Portable offices by TelEmail–Speech activated solution for e-mails on landlines (& cell phones)

Speech and Software Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd (SST)–a Tata Group company–announced
the launch of TelEmail, a speech activated productivity enhancement solution,
that extends the reach of the e-mail by making it available on a ubiquitous land
phone or a simple mobile phone device.

The technology reduces the costs by giving full e-mail functionality without
a computer or an ISP connection. It allows the individual to receive and reply
to e-mail messages from any telephone instrument–landline or mobile. Again,
since access is direct to the corporate mail server, security is assured.
Further versions of the system will allow a user to access Web data through the
same infrastructure.

TelEmail is easy to use and recognizes, acts and responds to voice commands.
It facilitates easy access to e-mails in the inbox of the corporate mail server
and has them read out to the recipient over a phone, without using a PC. Giving
instructions to the system is no more cumbersome as the system operates on voice
commands, thus providing the user a hands-free and hassle-free access to his
mailbox.

To receive email over phone, the TelEmail user is prompted for a Personal
Identification Number (PIN) and a Passcode. After the credentials are verified,
the system retrieves the mails from the inbox on the corporate mail server. The
navigation is done by spoken commands such as Proceed, Next Mail, Previous Mail
or Delete. On selecting the option Proceed, the mail is opened and a
Text-to-Speech system converts the text mail message to speech and reads it out
using a human synthesized voice. Attachments in HTML or text can also be read
out in a similar manner. The mail can also be replied to, using the voice
command Reply.

Another powerful feature is that the individual is notified of new mail
through Short Message Service (SMS) on a mobile phone. Through TelEmail, the
user can prioritize mails by sender and/or by subject. The system also allows a
user to control the speed at which the system reads the messages.

SST also has an alliance in this domain, with IBM. The company sees a huge
market for TelEmail and a vast application potential for it in the corporate
sector. The solution will be particularly attractive to service-intensive
industries such as banks, insurance companies, airlines and hotels–where the
need for mobility is very high and response times are a critical element of the
service offering.

The TelEmail solution has been thoroughly pilot tested and is soon to be
deployed at AIG Insurance where it will be utilized by the company’s insurance
agents to access sales leads from AIG headquarters. AIG frequently receives
sales leads that are then communicated via email to its agents who till recently
had to visit a cyber café with a PC Internet connection to access messages.
This application now allows the same agents to access emailed sales leads from
their telephones at home.

SST hosts a number of solutions for speech-based products and applications
for speech recognition, speaker verification, text to speech synthesis,
hardware, and embedded technologies. For the purpose, it has invested heavily in
its own R&D infrastructure. The R&D team is based at Chennai and
comprises experts specializing in the field of Digital Signal Processing (DSP),
electronics, telecom and networking.

As cellular phone keypads continue to shrink, voice is emerging as the
interface of choice for mobile users across the world to access information from
the Internet as well as corporate intranets. The voice technology market is
expected to reach $ 30 billion by 2006. By 2003, 30 percent of the US workforce
will use voice recognition on a daily basis. SST is well positioned to take
advantage of the potential for growth in this sector. Currently, SST enjoys the
status of being the only company in India to specialize in the highly
sophisticated and technologically advanced field of speech recognition
solutions.