EXHIBIT 99.1

                 Norstan Announces New Board Member;
        Wayne Andrews, Founder of GeoTel Communications Corp.,
      Unifi Communications Corp. and OnState Communications Corp.

    MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2004--Norstan, Inc.
(Nasdaq:NRRD), a leading provider of communications solutions and
services, announced effective today the appointment of Wayne Andrews,
founder and chief executive officer of GeoTel Communications Corp.,
Unifi Communications Corp. and OnState Communications Corp., to its
board of directors.
    "We are very pleased to add Wayne to our board and look forward to
his contributions and counsel," said Paul Baszucki, Norstan's
chairman. "His extensive knowledge in the contact center market and
more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry
will be of great value to Norstan."
    Andrews, 53, founded GeoTel Communications Corp. in 1993, where he
served as chief technology officer until 2001. While at GeoTel, where
he also served as a member of the company's board of directors,
Andrews aided in the development of innovative call center products
and carrier network services, enabling GeoTel to become one of the
most successful companies in the contact center market prior to its
sale to Cisco Systems in 1999. In 1989, Andrews founded Unifi
Communications Corp., where he served as vice president of product
development and management until 1992 and was responsible for product
concept, architecture and requirements of the original distributed
software call center product. From 1983 to 1989, Mr. Andrews served as
director of advanced technology at Teknekron Infoswitch, Inc., where
he was responsible for the advanced system design of the company's ACD
and other related products. He also oversaw the migration of
Teknekron's products into the international market.
    In March 2004, Andrews founded OnState Communications Corp., a
telecommunications software company specializing in Voice over IP
applications development and serves as chairman and chief executive
officer.
    "Wayne will be a great addition to our board of directors," said
Scott Christian, Norstan's president and chief executive officer. "He
has demonstrated success in growing profitable businesses and
launching new products. We are very pleased that he has agreed to join
our board of directors."
    In 1999, Mr. Andrews was awarded Call Center magazine's Pioneer
Award and cited as one of the most influential people in the call
center market. He holds 10 patents in both hardware and software
systems in the telecommunications arena, including ACD, CTI, network
routing and VoIP systems. Mr. Andrews is a BSEE graduate of the
University of Texas at Arlington.

    About Norstan, Inc.

    Norstan, Inc. (Nasdaq:NRRD) is a full-service communications
solutions company that delivers voice and data technologies and
services, and remanufactured equipment to corporate end-users and
public sector companies. Norstan offers a full range of integrated
technologies for converged solutions, customer contact solutions and
ProtecNet(R) Life Cycle services. The company has offices located in
the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit the Norstan website at
www.norstan.com.

    Cautionary Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995

    This news release may contain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Acts of 1995. A
number of factors should be considered in conjunction with the above
forward-looking statements, including changes in economic and market
conditions, factors related to the development of new technologies,
product pricing and margins, labor costs, industry regulation,
management of growth, integration of acquisitions, funding and
sourcing of adequate inventory, access to adequate financing and other
factors set forth in cautionary statements included in Norstan's
Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents as filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements,
which reflect management's analysis only as of the date of this
release. The company undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements to reflect events and circumstances that
may arise after the date of this release. Disclosure of revenue
dollars are not intended to reflect materiality, and are subject to
confidentiality provisions and customer consent.

    Form 8-K Filing

    Concurrent with this news release, Norstan filed a Form 8-K with
the SEC as required by Item 5.02 of the instructions to Form 8-K. This
Form 8-K is available on Norstan's Investor Relations web site
(www.norstan.com) and on the SEC's web site (www.sec.gov).

    Norstan and associated product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Norstan, Inc. in the United States and/or other
countries. All other products and services mentioned in this document
may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

    CONTACT: Norstan, Inc., Minneapolis
             Jan W. Drymon, 952-352-4292
             jan.drymon@norstan.com
             or
             The Carideo Group
             Tony Carideo, 612-317-2880
             tony@carideogroup.com