With the deal Aspect will come off the Nasdaq stock market and into the private ownership of Concerto.  Last year Concerto, which used to be called Davox, was taken private by its owners - two equity firms - when it merged with Melita.

The deal creates the largest contact centre equipment focused supplier.  Concerto was known for its predictive dialling and contact centre management tools while Aspect specialised in workforce management applications and performance analytics.  The company says it now has a ‘rich portfolio’ of technology.   

James Foy, the chief executive and president of Concerto, said this portfoilio would bring more to the two companies’ customers. ‘We will offer customers a more robust product suite, an expanded services and support infrastructure, and increased investment in research and development – making the new company uniquely positioned to be the contact centre solutions provider of choice.’

Aspect, which agreed the merger at a premium of some 15% above the current share price, says the deal provides and the opportunity for the companies to exploit the changing contact centre market. ‘The contact centre market is evolving with the advent of new technologies, like voice over IP, and growing customer demand for reduced complexity and increased capabilities. Together, we will focus on continuing to support our customers today and bringing converged solutions to them as their business needs dictate,’ said Gary Barnett, Aspect's president and chief executive.

Industry research group Ovum said the deal was more about gaining scale than technology:  ‘It's a big-ticket acquisition. The combined organisation will be more financially robust, and will have greater presence and reach into enterprises,’ it said in a communiqué.  ‘Integration efficiencies will add to the bottom line, and the combined sales and market budgets will make for a noisier organisation in the market place. All good stuff to offset offerings from competitors such as Alcatel/Genesys, Avaya, Cisco and Nortel - all of whom will be looking to exploit their infrastructure capabilities in addition to their software skills in contact centres.’

These sorts of stock market ‘take out’ deals are increasingly fashionable in the US  as fund managers see a weak market and the money going into private equity companies.  SunGard Data Systems, the financial software company, is the subject of an $11 billion takeover that would take it private while the toy shop, Toys ‘R’Us is coming off the market in a $6 billion deal.

The deal is expected to close in September.