Contract Win
Eckoh Technologies PLC
13 December 2004
13 December 2004
Eckoh Awarded 3 Year Age Verification Contract by 02
Eckoh Technologies plc ("Eckoh"), Europe's leading speech application speech
provider, has been awarded a 3 year contract to provide a user interface for age
verification and parental control services from O2, a leading provider of mobile
communications services.
O2 are introducing age verification to ensure that commercial content services
classified as 18 are only available to users who are old enough. Users will only
be able to access these services if they have been successfully age verified.
To verify their age, users will be able to dial an advanced speech recognition
(ASR) service developed by Eckoh and hosted on their market leading call
processing platform. The system will initially identify the caller by their
mobile number and will use ASR to collect the details required from the caller
to perform age verification to O2's robust standard. On successful
verification, the service will update the profile held by O2 to enable them to
access content and services classified as 18.
The system will also provide a simple way for users to configure O2's new
parental control service. Parental control is designed to help parents ensure
the safety of their children by restricting access to Internet sites available
through mobiles. This will be the first part of the solution provided by Eckoh
to be delivered and will launch in December 2004.
Nik Philpot, Eckoh's Chief Operating Officer said: "It is very gratifying to
have been awarded this contract by O2 as we recognise the sensitivity of the
project and the quality of performance that is required. As O2's long term
supplier we are looking forward to developing a strong relationship with them
and we hope to extend the services we deliver beyond the initial offering. 2004
has been a year in which Eckoh have launched several high profile and long term
contracts utilising speech recognition and we believe that the benefits of the
technology are becoming self-evident to clients and users alike."
Jonny Shipp, Head of Content Standards at O2, commented: "With the increasing
capability of phones we anticipate growing demand for a wide range of commercial
content. It is important for us to be able to allow our customers to make
informed decisions about the legal content they access, and at the same time
protect the vulnerable from inappropriate content. The introduction of the age
verification service is one of the core elements of our programme to restrict
children's access to content. We need a service provider who has the necessary
expertise and technical infrastructure to deliver an extremely robust solution
together with experience of operating high volume speech recognition
applications."
For further enquiries, please contact
Eckoh Technologies plc Tel: 08701 100 700
Martin Turner, Chief Executive
Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer
Jim Hennigan, Managing Director, Speech Solutions
Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000
Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia
Notes to Editors
About Eckoh Technologies:
Eckoh Technologies plc designs, builds, hosts and manages Speech Solutions for
large corporations and organisations using ASR (Advanced Speech Recognition) and
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technologies. It is a leading UK service
provider and infrastructure owner/operator, and intends to exploit the
anticipated growth in demand for Speech Solutions across Europe.
In January 2003, Eckoh signed a landmark deal to create an exclusive speech
alliance with BT to provide hosted speech recognition solutions to their
corporate client base over the next 2 years. This contract was then subsequently
extended until December 2006. In December 2003, BT and Eckoh announced
significant contracts to the value of £6m with UGC Cinemas, TD Waterhouse, RNIB
and Wire-E.
In June 2003 Eckoh enlarged its call processing infrastructure to 7,000 lines
(capable of handling 500,000 calls an hour) by installing another platform into
a BT hosting facility. This created the largest speech enabled call processing
platform in Europe.
In addition to those above, Eckoh has contracts to supply hosted Speech
Solutions to clients including ATOC, Barclays, Virgin Mobile, William Hill,
Wyevale Garden Centres and Vue.
Eckoh also operates the following businesses:
* IVR - following the acquisition of Intelliplus Group plc in Sept 2003,
Eckoh is one of the largest providers of managed IVR and SMS services in
the UK to media clients including the BBC, ITV, Trinity Mirror, Channel 4,
Endemol, Celador, EMAP and Cartoon Network.
* Network Services - under the "Symphony" and "Freecom" brands, Eckoh
supplies fixed line and mobile telephony services, broadband and data
services to SMEs in the UK and Ireland. Following the acquisition of
Intelliplus Network Services now has an SME customer base of over 13,000.
In the year to 31 March 2004 Eckoh Technologies plc generated a turnover of
£62.5 million and had a cash balance of £10.2m.
Further information can be found at www.eckoh.com.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange