Companies Slash Customer Service Costs, Boost Productivity with Banter and Microsoft .NET.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2002

Banter Server Enables Enterprise XML Web Services Applications to

Understand Unstructured Written Communication

Banter to provide advanced mail management technology for Exchange

Banter, the leading provider of technology that understands people, today announced an extension of its relationship with Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) that allows Banter to integrate Microsoft's .NET Web services into Banter Server -- an infrastructure platform that enables CRM and other software solutions to accurately understand written communication and automate appropriate action such as responding, routing and filtering.

Banter also revealed an initiative that will enable organizations to add advanced e-mail management to Microsoft Exchange: improved mail routing, prioritizing and replies; spam prevention; and fast and accurate mining of large volumes of archived e-mail.

Banter Server and XML Web services

Banter Server is built on top of the award-winning Banter RME, the industry-standard technology for understanding informal written communication, such as Web forms, enterprise instant messaging, e-mail and self-service inquiries. Banter Server builds on these capabilities in order to speed organizations' time to market and to strengthen their return on investment.

"Banter Server takes full advantage of Microsoft .NET technologies to further enable the rapid development of natural language automation for customers of all sizes," said John Fernandes, Director of the .NET Emerging Business Group at Microsoft. "By taking advantage of XML-based Web services and leveraging open Web services standards, Banter is helping customers lower language automation costs and speed delivery to all parts of the enterprise -- helping them realize competitive business advantage through innovative technology."

"The Microsoft XML Web service brings our business to a whole new level," said F. Thomas Aden, president and CEO of Banter. "We can now deliver our solution to almost any company."

"We've been very impressed with the .NET technology, especially in developing Web applications," said Yoram Nelken, founder and CTO of Banter. "With Microsoft .NET, we found the vehicle that allowed us to bring our products to a wider audience very quickly."

Banter Server supports more than 10 languages, including English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese -- with more languages to be available in future releases. An add-on module allows organizations to automatically identify the language of the communication and apply the correct logic to it.

Banter technology to aid Exchange in battling e-mail chaos

Banter Server supplements Microsoft Exchange installations, providing enterprise users with advanced e-mail management tools based on Banter's patented natural language processing technology.

According to Gartner, the average enterprise user spends four hours per day reading and managing e-mail and that the time spent on e-mail will increase to five hours per day by 2004. To avoid experiencing tremendous productivity losses both now and in the future, companies will need to implement more efficient solutions on their existing messaging platforms.

Banter's technology, which is superior to existing filtering techniques, understands not only the words used, but also the context of the language. And unlike other technologies, it teaches itself to be more accurate over time without requiring expensive human adjustment.

Banter's solution for Exchange will learn from a user's actions to prevent spam, create accurate auto-responses (when applicable), filter, prioritize and file mail, and allow the user to accurately and quickly locate relevant e-mails from an archive, based on their intent rather than only on keywords.

Understanding informal communication crucial to effective customer service

Banter's customers and partners realize that analysis of informal written communication -- such as e-mail, Web form submissions and enterprise instant messaging -- is different, and more complex, than the analysis of well-written and relatively structured documents. Banter Server is uniquely designed to analyze and understand the content of documents and messages written in everyday informal language, including the wide and natural variations in expressions, spelling and grammar typical for such text.

Solutions providers, systems integrators and internal development teams use Banter Server to provide an intuitive and highly accurate natural language interface into an organization's existing knowledge bases. By automating the process of understanding customer communications, organizations can improve customer satisfaction with less overhead, freeing resources to be focused on core aspects of the business.

Banter's technology is already being used by the customer service operations of companies such as Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, VeriSign, ABN AMRO, Nintendo, Roxio and others. In addition to Microsoft, Banter also partners with software leaders Siebel, Peregrine/Remedy, Avaya and many others.

Product Information

Banter Server is a scalable, distributed application server that facilitates writing applications that understand informal written input and automate appropriate actions such as responding, routing, and filtering. The Banter Server API exposes all the functionality necessary to develop natural language-enabled applications. Banter Server enables rapid development of various applications in programming languages such as Java, C++ and Visual Basic, SOAP-compatible languages as well as scripting languages, such as ASP (VBScript/JScript) and Microsoft ASP .NET Web services. Banter Server combines ease of use and maintenance with high availability and scalability.

Application SDKs are offered with Banter Server to help jumpstart development efforts. These pre-built components offer design references guides as well as best practices. Banter's Application SDKs speed the time it takes to deploy prototypes, while enabling the parallel development of final applications.

Banter Server is available immediately for sale directly to Global 2000 corporations, system integrators, VARs and OEMs.

About Banter

Banter provides technology that understands people. Enterprise organizations can manage e-mail flows, enforce policies, improve customer service quality and lower customer contact overhead by using Banter's patented infrastructure technology to accurately understand written communication and enable appropriate responses or actions. Banter's core technology is Banter RME, the only linguistic and statistical engine that teaches itself to be more accurate over time without requiring costly human intervention. Banter's technology is being used by the customer service operations of companies like Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, VeriSign, ABN AMRO, Nintendo and others. Banter also partners with software leaders Siebel, Microsoft, Peregrine, Avaya and many others. For more information about how Banter can help your business, please visit the company's website at http://www.banter.com or call toll-free 1-877-992-2683.