This week down at CTIA in San Francisco, GotVoice announced partnerships that illustrate an extended presence in the marketplace. Here’s a quick summary of each of the three releases.

1) GOTVOICE AND IVR TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER TO BRING VOICEMAIL UNIFICATION AND TRANSFORMATION-TO-TEXT TO COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS (Full Release here)

GotVoice and IVR Technologies, a leading software developer of IP-based enhanced services and real-time billing solutions have partnered to bring voicemail unification and voicemail-to-text solutions to communication providers around the world. The companies’ seamless integration makes it possible for service providers to integrate IVR’s flagship product Talking SIP into GotVoice’s G2 platform, and have Talking SIP’s voicemail messages transcribed into text without requiring a change in carrier or caller behavior.

IVR Technologies’ advanced software platform combines five traditionally separate network elements - application, media, real-time billing, location/registration and Class 5 services - into a single, tightly integrated server for SIP-based voice-over-IP networks. Talking SIP is designed to drive revenue to the network by providing intelligent and in-demand applications that attract users and reduce turnover through innovative features, creative billing options, customizability and end-user empowerment.

IVR Technologies will utilize GotVoice’s next-generation voicemail unification and transformation-to-text platform to unify mobile, home, PBX, VoIP and IP-based PBX voice messages. This enabling customers to read their voicemail and listen to them as digital audio files via email, a mobile phone, or the Web.

2) GOTVOICE TOGETHER WITH VARITALK LIVENS VOICEMAIL WITH CUSTOM VOICE MESSAGES AND VOICEMAIL GREETINGS UTILIZING CELEBRITY VOICES (Full Release Here)

GotVoice has partnered with Varitalk, the world’s leading provider of personalized talking audio, to bring custom voicemail greetings and personalized voicemail messages to customers. We can now silently insert custom messages into people’s voice mailboxes and enrich callers’ existing voicemail experience with custom greetings developed by Varitalk. The partnership makes it possible for consumers to leverage Varitalk’s custom content through GotVoice technology. The service requires no upgrades or changes to existing voicemail systems, and can work across any major provider, including: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Through this partnership, GotVoice and Varitalk are revolutionizing individualized content for mobile phones, enabling the creation of user-generated voicemail greetings spoken by top celebrities. Through its partnership and integration with GotVoice, Varitalk has been able to extend the reach of its patented technology, creating a new, high-value distribution opportunity for its media and brand clients with user-personalized Voice Mail greetings. Though the application is currently limited to advertiser-paid greetings, Varitalk is exploring a retail offering as well.

3) GOTVOICE ANNOUNCES VOICEMAIL SERVER SUPPORT FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS, VOICEMAIL HARDWARE VENDORS AND IVR COMPANIES (Full Release Here)

GotVoice announced voicemail server support for service providers, voicemail hardware vendors and IVR companies. We can now retrieve voicemail from carriers and PBX installations without the need for upgrades or changes to existing systems for seamless voicemail-to-text and digital audio file integration.

The GotVoice G2 platform already provides unification across multiple existing voicemail platforms, including those from companies such as DCL Metaswitch, Avaya, Octel, Unisys, Nortel, Meridian, HP, Comverse, Cisco, ShoreTel, NEC, InterVoice, OpenWave, Alcatel Lucent and GN Netcom. Network operators utilizing these voicemail platforms can immediately offer their customers a single view and interface that integrates other voicemail platforms – and yet is faster, better quality and offered at a lower price point than is available anywhere else in the world.

The GotVoice solution has already accessed tens of millions of messages pulled from legacy voicemail servers including those of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AllTel. With GotVoice, carriers have an economical and effortless method for delivering their subscribers’ voicemail as both text and digital audio files via email, SMS, Web and API, creating additional revenue streams and increased data traffic. The GotVoice solution is available today to carriers and IP communications providers via OEM, APIs, White Label and Hosted Solutions.

The GotVoice team is pleased to announce that Steven Wu has come on board. In his new position as Vice President of Sales and Business Development, Steven will be responsible for leading sales and partnership efforts with carriers and service providers, and driving the company’s international expansion into global markets.

A former Microsoft executive and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, Steven has over two decades of strategic, executive, international and operational experience in high technology management, private equity and business management. Building on the existing momentum of GotVoice, Steven will work to partner GotVoice with carriers and IP communication providers to incorporate the GotVoice G2 solution into companies’ existing platforms.

“I have the advantage of coming on board at time when globally, carriers and service providers are seeking differentiation through services like GotVoice,” he says. “Our carrier-grade solution is unparalleled in that it has been trained against millions of individual speakers from carriers throughout our markets and boasts unmatched accuracy and speed. We are helping to drive revenues for our partners by differentiating their offerings at a price point that stimulates usage.”

You can reach Steven directly at swu (at) gotvoice dot com or see him at CTIA, Internet Telephony or TMIA.

The GotVoice team will be at a number of tradeshows and conventions in September. At each show, we’ll be meeting with bloggers in attendance, or bloggers that happen to live in the area. Send us a quick email if you’d like to be part of the group. We’ll be showing off new demos, have some execs available for 1 on 1 interviews, and likely be accompanied by a few other Seattle tech companies doing the same.

Here’s the schedule:
Sept 10-12: CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA
Sept 16-18: Internet Telephony Conference, Los Angeles Convention Center
Sept 22-24: TMIA Fall 2008, Toronto Reniassance

Let us know if you’ll be around any of these shows. We’d love to meet up.

The GotVoice Team will be in attendance this year at Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Fl, from may 12-15. Please stop by our pedestal, or if you’d like to set up time to meet, contact our VP of Marketing, Colin Lamont. See you in Orlando.

It’s official.  GotVoice has circled the ring and claimed the title of Best-in-Breed.  Was it our shiny coat?  Our brilliantly white teeth?  Our ability to resist the temptation to inappropriately sniff the competition?  Maybe.

Our development department contends it was because our new G2 platform uses advanced free-form speech recognition technology to provide unmatched voicemail-to-text accuracy and speed and that our new carrier-grade, high quality transcription engine is built for scalability and interoperates with all major voice & VoIP carriers.   That our unique technology pairing allows seamless access to any existing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and/or voicemail system, as well as voicemail-to-text conversion — without infrastructure upgrades or capital outlays.  Admittedly it’s pretty amazing. 

Still, I chalk up at least part of our victory to the creative use of trimming shears.  Kind of like the creative use of shears by my barber in college.  In fact, his creativity earned me the nickname “Flobie” after the nefarious vacuum haircutting machine of the same.  I know it seemed like a good idea at the time, but looking back on the experience I’d have to say it wasn’t one of my best ideas to choose a barber with an eyepatch. 

Web Worker Daily does a nice write up of GotVoice this week. The article does an excellent job of explaining some of the difficulties of trying to develop a Voice-to-Text Platform. Rather than just complain about some features that are notoriously hard to accomplish, WWD tells the reader why they are hard, and focuses on the positives. One great line was, “If you get a lot of (voicemail) though, being able to avoid listening to all your messages in linear form saves lots of time.”

Anyway, thanks to the folks over at the Giga Omni Media Team for putting the story together.

Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Here’s a link to the official press release about Talking Avatars. More info to come soon.

Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |