactive voice response (IVR) systems, workforce management applications and performance analytics solutions, enabling the company to meet customer demand for increased functionality and reduced complexity. Aspect Software will continue to evolve and support all of its major product lines, build tighter integrations among its products and provide evolutionary methods for customers to adopt new and emerging technologies.

"The new Aspect Software is committed to protecting our customers' investments and is well-equipped to support them in achieving their strategic collections, customer service and sales and telemarketing objectives," said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Aspect Software. "Our leading products combined with the insight of industry luminaries and technology inventors like Gary Barnett, Jim Mitchell and Roger Sumner uniquely position Aspect Software to offer a level of expertise that is unmatched in the contact center industry."

Aspect Software anticipates in excess of $600 million in annual revenue, with more than 5,000 customers and a global presence in over 50 countries. The company also expects to maintain its strong record of profitability, demonstrating long-term viability and enabling significant investment in research and development.

"Our top priority is to make our customers comfortable with the fact that the products they rely on to run their businesses are going to continue on, and to ensure they see enhanced product support. At the same time, it is crucial for us to invest in R & D so we can continue innovating in order to provide them with a non-disruptive path to the future as and when they require it," said Gary Barnett, chief technology officer (CTO) and executive vice president of worldwide customer support, Aspect Software. "We have developed a strong product roadmap that supports these priorities and takes advantage of the strengths both companies bring to the table. We will spend the next several weeks and months communicating that roadmap to our customers."

The executive team of the new company, led by Foy, includes individuals from both companies' management teams. Gary Barnett, former CEO of Aspect Communications, now serves as chief technology officer (CTO) and executive vice president of worldwide support services for Aspect Software. Other members of the new management team include:

• Ralph Breslauer - executive vice president of global sales and marketing
• Mike Provenzano - executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO)
• Alex Tellez - executive vice president of engineering

CPM, a contact management company that uses both Aspect and Concerto products, commented on the merger, "As a customer contact management company in the United Kingdom, it is important to us that we have solutions that enable us to make the most effective use of our resources," said Stephanie Rouse, commercial director, CPM International. "With easier integration points between products and unified support, the merger of Aspect and Concerto, we believe, will help us continue to maintain our ranking, as well as, help us continue to grow our business throughout Europe."

About Aspect Software
Aspect Software, the founder of the contact center industry, is the largest company 100 percent focused on providing proven, innovative products and services that enable key business processes including customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing for in-house and outsourced contact centers. Each day, companies around the globe conduct more than 125 million customer interactions using Aspect's flexible, reliable solutions for automatic call distribution (ACD), predictive dialing, workforce management, analytics, IVR and multi-channel contact. Headquartered in Westford, Mass., Aspect has operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.