Ascendent Systems Named One of Ten Emerging Wireless Players to Watch

Leading Communications Company receives IDC
accolade for second year in a row

San Jose, Calif. — November 8, 2004 — Ascendent Systems, a leading developer of mobility and business continuity solutions for voice communications, today announced that it has been named as one of 10 emerging wireless players to watch by IDC, the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. This marks the second year in succession that the company has been included on the list.

"As wireless content and voice markets evolve at a remarkable speed, smaller companies with vision, flexibility and adaptability are playing a much larger role in this new wireless revolution," said Scott Ellison, IDC program director, Wireless and Mobile Communications. "Ascendent Systems continues to demonstrate a clear understanding of what it takes to deliver true, unified communications and has been a pioneering leader in the space."

In its report, IDC acknowledged both the company’s quick ascension and its consistency to deliver leading technologies in the business continuity sector. In addition to highlighting the clear ROI and productivity gains of integrating wireline and wireless devices and networks, IDC noted that “Ascendent’s solutions provide seamless redundancy to support immediate continuity of communications in the event of a crisis or disaster,” a major concern of both the private and public sectors.

By delivering an advanced voice communication and messaging platform, Ascendent unifies voice networks and delivers a consistent set of voice services and applications (e, g, corporate dial tone, abbreviated dialing, conferencing, etc.) to any communications device while preserving existing investments in legacy infrastructure. The Ascendent solution seamlessly integrates a wide array of technologies used to facilitate and enhance communications between an enterprise, its employees and its customers. The open architecture design enables enterprise customers to leverage existing voice infrastructures (PBX and Voice Mail) while fully integrating with and providing a smooth transition to cellular, remote / home office, VoIP and WiFi devices.

"We are extremely proud to be continually recognized by such a prestigious firm as IDC" said Walt Blomquist, vice president of marketing for Ascendent Systems. "Of course, we strive to deliver best of class solutions to our customers but the validation provided by IDC's report only confirms that we continue to move in the right direction. Our goal is to make it three years in a row!"

Enterprise Mobility:
The Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite extends Traditional PBX-like features to any wireless or wireline communication device, replicating an in-office environment on the user’s terms – anywhere, using any device the user prefers.

Business Continuity:
Ascendent’s SureConnect Continuity Suite guarantees continuity of voice services and applications during outage or emergency conditions using distributed back-up functionality. Simultaneous communication with designated groups is supported using notification, polling and conferencing facilities.

Conferencing:
Ascendent’s conferencing applications within their GroupConnect Conferencing Suite support options for either scheduled conferences (traditional conference bridging) or real-time conferencing whereby users are automatically brought into a conference leveraging Ascendent’s mobility services.

About Ascendent System
Ascendent Systems Inc., headquartered in San Jose, Ca. is a leading developer of enterprise voice applications that provide mobility and business continuance capabilities to enterprise customers regardless of existing communication infrastructure. Ascendent's products are designed with an open architecture giving customers the power to seamlessly integrate a comprehensive feature-set with their existing business processes or with future multi-modal applications.