AVST Expands Relationship with Novell to Further Extend CallXpress® Integration to Novell GroupWise


Company Joins Novell PartnerNet Program to Provide More Advanced Business Communications Options to the Marketplace.

Foothill Ranch, CA September 27, 2006 -- Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) today announced it has joined the Novell PartnerNet program with plans to further extend the integration between its flagship CallXpress unified communications platform and Novell GroupWise, a leading alternative to Microsoft Exchange. The expanded relationship with Novell is part of an ongoing AVST initiative to maximize the interoperability of AVST's products and elevate the company's stature as an expert in unifying communications by providing the marketplace with a consistent source of innovation, education, and options when it comes to choosing the optimal communications solution.

"This stronger relationship with Novell and our commitment to work with Novell to further extend the interoperability of our CallXpress Unified Communication platform with Novell Groupwise is another milestone of our 'Know Your Options' initiative," said AVST's Vice President of Product Management, Tom Minifie. "The ultimate goal of this initiative is to encourage professionals to take advantage of newer technologies and advancements in enterprise communications that can result in improved customer service, better return on investment, and a significant increase in their competitive advantage."

One of the advanced communications technology options available to enterprise customers today is AVST's popular CallXpress solution, which delivers world-class voice mail, call processing, fax, advanced unified messaging and speech-enabled capabilities. It is the optimal choice for businesses of all sizes because it offers the most complete set of migration options from first generation voice mail and call processing solutions that are rapidly approaching end-of-life, as well as integrates with a wide variety of e-mail platforms including Novell GroupWise. The powerful interoperability of the CallXpress platform enables customers to easily integrate CallXpress with existing communications technologies from other vendors, reducing the need for customers to invest in costly infrastructure replacement and end user training programs when replacing their first generation voice mail and call processing solutions.

For example, CallXpress can easily be installed, managed, and maintained at any company or organization that currently uses Novell GroupWise, a complete collaboration software solution that provides information workers with e-mail, calendaring, instant messaging, task management, and contact and document management functions. CallXpress enables GroupWise users to play voice messages and receive faxes as easily as managing e-mail messages. When out of the office, users can dial into the CallXpress system to access all voice, fax and e-mail messages from any telephone. CallXpress reads GroupWise e-mail messages using advanced text-to-speech technology. All these enhanced communications capabilities are available to an enterprise by connecting CallXpress to the company's existing Novell Groupwise solution.

"It is important for our customers to have access to best-of-breed unified communications options that can result in increased efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness in the workforce," said Wendy Steinle, Novell Director of Product Marketing for Workgroup Solutions. "AVST provides our customers with proven, integration-ready technology that features simple installation and administration as well as user-friendly interfaces."

Further demonstrating its leadership and commitment to innovation in the unified communications space, AVST is contributing to Novell's Cool Solutions online community, which offers articles, tips and Q&A from users, administrators, and developers, as well as free tools to download. AVST also recently teamed up with Business Communications Review to launch a series of educational programs, including a webinar, print ad campaign, and electronic banner campaign, in conjunction with VoiceCon Fall. The webinar, titled "A VoiceCon Webinar: Unifying Communications in a Multi-Vendor Environment," took place earlier in August and can be viewed online at www.avst.com/r/bcr2.asp.

In addition, the AVST website features "Unified Communications: the Movie," a short film produced by the company that explains the benefits of unified communications and AVST's flagship CallXpress solution. The movie can be viewed by visiting AVST's home page at www.avst.com.

About AVST
Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a leading developer of communications solutions for businesses of all sizes. Through its world-class unified communications platform, CallXpress®, and its innovative speech application module, Seneca®, AVST offers the industry's most powerful suite of second generation communications solutions including voice messaging, unified messaging, speech-enabled applications (including automated attendant and hands-free mobile worker access) and call processing (including embedded IVR).

The CallXpress unified communications platform is designed to facilitate the enterprise migration from legacy TDM call processing and voice mail solutions to IP-enabled unified communications by delivering the interoperability, scalability, feature depth and flexibility, and administrative capabilities that enterprise IT and Telecom teams are demanding.

Headquartered in Orange County, CA, AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, WA and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices across the United States. With over 35,000 systems installed worldwide, AVST's unified communications solutions are sold and supported internationally by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. Established in September 2003, AVST was formed from the combined businesses of Sound Advantage (established in 1997) and the AVT division (established in 1982) of Captaris, Inc. For more information contact Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing at 949-699-2300 or access the company's website at www.avst.com.

Press Contact:
Dena Jacobson
Lages & Associates
Phone: 949-453-8080

Website: www.avst.com

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