InfoTalk and Jingxin Beidou Join Forces to Launch Carrier-Grade Voice Portal in China

BEIJING and HONG KONG, CHINA - InfoTalk Corporation Limited, a provider of multi-lingual conversational speech understanding technology, and Beijing Jingxin Beidou Information Service Center, jointly operated by China Telecom Beijing Corporation and Beijing Information Association, announced the deployment of the Beijing Telecom 262 voice portal, a carrier-grade voice portal in China. The Beijing Telecom 262 voice portal has deployed InfoTalk's voice portal platform, which is based on InfoTalk's conversational speech recognition engine, InfoTalk-Recognizer. Together with InfoTalk-Recognizer's multi-lingual and mixed language capability and advanced hardware and telephony interface from our technology partners, InfoTalk's voice portal platform integrates CTI, telecom and computer and network technologies, building a next-generation information platform for the 262 voice portal. The 262 voice portal now provides three channels, serving Chinese citizens with offerings of financial and entertainment services including real-time stock price quotes and song dedication service, and the latest addition, 2002 World Cup real-time match result and information. The stock price quote channel, which is accessible at 2625-6789, offers callers real-time stock quotes for the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. The song dedication service can be reached at 2625-1234, allowing callers to choose from thousands of Chinese and English songs. The World Cup service, which is at 2625-2002, includes real-time match results, the latest news, match schedules, football star profiles, and the introduction to the 32 finalist national teams and the hosting countries, Korea and Japan. Callers can access the channels by using their own voices via any mobile or fixed-line telephone. Such voice-driven capabilities are especially compelling in a market such as China, as they greatly expand access to Web content and services. The nation has a nearly 40-to-1 ratio of telephones to Internet-connected computers, in addition to a higher growth rate of mobile phones versus fixed-line phones. "Being an information service center, Jingxin Beidou is committed to enabling Beijing citizens to access information via the easiest and most convenience channel. Building a high-quality voice portal service is our goal, which requires strong technologies to support. InfoTalk's speech technology helps us realize this mission," said Mr. Wang Fu-qing, General Manager of Jingxin Beidou Information Service Center. "Within only two months that the voice portal first launched, it has already received hundred thousands of phone calls. We are confident that the World Cup service will create another record of call traffic during the World Cup month. Jingxin Beidou will continue to work closely with InfoTalk to provide more new information and service." The system has full-duplex echo-cancellation capability that enables simultaneous play and record, thus allowing the caller to speak before the end of the prompt. The system uses telephony cards provided by NMS. "Working with Jingxin Beidou Information Service Center to create a carrier-grade voice portal is a valuable opportunity for InfoTalk," said Mr. Andy Shum, General Manager of InfoTalk China. "With the flexibility to understand multiple Chinese languages and dialects, our speech technology matches what Beijing Telecom and its customer need. Through the 262 Voice Portal, the public can experience the power of speech technology and enhance the quality of their lives."