Philips, Telephonetics Enter Partnership

HTelephonetics has entered a three-way partnership with converged communications solutions provider Philips Business Communications (PBC) and Philips Speech Processing (PSP).

Under the partnership, Philips Speech Processing's software-only speech recognition and natural language understanding engine SpeechPearl will be integrated into Telephonetics' ContactPortal. A voice activated directory aimed at the corporate market, ContactPortal uses advanced telephony for call routing. Philips Business Communications will then market Telephonetics' ContactPortal to major companies and organizations in both the public and private sectors within the UK. The initiative will enable Philips Business Communications to include a speech recognition system in its portfolio for the first time and will provide Telephonetics with a new route to market.

"Telephonetics have a development that we find particularly interesting - and one that we're very keen to put to our own prospects," said Alan Everitt, business development manager at Philips Business Communications, which will be targeting mid-market enterprises with ContactPortal. "Speech recognition has to be the most natural way of communicating and it's now reaching maturity," he added. "Not only does Telephonetics' ContactPortal provide companies with an ideal method of improving productivity and providing operator services electronically, it also offers a very clear return on investment."