SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 18 -- Aspect Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: ASPT), the leading provider of enterprise customer contact solutions, wins Internet Telephony Magazine's Product-of-the-Year Award for the Aspect® IP Contact Suite. The winning solution lets companies receive, track and respond to customer calls, e-mails and Web interactions over their data networks. Aspect was selected for its vision, leadership and innovation. According to Greg Galitzine, editorial director for Internet Telephony, the award not only recognizes outstanding achievement but also serves as a buyer's guide for IP telephony customers.

"The Product of the Year award is meant not only to honor the outstanding teams who developed and manufactured the products and services on our winning list, but also to educate our readers on the vast array of offerings in this market. Choosing the winners was a difficult process, and we spent many hours studying the applications we received from vendors, as well as looking through materials we collected on our own over the past year," said Galitzine.

"We're committed to helping customers accommodate IP in their contact centers at the pace that is best suited for their businesses," said David Puglia, Aspect's senior vice president of global marketing. "Our product roadmap is geared towards ensuring that businesses maximize their existing investments in contact center and front- and back-office technologies while leveraging the benefits of IP. We get a lot of positive feedback from customers and analysts alike for our vision, innovation and leadership, and this award echoes that feedback. We're honored to have been selected."

The Aspect IP Contact Suite is different from traditional solutions because it offers very efficient ways to develop, support and administer the contact center. It lets companies use the same business rules for handling voice, e-mail, Web and self-service communications. Companies also develop their rules using one environment instead of multiple environments. The software uses a thin-client desktop to leverage the benefits of an IP infrastructure and supports remote agents and administration.

There are also several advanced features that help improve customer satisfaction by reducing frustration. For example, customers can leave voice messages that are delivered to the correct customer service representatives via e-mail and include database information about the customers. The Aspect solution supports both Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, the two largest e-mail systems available. The product also offers extended support and flexibility of choice for IP phones used by contact center staff. Softphone capabilities provided by Microsoft NetMeeting are bundled with the application. The Aspect IP Contact Suite also offers flexibility in choice by supporting IP-hard phones from several leading vendors that support industry-standard protocols such as H.323 and SIP.

Aspect's solution clearly stood out because Internet Telephony editors reviewed more than 150 applications for the Product of the Year honor before selecting the companies that in their view demonstrate the vision, leadership and attention to detail that are the hallmarks of all winners. The magazine will list the award recipients and their winning products in the January issue.

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) publishes Internet Telephony and Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazines as well as the online publications Planet PDA Magazine, BiometriTech and TMCnet.com. TMC also produces Internet Telephony Conference & Expo; Planet PDA: The Enterprise PDA Event; BiometriTech Conference; and The Global Call Center Outsourcing Summit. The first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories (TMC Labs), TMC provides factual and unbiased product reviews. More information about TMC and its industry-leading trade magazines and technology and telecommunications focused events is available at http://www.tmcnet.com/.

About Aspect Communications

Aspect Communications Corporation is the leading provider of business communications solutions that help companies improve customer satisfaction, reduce operating costs, gather market intelligence and increase revenue. Aspect is the trusted mission-critical partner of 74 percent of the Fortune 50, daily managing more than 3 million customer sales and service professionals worldwide. Aspect is the only company that provides the mission-critical software platform, development environment and applications that seamlessly integrate voice-over-IP, traditional telephony, e-mail, voicemail, Web, fax and wireless business communications, while guaranteeing investment protection in a company's front-office, back-office, Internet and telephony infrastructures. Aspect's leadership in business communications solutions is based on more than 17 years of experience and over 8,000 implementations deployed worldwide. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices around the world, as well as an extensive global network of systems integrators, independent software vendors and distribution partners. For more information, visit Aspect's Web site at http://www.aspect.com/ or call 877-621-3692.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: All statements in this release that involve Aspect's forecasts, beliefs, projections, expectations, strategies and intentions are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to Aspect at the time of this release, are not guarantees of future results; rather, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in this release. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the uncertainty of demand for Aspect products; the anticipated customer benefits from Aspect products; increased competition and technological changes in the markets in which Aspect competes; Aspect's abilities to manage growth; intense competition for qualified employees; and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Aspect's annual report on Form 10-K and Aspect's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Aspect assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations.

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.