Audiopoint Launches First Wireless Voice Terminal Service for End-Users.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2002

Demand Drives Advanced Speech Technology Company to Develop and

Launch Enhanced E-mail Service for Consumers with Any Existing

E-mail Account 

Audiopoint, a leading speech applications technology company developing and hosting large scale commercial voice applications, today announced the launch of its enhanced e-mail Voice Terminal Service (VTS) for end-users.

The launch comes as the result of a considerable consumer demand for a voice-enabled e-mail service that allows the freedom and flexibility of retrieving and managing e-mail accounts anytime, anywhere, from any phone. VTS is a convenient, easy-to-use and secure communications tool making it critical for today's growing wireless marketplace of teleworkers and commuters.

VTS was developed as a complementary technology to provide an alternative and easy way for wired and wireless users to stay connected. VTS supports those who don't have immediate access to a dial-up Internet connection and enters the market at an ideal time as cellular phone carriers are restructuring competitive calling plans that contain more calling minutes, include free long distance and offer programs to roll-over unused minutes. Whether on the road, in the air, or simply away from a computer, users will never have to miss an important e-mail again.

"Audiopoint has one of the longest track records in the industry when it comes to consumer-friendly speech applications," noted Mark Plakias, Senior VP of Voice & Wireless at The Kelsey Group. "The convergence of growing online commerce and increasingly liberal wireless calling plans make consumer access to e-mail via any phone a natural. This is the right time for a service like Voice Terminal."

VTS was designed to provide non-techies as well as the road warrior user with voice access to e-mail. It provides a secure, friendly environment that works with standard protocols such as POP3 or IMAP, as well as supporting more stringent secure environments such as Audiopoint's Voice Print authentication. VTS gives the caller full access to e-mail with intuitive voice commands that can be learned in the first 10 minutes of a user's initial call.

The convenient VTS online enrollment form allows consumers to quickly sign up and begin using the voice enabled service within minutes upon registration. After signing up, users will access VTS by dialing a toll-free number, and then be requested to recite or enter on a phone keypad their account number and secure PIN. VTS offers the option to listen to unread e-mail directly from their existing e-mail account inbox; delete and skip messages with simple voice commands; and reply to e-mail by sending a personally recorded WAV audio file attachment.

"Consumer demand has fueled this effort and Voice Terminal has answered the call," said Brian Lichorowic, CEO & President of Audiopoint. "Audiopoint is the only voice company going right to the end-user. Consumers were asking for this service because the functionality wasn't offered through their ISP or corporate e-mail account. We foresee users finding the new VTS service effective in supporting today's mobile lifestyle by understanding the critical need to access information on demand."

Prior to this launch, consumers were only offered this service through Audiopoint's growing reseller network of ISPs and businesses. Audiopoint continues to aggressively market its reseller Voice Terminal application, E-mail by Phone, to ISPs enabling them to broaden revenue streams by rolling out a variety of enhanced services designed to retain as well as to attract new customers. As the leading speech-enabled service of its successful Revenue Rescue program for ISPs, E-mail by Phone, built on the robust Voice Terminal application suite platform, will continue to become an invaluable tool for their busy residential and business customers.

"In the past, the overall cost of deploying any type of voice enabled solution in a company, let alone to an end-user, has been astronomically high," said Larry Whitehead, CTO of Audiopoint. "Audiopoint's infrastructure is unique within the voice recognition marketplace. Our secure network allows for an enterprise wide deployment offering a complete, easy to use, and effective solution. We can do this at a fraction of the cost, while providing all the benefits of an on-premise deployment."

Sign up for Voice Terminal at http://www.voiceterminal.net using any major credit card. Consumers can select from three economical "calling plans" - Nomad, Wanderer and Drifter - that best fit their mobile lifestyle needs. Plans are based on length of term, actual usage and average $10 per month.

The first 3000 subscribers to sign up will be offered unlimited usage in their particular plan and set-up fees waived. VTS is putting its money where its "mouth" is by offering a 60-day money back guarantee if users aren't completely satisfied.

About Audiopoint

Audiopoint, a privately held company based in Fairfax, Virginia, has been developing and hosting large-scale commercial voice applications since 1999 for customers that include EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK), one of the nation's leading Internet service providers (ISPs), PatriotNet and Primary Network. Products built on Audiopoint's scalable 4.0 platform include the Voice Terminal Service (VTS), which features e-mail access by phone. VTS is an evolutionary occurrence that represents the next wave of advanced communications technology for end users. Audiopoint is committed to furthering its goal of providing its customers with the most progressive speech applications on the market today. Audiopoint can be reached at [phone] or www.audiopoint.net.