General Magic Unveils Enhanced magicTalk Enterprise Platform
SUNNYVALE, CA - General Magic Inc. (Nasdaq: GMGC) announced a series of important enhancements to its magicTalk Enterprise Platform suite of software that increases the ability of enterprises to develop and deploy self-service voice applications accessible by telephone. Available now, the magicTalk Enterprise Platform 1.5 integrates key technologies from General Magic's recently signed OEM partner InterVoice-Brite Inc., for the delivery of a wide range of computer-telephony integration (CTI) and other advanced telephony functions to the fast-growing market for next-generation interactive voice response (IVR) solutions that leverage Internet/Web technologies. "The new capabilities in the magicTalk Enterprise Platform extend it as the enterprise voice platform of choice for companies seeking to provide voice access to their e-business applications and expand call center automation," said Paula Skokowski, VP Marketing, General Magic. "With the magicTalk Enterprise Platform as their voice infrastructure, companies can quickly deploy voice-enabled enterprise applications that enable customers, employees, partners and suppliers to access content and execute transactions in the most cost-effective manner, leveraging the same business logic and enterprise software across Web, wireless and voice services." By combining the advanced technologies of General Magic and InterVoice-Brite, the magicTalk Enterprise Platform provides a Web-based IVR solution incorporating voice user interfaces that humanize the caller's experience of self-service phone applications. Important new features in the magicTalk Enterprise Platform for making Web-based IVR a key channel for use by companies in extending voice self-service to customers and other constituents include: -Voice alerts and notifications. Using the magicTalk Enterprise Platform companies can now "push" targeted information over the voice channel to any device to gain recipient's attention and/or spur action. Expanded outbound call support within the magicTalk Enterprise Platform, including live call detection and live agent transfer, enables enterprises to not only broadcast alerts and "push" notifications across the voice channel but also provide the recipient with a voice user interface to take action based on the alert. For example, outbound voice notifications can be used to notify customers of account status and activity, product shipments or product promotions and the voice user interface can offer customers the opportunity to take action on the spot, such as request increase in credit limit, schedule a delivery time, or purchase a product over the phone. ·VoiceXML 2.0 compliant browser. The magicTalk Enterprise Platform supports voice applications written to the latest version of the VoiceXML specification - VoiceXML 2.0. Bundled with the magicTalk Enterprise Platform is a front-end component called the magicTalk VoiceXML Gateway that manages the VoiceXML-based voice user interface for voice self-service transactions and inquiries over any wireless/wireline phone. The magicTalk VoiceXML gateway recognizes a caller's input and requests and presents information to the caller either in the form of pre-recorded prompts or personalized voice responses dynamically generated from up-to-date enterprise data. ·Out-of-the-box telephony functions. The telephony functions in the magicTalk VoiceXML Gateway provide the ability to answer, screen and transfer large volumes of calls simultaneously. Inbound calls can be screened using Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and Dialed Number Identification (DNIS) recognition. Options for transferring calls include Blind Transfer, Music-on-Hold, Digital Answer Detect and Smart Transfer. Outbound call support allows push notifications. User data input and menu selection can be done either through spoken input or through the touchtone keypad (DTMF). ·Extensive CTI support. The magicTalk Enterprise Platform supports the most widely used computer-telephony interfaces, allowing seamless integration of voice-enabled applications with contact center solutions. Available CTI interfaces include Aspect Contact Server; Aspect Application Bridge CTI v5, v7; TSAPI Passageway (Avaya/Lucent G3); Cisco Intelligent Contact Manager with Service Control, Dialogic CT-Connect CTI v3; Genesys 6.1 IVR and T-server; TAPI 2.0 CTI Interface; OAI Intecom; HP CCM v5.8; Quintus VOX Server v5.0; Nortel Meridian Link/Interlink; CT-Connect 5.0; 3G Support; Analog to Digital T1 or E1 connectivity; ISDN, CAS, SS7 protocol support for both AT&T and Nortel, including NFAS; Port-to-Port switching, bridging, conferencing and full application level call control.