VOCALIS EXPANDS GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Vocalis Group plc, the voice recognition and call processing specialist, today announces that it has signed distribution agreements with nine suppliers of telecommunications equipment in the UK and California, USA. The contracts are for the distribution of one of Vocalis’ core products, Operetta™ , the world’s first operator’s assistant.

Focused on the growing number of small to medium sized companies, Operetta is designed to help businesses stay in touch with their customers. It puts voice to work in the reception or corporate switchboard by automating routine tasks and complementing the role of a human operator. Callers are connected to the person or department they wish simply by saying the name, naturally - eliminating the need to remember an extension number or navigate a frustrating keypad-based directory.

Commenting on signing up as a distributor of Operetta in the UK, Martin Hatcher, Managing Director of MTV Telecom Distribution plc said: "Operetta is an exciting new addition to our current product portfolio. We believe there is a great deal of potential for a system that people can actually speak with as it offers significant benefits over traditional touch tone technology. We are looking forward to building a strong commercial relationship with Vocalis."

"By signing up these distributors, Vocalis is immediately able to offer the benefits of voice-driven call answering and routing to its target market on a wider scale. Ovum estimate the world-wide voice processing market to be worth around $5.8 billion by the year 2000, and Vocalis is in a position to gain a large share of this with products like Operetta. In the USA alone, there are over 1.6 million businesses that are target customers for Operetta," said Graeme W. Smith, the Strategic Marketing Director of Vocalis.

Michael Zadiek at Columbia Pacific Telesystems, an Operetta distributor in San Diego, CA, says, "Vocalis’ speech interface eliminates the nuisance-factor associated with automated attendants. Multi-layered touch-tone menus are no longer the only option for companies who want to cut costs with automation. With Operetta, callers just say the name of the person or the department they want and Operetta handles the rest."

Starting in California, Vocalis’ strategy in the US is to move eastward, expanding its distribution network in the major metropolitan areas. Jonathan Hart, the Sales Director at Vocalis, says, "The feedback from distributors in the US is very exciting. The channels to market for telecommunication products are well developed and end users are keen to embrace new products such as Operetta".