Wildfire Signs Deployment Deal With Bell Emergis

Business Wire, Sept 1, 1998

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 1998--

Wildfire(R) Assistant now available from Bell Mobility

Wildfire Communications, Inc., today announced that Bell Emergis, the network centric application development division of Bell Canada, has contracted with Wildfire to purchase software licenses for the Wildfire(R) personal assistant. In a separate announcement, Bell Mobility said it would be the first Canadian carrier to offer Wildfire(R) to its subscribers under the terms of the licensing agreement.

Wildfire(R) is the personal assistant who uses speech recognition to manage telephone communications for busy people. Recognized by industry experts and users alike as an indispensable tool that dramatically enhances productivity, Wildfire has revolutionized the way people use the telephone.

"We are working with Wildfire(R) because of their high quality speech recognition, leading edge human factors design and market tested feature packaging," said Karna Gupta, vice president of enhanced services for Bell Emergis.

"Through this licensing agreement with Wildfire(R), Bell Emergis is delivering on its promise to make exciting, advanced network applications available to Canadians," said Rob Mechaley, president and chief executive officer of Wildfire Communications.

Capabilities of the Wildfire(R) Assistant

WildDial(TM) Voice Dialing -- Wildfire(R) lets users place calls by simply speaking the number or by saying "Home," "Work," or "other." Wildfire(R) also maintains an online address book of up to 150 contacts (with up to six phone numbers for each contact) who can be called by saying the name.

WildMail(TM) Voice-controlled Voicemail -- Wildfire(R) captures callers' names and phone numbers so users can quickly prioritize messages and return phone calls by simply saying, "give them a call."

WildFind(TM) Call Routing -- For users on the go, Wildfire(R) forwards calls to any phone, contact name, or voicemail system.

WildWhisper(TM) Intelligent Call Waiting -- If a new call comes in while the user is listening to a message, Wildfire(R) announces the caller's name. The user can accept or decline the call; Wildfire(R) will take a message if the call is declined.

For the Bell Mobility deployment, the Wildfire(R) software will be installed on a Compaq(R) ProLiant(TM) 6500 server running SCO(R) UnixWare(TM).

"This installation is the latest in an ongoing stream of Compaq(R) ProLiant(TM) servers being deployed as Wildfire's hardware platform of choice for delivering enhanced network services worldwide," said Rose Ann Giordano, vice president, Communications Industry Group, Compaq Computer Corporation. "Compaq ProLiant servers offer industry-leading scalability, manageability, and reliability features -- representing the ideal platform for telecommunications solutions."

The Wildfire Advantage: A Different Enhanced Service

The Wildfire(R) assistant redefines how carriers offer enhanced service to their customers. Subscribers start with a set of basic services, such as voice-controlled voice mail and voice dialing. As they use the services, Wildfire(R) automatically evaluates their individual usage patterns and offers them a trial of additional services that fit their workstyle. Since subscribers acquire new services at their own pace, they feel in control: choosing only the features they value, then mastering each new set of services before adding new ones. This unique capability increases revenue for the carrier without the expense of direct marketing or sales.

About Wildfire Communications

Wildfire Communications, Inc., headquartered in Lexington, Mass., is a pioneer in the field of electronic-assistant technology. The company's two divisions develop and market Enterprise Wildfire(R), sold through value-added resellers who will begin offering the Wildfire(R) assistant as a client-server application on enterprise networks later this year, and Network Wildfire(R), an enhanced service offered by public telephone network carriers. Wildfire Communications, Inc., is located at 81 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02421, phone 781.778.1500. You can also reach Wildfire Communications on the Internet: info@wildfire.com and on the World Wide Web at www.wildfire.com. To hear a Wildfire demonstration, call 1.800.WILDFIRE.

About Bell Emergis

Bell Emergis, launched in 1997, is a business unit of Bell Canada geared at developing powerful network centric technology solutions. This dynamic organization brings together the most talented software application developers and analysts, network engineers, and public infrastructure consultants with the sole purpose of creating flexible, cutting-edge network applications that respond to, and even anticipate, the needs of business and consumers. Bell Emergis's web site can be found at www.emergis.com

CONTACT: Bell Emergis

Margaret Eades, 613/781-2456

h-margaret.eades@bell.ca

or

Bell Mobility

Leanne Bucaro, 905/282-4054

lbucaro@mobility.com

or

Wildfire Communications, Inc.

Leslie Anderson, 781/778-1527

leslie@wildfire.com

or

Schwartz Communications, Inc.