MICROSOFT SIGNS ON AS A PRINCIPAL SPONSOR OF THE TELEPHONY VOICE USER INTERFACE CONFERENCE

Microsoft has reaffirmed its confidence in the future of speech recognition technology by becoming a principal sponsor of the leading international Conference for companies pursuing business applications of this technology...The Fourth Annual Telephony Voice User Interface Conference, February 4-6, at the Marriott Mountain Shadows Resort and Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ.

Telephone service providers and enterprises use speech recognition to make and save money with minimal investment and fast return

Tarzana, CA...Microsoft has reaffirmed its confidence in the future of speech recognition technology by becoming a principal sponsor of the leading international Conference for companies pursuing business applications of this technology...The Fourth Annual Telephony Voice User Interface Conference, February 4-6, at the Marriott Mountain Shadows Resort and Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ.

"The Telephony Voice User Interface Conference represents the leading edge of speech technology today," says Kai-Fu Lee, vice president, Natural Interactive Services Division, Microsoft. "Microsoft is proud to be a principal sponsor of this event and to join with other leading companies in the development of speech technology and standards, such as the SALT standard, upon which our technology is built."

The Principal Sponsors of this conference are Microsoft, Nuance Communications, SpeechWorks, and Enterprise Integration Group. AT&T Labs, IBM, InterVoiceBRITE, Sound Advantage, Telera, VoiceGenie and West Interactive are Supporting Sponsors. The publication sponsors are Speech Recognition Update, the industry's newsletter, and Speech Technology Magazine.

Making the telephone a better business tool...

For a while, it seemed that huge expenditures in high-bandwidth Internet links, third-generation wireless systems, and Web farms were required to make breakthroughs in new ways to sell and serve customers. Next month, leaders from service providers, enterprises, and technology vendors will get together in Scottsdale, Arizona, to talk about progress in leveraging those investments to make telephones a better way to reach customers, generate revenues, and improve organization efficiency.

One conclusion likely to surface is that all those investments have made automating telephone services using speech recognition an inexpensive way to achieve those objectives. "Most people have already encountered telephone services based on speech recognition," William Meisel, president of TMA Associates and the conference organizer, notes. "Rather than the exception, calls automated by speech recognition will rapidly become the rule. After a retrenchment last year in telecommunications, companies are realizing that this technology can produce happier customers and new revenues--with a rapid return on investment." Meisel will present a market overview as well as a talk on "Marketing as conversation: The Voice User Interface as a new way to reach and hold customers."

Sixty-four speakers will cover topics in sessions including:
- Case studies: Achieving user acceptance and meeting business objectives
- Call center voice solutions: Automating agent and touch-tone functions
- VoiceXML, SALT, and other standards: Their role and relationship
- Voice portal content and services: What works and what pays
- Directory assistance and large-scale business directories: Voice data access
- Leveraging existing Web sites: Compatibility with a Voice User Interface
- Multi-modal and device-dependent solutions: Solutions that support multiple devices or multiple interface modes
- Applications: What works, what doesn't
- Unified messaging and communications management: Improving productivity and utility
- The Voice User Interface: The face of speech recognition
- Using speaker verification and text-to-speech synthesis
- Enterprise speech strategy issues: Key decisions
- Platform alternatives: Delivering voice applications
- Natural language understanding: What is it, do we need it, and is it real?
- Speech application development: From low-level to high-level tools

In addition, over 30 companies will participate in an innovative Discussion and Demo Day on the last day of the conference, allowing attendees to explore in depth offerings of companies that have products or services of specific interest to them.

Further information about the conference can be found at www.tmaa.com or by calling 910/452-0047.

Please direct all editorial inquiries and requests for Conference credentials to David Kaye at KPR, Inc. Phone: 818/368-8212 or Email: dave@kprinc.com.

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