Aliant Telecom Joins Avaya BusinessPartner Program

Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV), a leading global provider of communications networks and services, today announced Aliant Telecom has joined Avaya's Business Partner program at the Gold certification level. As an Avaya Business Partner, Aliant Telecom is working with Bell Canada's sales representatives to deliver Avaya contact centre solutions and applications across Canada. These include Avaya's award-winning multimedia contact centre solutions, which empower businesses with multi-channel capabilities and simultaneous access to crucial customer information.

"Avaya's relationship with Aliant Telecom and Bell Canada leverages our combined strengths to provide customers with the added value of a full solution approach to their telecommunications needs," said Bryan Webber, senior vice president of business development and strategic alliances, Avaya Canada. "The combination of Avaya's market-leading technology, Aliant Telecom's customer consultation expertise and Bell Canada's full service offering will result in a heightened ability to satisfy customized contact centre requirements. Whether providing basic or complex multimedia contact centre solutions, this team will help customers meet their individual objectives toward generating a greater return on investment."

"Recognizing Avaya's leadership in the contact centre marketplace, we're pleased to join the Business Partner Program," said Larry Shaw, Vice President, Managed Solutions Group, Aliant Telecom. "Working with Avaya and Bell Canada enables us to extend our existing portfolio of Avaya solutions and provide better hardware and managed solutions to our customers across the country."

In a published report from Gartner Dataquest*, Avaya was ranked number one in new agent shipments in the Canadian market. Avaya is also the world market leader in call centres, with more than 22,000 contact centre and multi-channel customer care centre customers globally.

The Contact Centre solutions being delivered by Aliant Telecom and Bell Canada include Avaya Mulitmedia Contact Centre, comprised of Avaya™ Interaction Centre and Avaya™ Operational Analyst, which personalize, automate, route, manage and report on customer interactions across a variety of communications channels, including inbound and outbound voice, e-mail, fax, text chat and Web browser-based collaboration.

In addition to Multimedia Contact Centre, Avaya contact centre solutions include Proactive Contact Management for strategic customer outreach, Self Service with speech-enabled access and Operational Excellence. Avaya Operational Excellence solutions help companies to know customers and optimize resources better by capturing and presenting data from customer interactions and enterprise systems.

*Gartner Dataquest "Canadian Call Centers Market Share and Forecast 2001", D. Kraus, L. Yu, August 2001.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services. Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications — and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services — Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results.

With Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ontario, and offices across the country, Avaya employs more than 270 people in Canada. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at http://www.avaya.com.

About Avaya BusinessPartner Program
The Avaya BusinessPartner Program is a support program for Avaya-authorized valued added resellers and network integrators. This unique program includes channel partners in Avaya's annual business planning, ensuring channel readiness and helping partners determine how Avaya solutions work within their business plans. Channel partners receive access to global technical support to ensure maximum reliability and up-time for customers, as well as a competitive discount structure. The BusinessPartner program also provides marketing and sales support that includes lead generation, access to Avaya channel managers to assist in closing sales, and the ability to participate in Avaya's customer showcase and worldwide customer briefing centers.

About Aliant Telecom
Aliant Telecom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aliant Inc. (TSX: AIT). Aliant is a recognized leader in communications and information technology. From its headquarters in eastern Canada, Aliant develops pacesetting telecommunications technologies and commercializes them for customers, and for export through partners worldwide. Aliant complements its industry-leading telecommunications business with strengths in developing information technology and knowledge services applications. The company's 10,200 employees collaborate to deliver the highest quality of customer service, while consistently demonstrating innovative capabilities that drive growth in existing and new markets. Aliant is a TSX 100 company with a market capitalization of approximately $4 billion. More information on Aliant may be found on our Web site at www.aliant.ca or www.aliantsolutions.com.