Knock, Knock: Who's There?

Strategic Alliance Creates Speaker Verification Leader

Registry Magic and KeyWare Technologies recently formed a strategic alliance that will allow users to have a natural conversation with their computer and identify themselves with voice prints.

Registry Magic, a Florida-based corporation specializing in conversational speech technologies, and Keyware Technologies, a U.S/Belgium-based corporation specializing in security technologies have teamed up to offer advanced speech solutions on a worldwide basis.

Financial, database access and telephony services will benefit from the solutions made possible by the strategic alliance, according to sources at both companies.

For example, financial service clients can use voice verification to transfer funds, retrieve information and process other commands.

Lengthy touch tone menus, pin code fraud or impersonation are no longer an issue for callers. Instead, users simply say their name or chosen password. Since each person's voiceprint is unique, this technology provides both security and ease of use.

All requests for information are made in a conversational manner. Internationally, where touch tone capability is limited, the deployment of these technologies and conversational telephone interfaces enable expansion of services and increase cost-effectiveness.

Both Registry Magic and Keyware Technologies operate worldwide, providing multi-lingual solutions to their customers. With this agreement, each company expands their respective technologies, application development capabilities and market reach to become leaders in the development and delivery of multi-lingual, advanced speech applications worldwide.

"Joining forces with Keyware Technologies expands Registry Magic's conversational solutions by providing for the identification and verification of the specific user, allowing for totally secured transactions," said Walt Nawrocki, Registry Magic president and CEO. "We expect that Registry Magic's conversational speech solutions will become a way of life for the next millennium."

"We are very excited about this alliance with Registry Magic and the mutual benefits which will derive from the expansion of our technologies and the development of new applications," said Francis Declercq, Keyware Technologies President and CEO.

Registry Magic is a leader in speech-driven, conversational applications and services that employ its Human User Inferface(tm) technologies.

Keyware has offices in Brussels, Belgium and Woburn, MA and was founded with the mission of being the leading provider of layered biometrics verification technologies for increased security.

In related news, Keyware Technologies, a leading provider of layered biometric technologies, has recently announced the release of a software development kit that systems integrators, value-added developers and independent software vendors can use to create speaker verification applications based on the VoiceGuardian software technology.

VoiceGuardian is a toolkit that provides security beyond the traditional PIN/password. Voice passwords enable enhanced security while providing ease of use and low integration cost.

The product "should promote the rapid deployment of speaker verification in banking, electronic commerce, communications and security markets," said Francis Declercq, president and CEO of Keyware.

VoiceGuardian requires no additional investment, as the enrollment and authentication can be accomplished over the Internet by contacting http://www.keywareusa.com.

For more information contact Michelle Grimsditch, Keyware Technologies, 617 933-1311, fax 617 933-1554, Registry Magic Ph: 888-RMAGIC

ITT SpeakerKey

SpeakerKey from ITT Industries, which was originally developed for the National Security Agency (NSA), and is one of the most reliable and accurate verifiers on the market, is now available to the commercial market.

Utilizing unique voiceprint characteristics to authenticate valid users or reject impostors, SpeakerKey is currently used by phone companies, financial institutions, computer companies and call center operations among others.

An all-software product, SpeakerKey runs on Pentiums or Sparc Stations, in either stand alone or client/server configurations. In a typical application, system application software makes verification requests to, and receives responses from, SpeakerKey through an ITT-supplied Speaker Verification Application Programming Interface (SVAPI). SVAPI consists of a set of C/C++ callable functions contained Dynamically Linked Library (DLL).

SpeakerKey can operate in a desktop environment, a phoneline environment or, of special interest to the financial industry, a web environment.

Providing up to 225 verifications per hour, Multiple SpeakerKey run-time licenses can be operated from the same CPU and can be operated in English or other languages. An "all voice" version, allowing users to enter their account numbers by voice instead of by keypad entry will be available later this year.

Demo line: (800) 775-7515 (USA only), (619) 578-6423 (International demo line). ITT's new telephone number is (219) 451-6321. E-mail: speakerkey@itt.com .

T-Netix Wins Prison Contract

T-Netix, Inc., a provider of fraud prevention technologies and advanced call processing services recently was awarded a three-year contract to provide its Pin-Lock speaker verification service to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

The new service is a security enhancement to T-Netix's inmate call processing services. The Pin-Lock speaker verification service increases the security and control capabilities of an inmate call processing system.

With Pin-Lock, an inmate registers his or her voice print, along with an authorized PIN (Personalized Identification Number). When the inmate makes a collect call, the system's automated attendant prompts the inmate to state his or her name.

If the voice print of the caller matches the authorized user, the call is permitted and the name of the inmate is identified to the called party. If not, the call is denied or reported to corrections administration.

The system thwarts an inmate's use through extortion or collusion of another inmate's PIN to overcome restriction or reporting controls.

"We intend to license Pin-Lock to other providers of inmate call processing services, and have completed the porting of our SpeakEZ software to other hardware and software platforms such as Dialogic Antares and Microsoft Windows NT," said Al Schoop, T-Netix Chief Financial Officer and the recently named president of the company's Inmate Calling Services division.

For more information, contact Al Schoop, at T-Netix, 303 790-9111.

Voice Secure from Interactive Products Inc.

Interactive Products Inc. (IPI) recently released "Voice Secure," an Internet security solution that uses voiceprints and standard file encryption to secure files for Internet use.

"We are offering a security solution for any file type which will enable them to be sent with assurance over the Internet," said Hugh Boyette, president of IPI. "No more will users of the Internet have to worry about their data being obtained without their express permission," said Boyette.

Voice verification is the core technology behind Voice Secure. Through years of algorithm development, IPI has developed voice identification and verification technology that automatically performs encryption and decryption through the use of a voice print. A voice print is a unique file with a password that is exchanged by mutual parties. To secure any file, the user need only attach the voice print of the person to whom they are sending the file.

A standard "open key, private key" governmentally approved encryption program is built into VoiceSecure to enable complete security.

Voice Secure requires an IBM compatible PC running under Windows 95/NT, a microphone standard sound card and speaker.

IPI is a developer and marketer of three core speech technologies: speech recognition, speech compression and speaker identification/voice verification.

For more information, contact IPI, at 541 341-4964, or by fax at 541 341-4965 or by accessing IPI's web site at http://www.ipispeech.com .

SecureDigits from VCS

SecureDigits(tm) from VCS provides high accuracy speaker verification of naturally spoken digit strings, increasing the security of sensitive applications such as telephone banking and credit card transactions.

It provides a fast, simple and effective form of remote biometric identification, the measurement of physical characteristics unique to an individual over the telephone.

SecureDigits can enhance the security of banking applications, reduce fraud in voice dialing applications and speed user authentication in credit card applications.

For more information, contact VCS at 972 726-1200 or by fax at 972 726-1267; Ph: 617 494-0100 or by fax at 617 494-4970

Voice Verification from Veritel

Veritel Corporation has announced the release of three new voice verification solutions. This proprietary technology offers biometric security using speaker dependent voice verification.

The CVS-NT (Caller Verification System) comes as a fully defined IVR (interactive voice response) application to provide voice secured access control for PBX-based telephony services.

Authentigate(tm) is a group of executable software modules that allow for the integration of Veritel's proprietary voice verification technology, directly into existing IVR and voice response units.

VoiceCrypt(tm) is a voice verification product specifically targeted for multi-media PCs.

For more information, contact David C. Shook at Veritel Corporation, 312 751-1188 or by fax at 312 751-1322

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