News out: biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday June 8, 9:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
General Magic to Add New Capabilities to Portico Service
Virtual Assistant Allows for More Customization, Inbound Fax and the
Integration of Patent-pending Voice Agent Technology
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999-- General Magic, Inc. (Nasdaq:GMGC - news), a leading developer of voice-enabled
services, today unveiled a new set of features for its award-winning Portico virtual assistant service, giving users more flexibility to manage their
busy work lives.
The new Portico capabilities announced today at the SUPERCOMM '99 trade show include:
-- Customizable welcome greeting, which allows the Portico
subscriber to personalize what callers hear when they reach
the subscriber's Portico toll-free number
-- Inbound fax receipt, which makes the subscriber's Portico
number also serve as a fax number
-- Selectable caller screening questions, which allow the
Portico subscriber to customize what callers experience when
they first reach Portico.
General Magic also disclosed plans for additional Portico features to be rolled out in the coming months. These enhancements include phone-
and e-mail-based notification, which lets a subscriber be notified when an important message has arrived, and is the first use of General Magic's
new voice agent technology, code-named ''Kenya.'' In addition, an update to the voice user interface function will allow users to forward
received voice messages to other Portico users, and to create new voice messages while on the phone that can be sent to a contact. Additionally,
subscribers will have the ability to organize their messages by instructing Portico to file them in specific message folders. An improved interface
to the Portico Web site, www.portico.net, will make it even easier for users to personalize their content and access their e-mail in-box.
The new features are in direct response to feedback from customers, and several of these will be demonstrated in the General Magic booth No.
6849 at SUPERCOMM '99.
Designed for today's mobile professional workforce, Portico is a virtual assistant service that allows users to access, retrieve and act upon
important information -- such as e-mail, address and phone book entries, voice-mail, and stock and news information -- using any telephone
and their normal speaking voices or any popular Web browser.
''When we released the Portico service last July, the industry recognized it as a new standard for unified messaging services because of the
quality of the voice experience and the range of features our users could tap into,'' said Steve Markman, chairman, chief executive officer and
president of General Magic. ''Thanks to the feedback from our customers, as well as our ongoing improvements in speech reliability and network
operations, Portico has become an even more valuable asset for busy professionals whose success depends on staying in touch.''
General Magic expects to roll out the new features announced today by mid-July with the future enhancements expected to be available this
Fall.
New Portico Features
The Portico features announced today will offer users a greater ability to personalize the service to best suit individual preferences:
-- Custom greetings: With this feature, subscribers can record
their own greetings and further personalize the Portico
voice user interface for their callers. Previously, users
could only insert their names into the Portico pre-recorded
greeting template.
-- Inbound fax receipt: This functionality allows subscribers
to use their personal Portico numbers as their fax numbers
as well. Subscribers can receive incoming faxes and have
them automatically forwarded to a specified fax machine or
view them on their computers as images stored within their
Portico e-mail box.
-- Customizable welcome questions: Portico subscribers will be
able to choose caller screening questions by adding or
deleting specific questions available from the Portico
caller question menu, including: a request for the caller's
name ("May I tell him who's calling?"), an instruction to
find the Portico subscriber ("Would you like me to find him
for you?"), and/or a request to take a message ("Would you
like me to take a message for him?").
-- Phone or e-mail-based notification: This new feature enables
subscribers to receive notification about specified e-mails,
voice-mails, upcoming meetings and stock changes through
either a phone call or an e-mail generated by Portico. The
General Magic voice agent technology allows users to keep in
touch and interact with important Web-based information when
they are away from their desktop PCs. When time-sensitive
matters need immediate attention, the voice agent
proactively alerts the user. This application expands the
current notification capability in Portico from pager-only
notification to phone and e-mail-based notification.
-- Create and forward messages from the Voice User Interface
(VUI): This enhancement is designed to enable Portico
subscribers to record messages from the Portico VUI and
forward them to other Portico users' mailboxes, similar to
what a corporate office voice-mail system would allow. The
feature will also allow Portico users to create and send
voice messages via e-mail to non-Portico subscribers. The
Portico subscriber can record a voice message, attach it to
an e-mail as a sound file, and then send the e-mail to
anyone listed in the subscriber's address book.
-- File messages via voice: Portico subscribers will be able to
file messages (voice-mail, e-mail or fax) in folders titled
"sent," "filed items," "trash," or "in-box"-- in the same
way e-mail users can file messages in folders on their
computers.
-- Updated Graphical User Interface: The www.portico.net web
site currently allows Portico subscribers to access the same
information on their computers that they retrieve using the
phone. The improvement will provide a new site look-and-feel
with performance enhancements that was developed based on
user requests.
''In responding to its Portico customer base, General Magic has maintained its leadership role in growing and perfecting one of the top offerings in
the voice-enabled services industry,'' said Andrew Seybold, editor-in-chief of Andrew Seybold's Outlook, and recognized industry expert. ''It is
clear that the new Portico features reflect how people want to operate in a world that is beginning to recognize the convenience and necessity of
voice.''
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