Voice Processing: Franklin Telecom Debuts Voice-Enabled Website; Choose to Schmooze Uses Real-Time Voice to Bring Customers & Businesses Together - Company Business and Marketing

EDGE, On & About AT&T, March 8, 1999

Franklin Telecom Tuesday introduces the Franklin Voice-Enabled Website, nicknamed "Choose to Schmooze" (CTS). Choose to Schmooze bridges the Internet and public switched telephone network to add real-time voice capability to World Wide Web Pages. Choose to Schmooze supports regular phones, Internet phones and text chat. It also supports Microsoft's NetMeeting client to enable full VoIP connectivity.

When a customer clicks on the Choose to Schmooze icon on a web page, CTS initiates a call to the customer via either a switched phone or the Internet, according to the customer's preference. As the customer answers, CTS places a second call to the business. While this second call is being established, the customer may be listening to a customized business message. As the business representative answers the call, a text chat facility is also supported to facilitate the exchange of information.

Choose to Schmooze offers flexibility in design and presentation. For example, businesses may create separate groups with multiple assigned phone numbers, so that the customer can choose to speak with someone from sales, technical support or customer service.

Businesses can answer the incoming calls using a regular phone. Multiple phones can be enabled simultaneously, if desired, so that a representative can be reached via the office phone, cell phone or pager. Essentially, the business is never out of reach! The service can be customized to limit the number or time allotment of incoming calls; area codes may be selected or blocked, as desired, to control access. User names and passwords may be created, to enhance security.

Available options include visual and/or audible notification of incoming calls from browsers and incoming Caller I.D. It is also possible to view the URL from which the call is originating or to push another URL to the caller.

Peter Buswell, Franklin's President and COO enthused, "Choose to Schmooze can make anybody's business smoother, smarter and more productive. Business owners, ISPs, Web Designers--this product is going to have them grinning all the way to the bank. And not only is it tremendous for business, it's downright FUN!"

The Franklin Voice-Enabled Website--Choose to Schmooze--will be demonstrated at the CTExpo Spring '99 http://www.ctexpo.com which will be held March 2, 3rd and 4th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Franklin Telecom will be in Booth 3301. This is the fourth of four product announcements that will be made prior to the show.

The primary business of Franklin Telecom, founded in 1981, is the design and manufacturing of communications devices, high speed LAN, WAN, Telco and software. Franklin customers have installed over 100,000 nodes worldwide. Franklin's Internet subsidiary FNet provides Voice over Internet Protocol global Telco services. FMI: http://www.fnet.net