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07.20.06
New Phone Server Features Personalization
 By
Doug Caverly
These are busy times at VoiceObjects. The company put out four press releases in one day, covering everything from management personnel to corporate partnerships.
The most relevant item for consumers, though, is the announcement of the "world's first phone application server," which "features per-caller personalization."
Any "world's first" probably needs to be described. VoiceObjects defines a phone application server as "software that enables carrier-grade deployment and management of over-the-phone self-service applications." In addition to per-caller personalization, it includes "an application execution environment, Web services support, multimodal application support, and drill-down application analytics."
The VoiceObjects Server, available in both Enterprise and Network editions, won't come cheap, though - prices start at $500 per port.
Sheryl Kingstone, the research director at Yankee Group, was quoted in the press release. "Phone application servers are the next wave in implementing personalized and easy-to-use self-service applications," she said. "Phone application servers can lower the cost to deploy and maintain phone applications, provide a tighter integration with an organization's CRM, BI or other infrastructure, and will increase customer adoption."
Datamonitor had figures to support Kingstone's beliefs; the company "estimates that the market for phone-based self-service applications will grow to more than $1.2B in 2009."
The other VoiceObjects announcements made it appear that the company is positioning itself for that future.
"VoiceObjects Closes $10.8 Million Financing; Adds Veteran Executives to Management Team," read one headline. Another article indicated that it struck a "Strategic Alliance with Unisys," and a separate piece pointed out that the company "Powers New Deutsche Telekom Voice Portal." Busy times, indeed.
About
the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.
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