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June 20, 2012

Aculab Introduces Cloud-based Text-to-speech for Phone Automation

By David Delony
Contributing Writer

Aculab (News - Alert), a provider of computer-based telephony hardware and software, has announced the availability of NeoSpeech text-to-speech software under its Aculab Cloud platform.

“Making it easier for people to add telephony or use telephony to aid their business work flows is a prime objective,” Faye McClenahan (News - Alert), head of Strategic Marketing at Aculab, said. “By adding a premium TTS engine to the ‘use-on-demand’ telephony resources of Aculab Cloud, which we’ve included with no increase to the standard platform rate, we are helping businesses reduce costs. Furthermore, we are making business automation viable and affordable to both enterprises and SMBs.”

Developers can use either Python or .NET (News - Alert) to create custom applications using TTS technology to automate phone calls. Even in the age of e-mail and social media and various web-based options for customer service, sometimes customers still need to pick up the phone.

Text-to-speech is an ideal candidate for these types of tasks, but in the past this has meant high licensing fees and high computing resource utilization.

Aculab aims to make TTS easier and cheaper to deploy with NeoSpeech. Developers can just code their application, register it with their region on the server, and it will immediately be up and running. Using the platform costs only one cent per minute. The customers will only pay for the time that the application is actually runnning in the cloud. There is no need to set up CAPEX.

The system is intended for use on routine calls, freeing up personnel to concentrate on more essential calls, like advanced customer service and technical support, as well as revenue-generating calls.

Three voices are initially available: U.K. English, American English and American Spanish. All of them are female.

In other news Aculab has recently added fax support to the Milton Keynes, England-based company’s Aculab Cloud platform as well.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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Edited by Brooke Neuman