Comverse launches new cellular applications to operators

Recent market trends show that network operators are shifting from an "increase in market share" strategy to an "increase in revenues" strategy. The key to making this strategy successful is retaining customers by enhancing the existing services as well as developing services for new technologies such as 3G.

For today`s busy mobile subscribers, the wireless handset is their main link to the world. Wireless communication services provider, Comverse, has unveiled a series of new voice activated solutions that could soon be available to local cell phone subscribers.

One such product, Tel@Go, a voice portal, offers voice-activated communications using enhanced speech recognition. By simply speaking to their handset Tel@Go will enable subscribers to voice-instruct their cell phone to dial numbers, retrieve and respond to emails, manage voice mail, use voice activated dial-in to make calls, manage a calendar or personal address book, and browse the web," explains Comverse MD Stuart Eveleigh. "Users will be able to perform these functions from any cell phone without using a key pad. Users will be able to:

1.       Retrieve and respond to email: Subscribers can listen to email messages, create and send an email to anyone in the personal address book, reply by voice to an incoming email using the email address of the sender and transfer email messages to other contacts via email, voice mail, short message service or fax.

2.       Manage voice mail : Tel@Go enables users to access, manage and control their voice mailboxes using a voice interface to quickly and easily retrieve, play back, save or delete their messages. Caller ID lets users filter messages according to name and return calls with a command as simple as "Return the call."

3.       Use voice-activated dialling to make calls: You can place a call simply by speaking the name or number. It uses a combination of advanced technologies from electronic, computing, linguistics and the behavioural sciences to deliver an easy-to-use voice-controlled service.

Since Tel@Go uses natural-language speech recognition, subscribers can make phone calls by speaking exactly as if they were saying the phone number to another person. After the call is complete, Tel@Go prompts the user to place another call or hang up.

4.       Manage calendars: Tracking the day`s events just got a lot easier. Tel@Go will provide automatic reminders of upcoming meetings and calls. A simple query lets the user know available times and a simple command puts the event on the calendar for follow up meetings. It also synchronises with widely used calendaring applications, such as Microsoft Outlook and handheld PDAs.

5.       Manage a personal address book: If you need to call someone at home . . . or maybe they are at the office, and you have entered both numbers in your Personal Address Book, Tel@Go will respond to your command to "Call John at the office" or "Call John at home." You are instantly connected. Contacts can be imported from or exchanged with other applications, including Microsoft Outlook.

6.       Browse the web and bookmark favourite sites: Tel@Go provides a new pathway to the Web: the spoken word. It will access financial reports, weather reports, and sport scores. It can be set up to give personalised information requests, set by the subscriber, to deliver useful information when wanted. With the Tel@Go VoiceMarks feature, users can visit favourite Web sites by voice quickly and easily, similar to Internet browser "bookmarks." No more wading through lengthy documents or Web sites to extract the specific information.

Eveleigh says the Tel@Go applications complement other Comverse enhanced service offerings, including call answering, voice-controlled voice mail (VCVM) and unified messaging (voice, fax, and email in a single mailbox). All these services are currently available to operators.