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DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1998--Preferred Voice, Inc.
(OTC BB:PFVI) introduces EMMA(sm).
EMMA answers every call.
EMMA routes every call to the right extension or department.
EMMA selects the least expensive carrier for your long-distance calls.
EMMA can be hired for as little as $49.95 per month.
Preferred Voice, Inc. (OTC BB:PFVI), headquartered in Dallas,
Texas today introduced EMMA(sm), the first central office based, remote
access, automatic speech attendant. Using speech recognition
technology, EMMA answers your phones, routes your calls, dials your
long-distance calls and performs call accounting.
G. Ray Miller, President and CEO of Preferred Voice, Inc., stated
that the company had completed installation of its first modular voice
integrated platform in Dallas, Texas under terms of a co-location
agreement with e.spire Communications (NASDAQ:ESPI) a competitive
local exchange carrier (CLEC). This proprietary platform will enable
EMMA to accommodate 530 averaged-sized businesses each receiving 15
calls per hour with expansion capabilities to 33,000 businesses.
According to Miller, "To date, to the best of my knowledge, there
have only been two other auto voice attendants introduced into the
market, Ready Receptionist(TM), developed by Voice Control Systems,
Inc. (NASDAQ:VCSI) and Virtual Operator(TM), developed by Registry
Magic, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMAG)."
"The cost for a typical auto voice attendant system for a small
company is approximately $6,000.00, and a typical mid-sized company
can expect to pay as much as $15,000.00. There are usually additional
software purchase requirements to update employee directories, and
customers may need to train a person to perform this function," Miller
said.
"By contrast," Miller said, "EMMA is a remote accessed service
that a customer rents on a monthly basis, there is no equipment to buy
or install. EMMA will work for a company for as low as $49.95 a month.
The incoming calls are answered remotely by EMMA and are completely
transparent to the caller. EMMA simply asks the caller to speak the
called party's name and immediately routes the call to the party's
extension, phone number, or voice mail. Callers can also ask EMMA for
specific departments, the operator, etc."
"But the decisive difference," Miller said, "is that EMMA
performs a number of key functions that other systems do not,
delivering immediate and significant savings that more than pay for
the monthly cost of the service."
For example, EMMA will route all of the customer's long-distance
calls, and select the least cost carrier for each particular call.
Long-distance calls can be made from any phone, including cellular,
hotel, and pay phones. You simply tell EMMA whom you want to call and
she dials the number for you. According to Miller, "This one feature
alone, which we call Select Carrier Calling (SCC), has the potential
to dramatically reduce a customer's cost.
"Locate", Miller said, "is EMMA'S single number voice solution to
reach an employee as he or she travels from one location to another,
anywhere in the country. All the caller has to do is speak the word
'locate', then speak the name of the person, and the call is connected."
Miller said, "The Company is in discussion with other CLEC's in
addition to e.spire, and that its goal is to install EMMA platforms in
CLEC and ILEC central offices in all major cities in the USA, while
developing co-marketing and other strategic arrangements. We believe
the EMMA concept offers CLEC's and ILEC's significant competitive
advantage with which to maintain their current customer base and
recruit new customers, while increasing sales of business lines and
other central office services."
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