Julie Webb
Digium
+1 (256) 428-6203
jwebb@digium.com
Tom Porter
Aumtech
+ 1 (732) 254-1875 x4109
tporter@aumtech.com
Huntsville, Ala., and EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.-January 7, 2010-Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, and Aumtech, a leader in Speech and Computer Telephony Integration, today announced a partner relationship between the companies. Asterisk users now have a high-quality, low-cost Speech alternative, featuring server-based licenses that support 48+ ports of Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) for less than the cost of one or two competitive ASR licenses.
Aumtech's unique and proven solution provides 48+ ports of multi-language, high-quality Speech Recognition for the Asterisk platform with support for $1,975-a very attractive price per port. Customers requiring ASR in their applications have had to settle for either low-cost or low-quality products, or have had to pay a high price for high-quality Speech licenses until now. Users can now support an entire ASR server with 8, 24, or 48+ high-quality ASR licenses for a first-year cost of just $1,975 and $1,275 annually thereafter, improving customer satisfaction for as little as one-fiftieth of the cost of competitive high-end ASR solutions.
Aumtech is introducing its Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) Connector utility, which enables Asterisk customers to access the high-quality Microsoft Speech Services 2007 ASR for a fraction of the cost of competitors' ASR engines. This includes unlimited grammars and multiple languages of ASR; the list of 14 available languages and voices is constantly growing, and there are successful installations in North America, South America, Europe and the Far East. Asterisk users can access this Speech solution on Asterisk and on a variety of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions, including Aumtech's VoiceXML 2.1 Certified IVR platform, or other standards-based IVR platforms.
Today, Aumtech provides proven Speech technology from Microsoft (which has been successfully deployed at major airlines, manufacturers, government and service enterprises), along with Aumtech's MRCP Connector technology to "connect" Asterisk installations with the Microsoft ASR engine via the industry standard protocol missing in the native Microsoft ASR engine. Aumtech also offers professional services, such as application development, as well as integrated solutions and tools to assist in delivering turnkey solutions.
The Aumtech MRCP Connector for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server allows companies using Linux to build Speech-driven applications with the Microsoft ASR product, making it the most cost-effective Speech recognition engine for business-quality requirements. Since the MRCP Connector is based on the WC3 Forum's open standard, applications running on open platforms such as Asterisk can access Microsoft's Speech Recognition functions through Aumtech's Connector. Existing Speech applications are also candidates for deployment on this solution, since industry standards ensure code portability. In addition, Aumtech's professional services provide customers with options which minimize capital outlays, shorten development and deployment timeframes and reduce cost of ownership.
"We are very pleased to provide this significant value in high quality Speech Recognition to Digium's customer base, while introducing our Speech solutions to the Asterisk world, and opening the door to Speech solutions for the largest and smallest of Asterisk users," said Tom Porter, executive vice president at Aumtech. "We have developed a special program for Asterisk users to try this solution firsthand, so they can compare the quality of this high-value solution to those that cost $1,500 per port," he added. He has offered to send a white paper entitled, "Five Reasons to Stay with Your High-Priced ASR - and Eight Reasons to Evaluate Your Alternatives," which also includes performance comparisons between major ASR products, to those who request it at sales@aumtech.com.
Bill Miller, Digium's vice president of product management, concluded, "Our Asterisk customers have long recognized the value of Speech Recognition applications; however, most have delayed implementing these technologies due to the high entry costs. Aumtech's solution is the lowest-cost at higher capacities for world-class Speech technology and may prove to be the 'tipping point,' finally bringing Speech to the masses, and will benefit our customers worldwide."
Digium is the creator, sponsor and driving force behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software. The company's product lines include a wide range of software and hardware that enable businesses to implement turnkey unified communications solutions or to design their own Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems. Resellers, telecom professionals and software developers choose Digium's products because only Digium delivers the technical superiority, security and flexibility associated with Asterisk.
About Digium
Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, created, owns and is the innovative force behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software. Since its founding in 1999, Digium has become the open source alternative to proprietary communication providers, with offerings that cost as much as 80 percent less. Digium offers Asterisk software free to the open source community and offers Asterisk Business Edition and Switchvox IP PBX software to power a broad family of products for small, medium and large businesses. The company's product line includes a wide range of hardware and software to enable resellers and customers to implement turnkey VoIP systems or to design their own custom telephony solutions. More information is available at http://www.digium.com.
The Digium logo, Digium, Asterisk, Asterisk SCF, Switchvox, Asterisk Business Edition, AsteriskNOW, Asterisk Appliance and the Asterisk logo are trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
# # #