SAINT JOHN, NB,Oct. 17 2001 --Aliant Telecom today announced the launch
of WebConnect, an innovative portfolio of services that transforms contact
centers into multimedia contact centers by using the power of the Internet.
WebConnect's first two applications are email management and Web
chat/collaboration management. They are offered on Aliant's Application
Service Provider (ASP) platform, which allows contact centers to subscribe to
the applications on a per agent monthly basis.
    "Our contact center customers are consistently challenged to enrich the
customer experience through new support channels such as Web communications.
WebConnect is an exciting new solution for contact centers that want to
increase productivity and improve response time to customers. It helps agents
provide quicker and consistent interactions and provides real-time management
tools that can easily be implemented," said Larry Shaw, Director of New
Business Ventures at Aliant Telecom.
    CorporaTel, one of Aliant Telecom's partners, is the first WebConnect
customer. "CorporaTel aims to deliver the most robust and integrated customer
support in the market. Integrating WebConnect's email and live-chat services
to our support infrastructure has paid off in spades in terms of reliability
and cost advantages," said Elizabeth Currie, Chief Operating Officer at
CorporaTel.
    WebConnect will initially be aimed at contact centers in Atlantic Canada,
but because it can reach anywhere the Internet is available, will be marketed
and sold to contact centers around the world.
    Aliant Telecom selected KANA as its vendor of choice for WebConnect. KANA
is a market leader in the contact center e-business marketplace. "We are proud
to be part of Aliant's contact center portfolio and look forward to meeting
their customers' needs with our contact center solutions," said Bud Michael,
Executive Vice President of Marketing for KANA.
    WebConnect is a portfolio of applications that helps contact centers
manage and distribute emails and chat session to the appropriate contact
center agent. Contact center agents receive emails and chat session
notifications immediately and are able to handle them in an efficient manner.

    About Aliant
    Aliant Telecom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aliant Inc (TSE:AIT).
Aliant Inc. is one of Canada's top high-tech companies, providing integrated
communications and IT solutions through subsidiaries operating worldwide. By
combining industry-leading expertise from across the group of companies,
Aliant utilizes the Aliant Premium(TM) Model to deliver unique, end-to-end
solutions to customers. With 10,000 employees and a market capitalization of
almost $5 billion, Aliant ranks in the top 100 publicly traded companies in
the country. More information on Aliant may be found on our Website at
www.aliant.ca.

    About CorporaTel
    CorporaTel is a leading provider of outsourced multilingual contact
center services throughout North America. It is a privately held Canadian firm
with locations from coast to coast and is a member of the CCL Group, an
alliance of strategic marketing and communications companies, headquartered in
Halifax. CorporaTel can be found on the Web at www.corporatel.ca.

    About KANA
    KANA (NASDAQ: KANA) provides the industry's leading external facing eCRM
solutions to the largest businesses in the world, helping them to better
service, market to, and understand their customer and partners, while
improving results and decreasing costs in contact centers and marketing
departments. Through comprehensive multi-channel customer relationship
management that combines the best-in-class KANA iCARE Architecture with
enterprise applications, KANA has become one of the fastest-growing providers
of next generation eCRM technology. The company's customer-focused service,
marketing and commerce software applications enable organizations to improve
customer and partner relationships by enabling them to productively interact
when, where and how they want - across all touch points, including web
contact, web collaboration, e-mail, and telephone. KANA's global customer base
includes Global 2000 organizations in the financial services, manufacturing,
high technology, communications, retail and services markets. ADP, Chase,
E(*)Trade, GAP, GM, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Sony, United Airlines, Verizon,
and Williams Sonoma are among the industry leaders that have implemented
KANA's eCRM solutions. KANA has locations in 22 countries worldwide, in
addition to an extensive global network of channel partners. For more
information, please visit www.kana.com.





-30-


For further information: Isabelle Robinson, Public Affairs Manager,
1 866 694-6762, isabelle.robinson@aliant.ca