During the first day of its 2000 User Forum, Comverse Network Systems, a division of Comverse Technology Inc., introduced additional features to its software and systems enabling network-based enhanced services.
The features include its Intelligent Mobile Services, a suite of services using mobile number portability and called-name presentation designed to generate additional revenue for service providers and meet evolving network demands created by regulations and network convergence.
Comverse said IMS allows subscribers to define how calls and messages are handled based on a subscriber’s personal address book and profiles stored on the network. The name-presentation function allows subscribers to provision their own unique text or graphics-based personal greeting to a called party.
Additional enhanced services include a manageable mobile e-mail solution, enabling subscribers to receive, send and manage e-mail messages over a wireless phone as a true e-mail client.
The service allows users to forward and reply to e-mail messages and include the entire text of the original message. Applications include management of all e-mail messages in mailbox folders in addition to all e-mail messaging capabilities.
According to the company, the service uses mobile-originated short message service and WAP technologies to communicate with a variety of wireless handsets, personal digital assistants, two-way paging devices and personal computers. It also features an integrated Comverse personal address book that can be integrated with an e-mail server-based address book.
The mobile e-mail solution also leverages voice features included in Comverse’s unified messaging solution, specifically e-mail-to-speech and voice reply to e-mail via the handset.
“This enhancement to the Comverse portfolio of multimedia messaging services allows wireless providers to offer subscribers yet another new product, increasing their revenues and helping them to reduce customer churn,” said Itsik Danzinger, president of Comverse Network Systems.
The solution is built on Comverse’s messaging platform and architecture and is designed to leverage third-generation technologies as they become available.
In addition, Comverse introduced Tel@GO 2.0, a carrier-grade personal voice-portal platform designed for network service providers looking to generate additional revenues by offering voice-activated multimedia enhanced services.
The Tel@GO service enables individuals to use voice commands to browse the Internet for news, sports, weather, stock quotes, Internet radio and other carrier-specified information. Subscribers also can access Internet-based services and place calls to contacts in their personal address book, as well as create, retrieve and manage voice and e-mail messages through voice commands.
“Natural language speech recognition enables subscribers to safely and quickly access people and information by issuing simple commands,” noted Michael Krasner, general manager of Comverse Speech Portal Division. “Our technology excels in its ability to recognize, interpret and exchange natural language conversation in noisy and hectic wireless or wireline environments.”
Comverse said the product currently supports numerous English dialects with plans to add French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese language recognition in the coming months.
Comverse also unveiled VoiCD service, an end-to-end solution for listening to, purchasing, sharing and distributing music and other multimedia content over telecommunications networks.
