Nokia Announces General Availability Of IntegraX v.6.2; Unified Messaging for Lotus Notes, Speech Recognition, and Multilingual Support - Product Announcement

Cambridge Telcom Report, Dec 13, 1999

Nokia Intelligent Applications (formerly Telekol Corporation) brings to market in its latest release of the IntegraX intelligent communications server the most robust set of solutions available to enterprise customers. Three major components of this release include unified messaging for Lotus Notes, speech recognition capability, and multilingual support for voice prompts and text-to-speech-based applications. These new capabilities are being demonstrated this week at the CTI Expo Show, the Microsoft Pavilion Booth 112, Pod J and also in the Learning Center - Booth # 1552.

"The IntegraX," says Ram Metser, vice president and managing director of Nokia Intelligent Applications, "continues to break the conventional barriers of communications by providing people with quick, reliable access to the information they need. Communications within the enterprise is in constant flux. How a company harnesses this resource is critical to the success of that business. As businesses absorb new technologies, they simultaneously create environments that push for greater efficiencies. The struggle to communicate better with each other in the workplace is a challenge that has been greatly heightened because of the level of technology that exists today. Our focus is to design solutions that make communications a manageable resource through the easy access to and management of messages, the efficient management of calls, and the effective delivery of information regardless of whether people are connected to fixed or wireless IP networks."

According to Sean Robertson, chief engineer of NETXUSA, a value-added distributor of computer-telephony product that was part of the beta program for the v.6.2 release: "We believe that, apart from all the bells and whistles that a system has, a stable, reliable voice mail platform is crucial before we even consider it. IntegraX is definitely that. It is very stable, well documented, and well integrated. The integration, which we did with a Lucent Legend, was perfect right out of the box. That is especially hard to do in this industry. However, what I have most experience with is the system's IntegraCOM application development tool.

The ability to programmatically extend the voice mail system to connect to external data sources using industry standard Visual C and Visual Basic COM objects gives a developer working with the IntegraX system a great deal of power."

IntegraNotes and IntegraExchange Address Mixed Media Environments With the addition of unified messaging for IntegraNotes, Nokia Intelligent Applications now is able to support businesses that have Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, or both within the same environment. "This is an obvious advantage to the large enterprise that has to support multiple e-mail and voice systems," points out Mr. Metser. The IntegraNotes software gives Lotus Notes users access to and management of their voice messages, e-mails, and faxes from any telephone, fax, or computer over any kind of network including the Internet, giving users complete flexibility and control over their messages. The software runs on the IntegraX platform and is priced on a per-user basis.

Speech - The Universal Interface Speech-enabling solutions are becoming the preferred interface by end users for all voice-based communications. "Adding a natural language speech interface to intelligent communications solutions makes sound business sense. Users are more comfortable with the interface, speeding acceptance of new applications, and access to information is faster. This improves employee productivity as well as minimizing telecommunications costs." says Mr. Metser. The IntegraSpeech option is state-of-the-art speech recognition technology that enables the IntegraX server to "understand" speech. It is being used in the Nokia advanced call processing application to route callers to the appropriate individual or department. Furthermore, the IntegraSpeech option can be used when developing custom call processing scenarios with Nokia's IntegraCOM API (application programming interface). The software runs on the IntegraX server and is available now.

Multinational businesses understand the importance of servicing global customers and localizing their products and services. IntegraGlobal gives these businesses a competitive edge by providing the multilingual support needed in helping these companies communicate with their customers and partners regardless of where in the world they might be located. IntegraGlobal enables multilingual options on the IntegraX, allowing callers to hear voice prompts in the language of their choice, and mailbox owners to have e-mail read to them in their preferred language.

Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. Nokia is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leader supplier of mobile, fixed, and IP networks including related services. It also supplied multimedia terminals and computer display. In 1998, net sales totaled EUR 13.3 billion (USD 15.7 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt, and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 53,000 people. Visit Nokia on the Web at www.nokia.com