Genesys Predicts Speech Software and Voice Portals Outpacing Proprietary IVRs for First Time in 2006

NEW YORK - The long awaited transition from older IVR technology to open software-based platforms is gaining strength this year, and market leader Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories now expects new voice portals to exceed new IVR ports for the first time in 2006.  

In the first half of 2006, Genesys is already seeing clear evidence that businesses are phasing out older IVR technology.  More than 160 new enterprise customers have migrated from legacy IVR to Genesys in the past 12 months. By the end of 2006, Genesys expects to see more new open software ports deployed than new legacy IVR ports.  As the market momentum continues to build, Genesys has developed a migration model and an ugly IVR trade-in program to simplify the path for the next wave of companies that want to transition away from legacy IVR.

Genesys, which acquired VoiceGenie earlier this year, has emerged as the clear voice portal leader.  Elizabeth Herrell of Forrester Research said, "As the market moves from legacy IVR into VoiceXML standard solutions, Genesys will vie for global leadership." Customers considering voice portals may also wish to obtain other independent reports, such as Gartner's April 7th report G00139284 (titled "Genesys-VoiceGenie Deal Will Create Clear Voice Portal Leader").

"We are seeing tremendous continued growth in voice self-service and speech solutions," said Wes Hayden, President and CEO of Genesys. "While Genesys, as a division within Alcatel, does not provide specific revenue guidance, we can say that we reached record sales in the first half of 2006 and our success was fueled substantially by high growth in speech self-service solutions."

Genesys identified five key reasons for the crossover:

• The high maintenance and upkeep costs for legacy systems are harder to justify - as much as twice the cost of maintaining open standards software.
• A rise in the number of end of life programs, in which manufacturers will no longer support or improve legacy systems, driving legacy customers away.
• Outmoded legacy technology that does not support critical technologies such as VoIP, VXML, CCXML.
• Poor customer experience with older IVRs and frustration resulting from their rigid menu structure.
• The ability to easily re-use and leverage software-based applications across many departments or multiple enterprises.

Genesys and its partners will demonstrate many of these new applications at its booth #317 at SpeechTEK, the leading conference and exhibition for speech technologies, which takes place August 7-10 in New York at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

About Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.

Genesys, an Alcatel company, is 100 percent focused on software for contact centers. Leading companies in the Global 2000 and Fortune 1000 use Genesys to deliver interactions that drive better business. With 3,300 customers in 80 countries, Genesys directs more than 100 million customer interactions every day. Genesys allows enterprises to achieve key business objectives by tying together customer interactions, people, and customer information in both traditional telephony and IP environments. Sophisticated routing and reporting across voice, e-mail, documents and Web interactions, coupled with integrated self service, ensure that customers are quickly connected to the right resource - the first time. Genesys solutions stop customer frustration and allow enterprises to deliver superior customer satisfaction and improved business results. For more information, visit us at www.genesyslab.com.

About Alcatel

Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com

Media Contact: David Radoff, Genesys, 650.466.1078, dradoff@genesyslab.com