Audiopoint Launches Wireless Voice Terminal Service for End-Users

FAIRFAX, VA - Audiopoint, a speech applications technology company developing and hosting commercial voice applications, announced the launch of its enhanced e-mail Voice Terminal Service (VTS) for end-users. The launch comes as the result of a consumer demand for a voice-enabled e-mail service that allows the freedom and flexibility of retrieving and managing e-mail accounts anytime, anywhere, from any phone. VTS was developed as a complementary technology to provide an alternative and easy way for wired and wireless users to stay connected. VTS supports those who don't have immediate access to a dial-up Internet connection and enters the market as cellular phone carriers are restructuring competitive calling plans that contain more calling minutes, include free long distance and offer programs to roll-over unused minutes. "Audiopoint has one of the longest track records in the industry when it comes to consumer-friendly speech applications," noted Mark Plakias, Senior VP of Voice & Wireless at The Kelsey Group. "The convergence of growing online commerce and increasingly liberal wireless calling plans make consumer access to e-mail via any phone a natural. This is the right time for a service like Voice Terminal." VTS was designed to provide non-techies as well as the road warrior user with voice access to e-mail. It provides a secure environment that works with standard protocols such as POP3 or IMAP, as well as supporting more stringent secure environments such as Audiopoint's Voice Print authentication. The VTS online enrollment form allows consumers to sign up and begin using the voice enabled service within minutes upon registration. After signing up, users will access VTS by dialing a toll-free number, and then be requested to recite or enter on a phone keypad their account number and secure PIN. VTS offers the option to listen to unread e-mail directly from their existing e-mail account inbox; delete and skip messages with voice commands; and reply to e-mail by sending a personally recorded WAV audio file attachment. "Consumer demand has fueled this effort and Voice Terminal has answered the call," said Brian Lichorowic, CEO & President of Audiopoint. "Audiopoint is the only voice company going right to the end-user. Consumers were asking for this service because the functionality wasn't offered through their ISP or corporate e-mail account. We foresee users finding the new VTS service effective in supporting today's mobile lifestyle by understanding the critical need to access information on demand." Prior to this launch, consumers were only offered this service through Audiopoint's reseller network of ISPs and businesses. Audiopoint continues to market its reseller Voice Terminal application, E-mail by Phone, to ISPs enabling them to broaden revenue streams by rolling out a variety of enhanced services designed to retain as well as to attract new customers. "In the past, the overall cost of deploying any type of voice enabled solution in a company, let alone to an end-user, has been astronomically high," said Larry Whitehead, CTO of Audiopoint. "Audiopoint's infrastructure is unique within the voice recognition marketplace. Our secure network allows for an enterprise wide deployment offering a complete, easy to use, and effective solution. We can do this at a fraction of the cost, while providing all the benefits of an on-premise deployment."