LEXINGTON, Ky.--Oct. 22, 2001--One of the fastest areas of growth in the speech technology industry is the development and deployment of new and increasingly sophisticated call center applications. The business to consumer relationship is high on the list of important topics to be discussed by industry leaders at this week's SpeechTEK 2001 Exposition and Educational Conference.

``SpeechTEK has been the place to go for catching the latest development in voice recognition technologies for years.'' Says Mark Plakias, senior vice president, Communications and Infrastructure, The Kelsey Group. ``As the industry enters the phase of aggressive commercialization in key markets, SpeechTEK again leads the way with this focus on call center, critical sector for speech deployments.''

Mr. Plakias will be joined on a Friday panel by Jackie Fenn, vice president and research fellow, Gartner and Walter Tetschner, president, Tern Systems, Inc. for an overview of speech implementations and market opportunities. Robin Springer, president, Computer Talk, will moderate the session.

In its seventh year, SpeechTEK brings leaders in speech technology together with business and governmental decision-makers, developers, integrators, engineers, investors and analysts - virtually everyone with an interest in speech technology applications. All participants, whether from inside or outside the speech technology industry, get the opportunity to share knowledge, create partnerships, promote products and propose solutions for improving products via speech technology.

Sessions dedicated to improving and expanding call center applications will cover a number of topics:

• understanding how callers interact with speech interfaces
• giving customers more choices in a user-friendly environment
• reducing call center costs while improving customer service
• speech vs. touch-tone
• adding value to call centers
• creating a personality with speech technology that builds brand identity
• delivering high-quality information to customers through knowledge management software

Thursday's schedule is highlighted by an ``industry leaders'' panel discussion on the future of the industry featuring Microsoft, Motorola, Philips Speech Processing, Phonetic Systems, Sensory, Unisys Corporation and the Applied Voice Input/Output Society (AVIOS) moderated by Dr. Judith Markowitz, president, J. Markowitz Consultants, SpeechTEK conference chair and associate editor of Speech Technology Magazine.

SpeechTEK Exposition and Educational Conference is the world's largest trade show and conference dedicated to speech technology and all of its applications in the global marketplace - reaching thousands of participants with information on the products, technologies and innovations affecting the emerging speech technology industry.

SpeechTEK 2001 offers a professional, comprehensive conference schedule guided by industry experts and two exposition halls filled with displays and demonstrations of the hardware, software and talents of industry leaders from around the world.

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Contact:

AmComm, Lexington
Doug Alexander, 859/278-2223 x 105
E-Mail: doug@amcommexpos.com