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02/08 09:21 Edify's Electronic Workforce/LS and Natural MicroSystems Boards
EDFY.O>[CPQ-news]
Edify's Electronic Workforce/LS and Natural MicroSystems Boards Breaks
Scaleability Record in Compaq Benchmark Study
Compaq and Edify Partner to Market and Enhance Next-Generation Call Center
Solutions
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Edify Corporation
[EDFY-news], a global leader in enterprise service solutions announced the
results of a scaleability benchmark study of its Windows NT(R)-optimized
interactive voice response (IVR) platform, the Electronic Workforce/LS. The
study, conducted by Compaq Corporation [CPQ-news] on its ProLiant 6500 Server
with Natural MicroSystems Alliance Generation(R) voice processing boards, sets
a new industry standard for IVR scaleability in large, mission-critical call
center solutions. The results indicate the Electronic Workforce/LS, as
compared to proprietary solutions, can support three times the number of
incoming calls per server. Edify also announced today a marketing alliance
with Compaq to provide advanced Windows NT-based open solutions to large call
centers. Under the terms of the agreement, Edify is named a Compaq Solutions
Alliance Partner and one of Compaq's preferred providers of call center
solutions. The companies will jointly enhance, test, certify, and market new
call center solutions based on industry standard components. Initially, the
focus of their efforts will be on highly scaleable IVR solutions that work in
conjunction with open systems products available from their mutual partners
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. and Natural MicroSystems.
Driving the relationship between Compaq and Edify is industry demand for
highly scaleable non-proprietary solutions that enable advanced call centers
to handle high call volumes while enjoying the freedom to quickly and
cost-effectively integrate new technologies. The results of the extensive
scaleability benchmark study of Edify's Electronic Workforce/LS announced
today highlight the synergy between Compaq's and Edify's products as well as
both companies' commitment to open systems. The study, performed on Compaq's
ProLiant 6500 server and Natural MicroSystems Dual T1 voice boards,
demonstrates that Edify's Electronic Workforce/LS scales to 288 ports per
server, surpassing Edify's internal testing of 240 ports per server and
exceeding by three times the capacity of leading proprietary solutions.
"The best of class combination of Compaq's powerful systems, Edify's high
capacity IVR software and Natural Microsystems's high-density voice boards
raises the bar for scaleability in the call center," said Ray Villareal, vice
president, Enterprise Computing North America at Compaq. "This solution
demonstrates that open NT-based IVR call center solutions can now meet the
call volume demands of large call centers."
The study also indicates that the Electronic Workforce/LS has the capacity
to provide more than 275,000 transactions per day on a single server.
Multiple Electronic Workforce/LS servers may be combined to deliver virtually
unlimited capacity.
"The Compaq benchmark study is another milestone in Edify's open systems
strategy," said George Fan, director of call center marketing at Edify. "When
it comes to large-scale, Windows NT, software-only solutions, Edify is in a
class by itself providing superior price and performance."
Frost & Sullivan, an international marketing and consulting firm, recently
recognized Edify's open systems strategy in its report, "U.S. Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) Systems Markets," noting that Edify is the fastest
growing IVR company and the second largest in terms of market share. The firm
awarded Edify its "Market Engineering Customer Focus Award" commending Edify
for taking the lead in capitalizing on the high rate of customer migration
away from proprietary systems by developing an open, software only approach
that allows call centers to integrate innovations without a forklift upgrade.
"Demand for higher-density, flexible solutions that are extensible and
based on industry standards like Windows NT is increasing," said Allen Carney,
vice president of marketing and business development at Natural MicroSystems.
"The results of this study prove that such systems are readily available.
Solutions developers looking for ways to bring highly scalable applications to
market more quickly can turn to proven industry leaders, Edify, Compaq,
Microsoft, and Natural MicroSystems to do just that."
Edify's Electronic Workforce uses an open, object-oriented development
environment that allows smooth integration with other third-party call center
solutions like CTI middleware and customer service representative (CSR)
desktop applications. Commenting on the partnership, Joe Ruck, vice president
of Customer Marketing at Genesys, said, "We are pleased to be working with
Edify and Compaq to develop premier integrated call center solutions. Such
solutions give call centers excellent flexibility and scaleability."
The Electronic Workforce/LS, which was introduced by Edify in March 1998,
is a Year 2000-compliant application development and runtime platform
specifically designed for large-scale, customer care organizations including
advanced, mission-critical call enters. It enables enterprises to deploy
applications that automate transactions with customers while retrieving and
updating information from back-end and front-office systems.
The Natural MicroSystems Alliance Generation family of high performance
voice processing platforms offers unmatched scalability from eight to more
than 240 ports of voice, IVR, fax and IP telephony on an NT-optimized system.
The Compaq benchmark study results are reported in a white paper, "Edify
Electronic Workforce on Compaq ProLiant Servers." It will be available on
Compaq's website: compaq.com, after
February 10, 1999. The URL is
compaq.com.
About Edify Corporation
Edify Corporation is a leading provider enterprise service solutions used
by Global 2000 organizations. The company's software enables enterprises to
automate, integrate, and personalize interactions with customers and employees
through multiple channels, yielding stronger more profitable relationships.
The company's software has been licensed to more than 1,200 organizations
worldwide. Edify software is distributed directly and through leading
solutions providers, application partners, and distributors worldwide. With
more than 440 employees, Edify Corporation is headquartered in Santa Clara,
Calif., with international headquarters in London, England. Additional
information about Edify may be obtained by calling 408-982-2000 (USA) or
+44-181-263-2710 (Europe, Middle East, Africa) or via the World Wide Web at
edify.com. For product information, please call 800-944-0056 or
email info@edify.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward looking statement s including without
limitation statements regarding the capacity, scalability and flexibility of
Edify's Electronic Workforce/LS and the benefits of a marketing alliance
between Edify and Compaq. These forward-looking statements are subject to a
number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially. The markets in which Edify sells its products are rapidly
changing and characterized by intense competition. There can be no assurance
that the marketplace will continue to accept self service software products or
the company's products in sufficient numbers to make the company's products
successful or that the marketing alliance will produce any benefits to either
company. Further information on the important factors that could affect the
results or outcomes discussed in the forward-looking statements is included in
Edify's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other reports filed from time to
time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NOTE: Edify and Electronic Workforce are registered trademarks of Edify
Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
SOURCE Edify Corporation
-0- 02/08/99
/CONTACT: Terese Tricamo of Edify Corporation, 408-486-1713, or
prdept@edify.com; or Karen Connor of Natural MicroSystems, 508-271-1380, or
karenconnor@nmss.com/
/Web site: edify.com
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