Jim...they don't file yet and I am going to find out this week how soon their 10SB will be going in. Look for add'l announcements ref ILECS signing on to use PFVI's voice recognition technology:
Minnesota Town Makes the Call: Speech Recognition
Sleepy Eye Telephone Company Becomes First ILEC To Market
Preferred Voice Speech Recognition Services
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 1999-- Preferred Voice, Inc. (OTC BB:PFVI) announced an agreement to install
their voice integrated platform (VIP) at the central office of Sleepy Eye Telephone Company in Sleepy Eye, Minn. Sleepy Eye,
a subsidiary of Hector Communications (AMEX:HCT - news), will be the first incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) to
bring Preferred Voice Natural Dialog Speech Recognition services to their customers.
Sleepy Eye Telephone Companyhas agreed to install the voice integrated platform (VIP), designed and developed by Preferred
Voice, at its central offices. The VIP system which will be marketed to Sleepy Eye telephone customers is based on Philips
Speech Processing's natural dialogue speech recognition engine, SpeechPearl® 99, a powerful and flexible speech recognizer
that can be used for a variety of telephony applications.
Rick Stone, VP of Sales and Marketing at Preferred Voice, Inc., stated, ''This is the first installation for Preferred Voice using
the Philips' natural dialog speech recognition engine in the United States, and the first application of the Preferred Voice
revolutionary ILEC revenue sharing program. Preferred Voice will provide to Sleepy Eye Telephone Company the VIP and all
related software, including customer provisioning. The monthly revenue from the speech recognition services will be shared
between Preferred Voice and Sleepy Eye Telephone Company. The revenue sharing program also includes all hardware and
speech recognition upgrades necessary to insure that Sleepy Eye Telephone Company always has access to the latest speech
recognition technology.''
Bob Weiss, Vice President and General Manager of Sleepy Eye Telephone Company, said, ''We are very pleased to be the
first ILEC to recognize the value of speech recognition as an important enhancement for our traditional telephone services and
to provide the unique speech recognition enhancements from Preferred Voice to our customers. This new technology also gives
us the ability to provide voice-dialing services to the visually-impaired and other individuals who have difficulty accessing the
telephone network. The new F.C.C. ruling indicates that speech dialing could become mandatory for local service providers in
the near future.''
''We're not surprised that a telephone company like Sleepy Eye is the first to recognize the value of speech recognition as an
enhancement to its traditional telephone services,'' stated G. Ray Miller, Preferred Voice Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. ''Once upon a time in America'', Miller said, ''Telephone companies were all about strengthening and serving their
local communities and that tradition is alive and well in places like Sleepy Eye, Minn. There are hundreds of dedicated ILECs
like Sleepy Eye that want the best technology, and are looking for new revenue sources.''
To place a call, customers in the Sleepy Eye telephone area will dial just two digits, speak the name of the person they are
calling, and be automatically connected. Additional benefits of the VIP System are: EMMA, the first central office provided
speech recognition auto attendant that answers calls using Philips' natural dialog speech recognition engine; a speech activated
long distance calling card; an enhancement to the standard business line that includes a locate feature that finds the called person
no matter where they are; a speech recognition directory; and a call screening option, which states the callers name and gives
the called party the option to accept or forward the call to voice mail. These speech recognition enhanced services will be
available from the Sleepy Eye central office and require no customer premise equipment.
About Sleepy Eye Telephone Company
Sleepy Eye Telephone Company is an independent local exchange carrier serving over 6,300 customers in southern Minnesota.
The Company employs a 100% digital network with its five exchanges.
About Preferred Voice
Preferred Voice, Inc. has developed its Voice Integrated Platform (VIP) to deliver an expanding menu of natural dialog speech
recognition services directly from a telephone company central office. The company has previously announced collocation
agreements with Time Warner Telecom (Nasdaq:TWTC - news), e.spire Communications (Nasdaq/NMS:ESPI - news),
Nextlink Communications (Nasdaq:NXLK - news) and KMC Telecom Holdings, Inc.
About Hector Communications
Hector, independently and through its 68% equity interest in Alliance Telecommunications Corporation, owns and operates 10
independent telephone companies serving 37 rural communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa with 35,000
access lines; and 65 cable television systems in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota serving more than
13,000 customers. The Company is also an investor in partnerships and corporations providing wireless and
telecommunications-related services.
About Philips
Philips Speech Processing is a pioneer and one of the global market leaders in speech recognition, natural dialogue and
language understanding technologies. A developer of voice enabled telephony applications, Philips has a large installed base of
speech recognition and natural dialogue systems in Europe and is a major speech technology provider in North America. Its
natural dialogue platform SpeechMania® and SpeechPearl® speech recognition engines are used for banking, travel, auto
attendants speech portals and white and yellow pages automation.
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales
of $ 33.9 billion (US) in 1998. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, color picture tubes for
televisions and monitors, and one-chip TV products. Its 227.600 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of
lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, medical systems, business electronics, and
IT services (Origin). Philips is quoted on the NYSE, (PHG) London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges.
Web sites:
www.preferredvoice.com www.philips.com www.hectorcom.com
|
