Hello, you have got TelEmail

Want to send and receive emails and don't have an Internet connection? Well, now it's possible -- provided you have a landline or a cell phone.

If you are on the move, a short message will flash on your cell phone, alerting about the email waiting for you. You have to just say 'Proceed' and an electronic voice will read out the message. Say 'Reply' and you can start dictating your reply. The message will, of course, be sent. And, yes, you can perform the same feat with your landline too.

Scene from a sci-fi movie? Not at all. A reality made possible by an Indian company.

In a technological breakthrough, Speech and Software Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd. (SST), a Tata Group company, has introduced TelEmail, a speech activated productivity enhancement solution, which can do all this.

TelEmail, primarily directed at corporate executives on the move, helps users to save costs as e-mails can be accessed even without a computer. TelEmail is embedded in the subscriber companies' mail server and is activated through voice commands.

The user can access the mail by entering a personal identification number and a passcode. And the user has many options: can be notified of the mail through short messaging services, or SMS; can prioritise mails; and can control the speed at which the messages are read.

''TelEmail is a simple idea that magnifies e-mail connectivity manifold, placing it within convenient reach, wherever and whenever required through a telephone,” SST president Prakash Shukla told domain-B.

SST has already got Tata AIG as its client and is negotiating with other Tata Group companies, apart from others. The company has so far invested $4 to $5 million in the project, and expects to recover the cost in two years. TelEmail service costs Rs 2.5 lakh for a user-base of 50.

“Every executive would like to have a portable office and TelEmail fulfils the need," says Shukla. "TelEmail will be a viable option for banks, insurance companies, airlines, hotels…"

Set up in 1999, SST has been engaged in developing and deploying specialised speech recognition-based productivity enhancing solutions. The company has an ongoing alliance with IBM.

Source: domain-B, September, 6, 2001