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Non-Tech : Binary Hodgepodge -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (201)	7/19/2001 10:01:06 PM
From: ~digs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6763

VeriSign Plan Would Allow No-Dialing Phone Calls Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 19, 2001; Page E05 VeriSign Inc., the company that registers Internet names and addresses, plans to introduce a technology that will allow mobile phone users to dial up businesses across the country by simply speaking their names into the phone. The service will work like the nationwide 411 directory assistance, except that it will be completely voice-activated, and businesses -- not consumers -- will pick up the charge for connecting the calls. VeriSign, the Mountain View, Calif., company that last year bought Herndon-based Network Solutions Inc., developed the "voice registry" through its Herndon incubator and plans to offer an initial database containing about 1 million business listings to mobile phone carriers for free, starting in the second quarter of next year. Remembering phone numbers is becoming harder as more localities require people to dial the full 10-digit number even when calling within the same area code. This technology promises to take consumers back in time to when operators connected all calls without the need for phone numbers, said Pete Nielsen, managing director for VeriSign's voice registry division. For businesses, the registry will enable them to use their brand names as their phone numbers , he added. "We are setting the pricing such that the businesses that gain the most from the registry will pay more," Nielsen said, contrasting it with VeriSign's Internet domain name registry, for which every company pays a flat fee. He declined to be more specific about the fees, which have not yet been set, or the amount of revenue VeriSign hopes to derive from the new registry service. The voice registry is the second product to emerge from VeriSign's incubator, which was started by Network Solutions' former chief executive, James P. Rutt, and employs about 40 people in Herndon. VeriSign employs 2,000 people. Earlier this year, VeriSign began testing a service designed to make it easier for users of mobile phones to connect to specially formatted Web sites by dialing phone numbers or simpler numeric strings, rather than typing cumbersome Internet addresses on a numeric keypad. The service, called WebNum, allows consumers with Web-enabled cellular phones to reach, for instance, a Delta Airlines Web site formatted for viewing on a tiny phone display by dialing 1-800-FLY-DELTA or simply 'Delta' (33582 on the telephone keypad). More stories in TELECOM online at Washtech.com. © 2001 The Washington Post Company washingtonpost.com