AVST

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc.
Private
Industry Unified Communications software
Founded September 2003
Headquarters Foothill Ranch, California
Key people
 Hardy Myers (President & CEO)
Products Unified Communications Solutions
Website www.avst.com

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a privately held software company headquartered in Orange County, California. It specializes in developing business communications solutions focusing on medium to large enterprise, government, higher education, healthcare, and hospitality markets.[1][2][3][4]

The company is known for its primary product, a speech-enabled unified communications platform, called CX-E (formerly CallXpress). CX-E applications include call processing, voicemail, unified messaging, personal assistant, mobile client, automated attendant, uniform call distribution (UCD), fax, speech, notification and other business process capabilities. AVST is one of the few switch independent developers of unified messaging/unified communications solutions.[5]

Corporate history

Early years: 1982-2009

The company's history goes back to the 1980s when the first versions of Intel server-based voice messaging and call processing systems were released.[6] The CallXpress product originated from Applied Voice Technology (AVT) which later became Captaris, Inc. In 2003, Sound Advantage purchased the CallXpress Voicemail and Unified Messaging solution from Captaris and this merger of technologies became a new entity called Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST). The acquisition included the retention of key products and technology as well as the entire product engineering, support and sales teams. AVST was established in September 2003 by the merger of Sound Advantage (established in 1997) and the AVT division (established in 1982) of Captaris, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAPA).[7][8]

The first AVST release, CallXpress 7.0, was in April 2004. Frost & Sullivan recognized AVST with the 2004 Entrepreneurial Company Award for its sound marketing strategy and identification of a new and exceptional product solution.[9] In September 2004, AVST announced further validation of its strength in the market by procuring $10 million in new funding from Ignition Partners and Dolphin Equity Partners.[10] Shortly after, in November 2004, AVST introduced CallXpress 7.5 which provided the Centigram telephone user interface emulation. CallXpress 7.5 also offered user administration via Microsoft Active Directory and SMTP message notification.[11]

In 2005, AVST expanded worldwide by adding 30 new resellers to its list of channel partners. Some of the significant partnerships included Shared Technologies and NetVersant.[12][13] In May 2005, the company released another version of its product, CallXpress 7.7, which emulated the Octel Serenade (VMX) telephone user interface. CallXpress 7.7 received the Frost & Sullivan 2005 Product Differentiation Innovation Award for the North American enterprise voice and unified messaging solutions market.[14]

In 2006, VARBusiness awarded AVST with Five Star Partner Program Winner for its innovative Marketing in a Box (MIB) program, which enables resellers to brand their AVST business through effective communication with customers and prospects.[15][16] Version 7.8 of CallXpress was released on June 2006. It emulated the Avaya Intuity Audix user interface.[17]

In early 2007, AVST expanded its global presence by adding Teltronics, Inc. (OTCBB: TELT) to its reseller partners.

In February 2007, AVST made a contribution to market awareness with the launch of a unified messaging educational website. This website is an information portal containing white papers, industry research, videos, case studies and recent industry news on unified messaging and unified communications. The site hosted by ITworld.com included AVST as its sponsor.[18]

In June 2007, the company unveils CallXpress 7.9 that offered four types (called the four flavors) of unified messaging: server-based; client-based; secure and simplified.[19] To assist the easy acquisition of complete solutions for businesses of any size, in August 2007, AVST introduced the CallXpress Speed Bundles. The solution was designed to support the small to medium business (SMB) marketplace.[20]

In 2008, AVST was named the top Unified Messaging Provider according to COMMfusion report. The company was identified as having the most complete UM solution.[21][22] At the end of 2008, the company's product was enhanced with the speech-to-text feature (STT).[23]

In March 2009, AVST shipped CallXpress 8.0 to provide a fault tolerant system through its multi-server architecture. The solution also delivered Neverfail continuous availability and disaster recovery deployment options.[24]

2010-present

In 2010, AVST acquired Active Voice, a division of NEC Corporation of America. NEC became AVST's OEM partner, integrating CallXpress 8.0 Unified Communications platform with NEC's IP telephony and Unified Communications solutions.[25][26] With the Active Voice acquisition, AVST also acquired Active Voice product lines including the Repartee LX unified communications solution designed for the hospitality industry.[4]

Also in 2010 AVST introduced UCConnect™, an open development environment for applications.

In summer 2010, AVST announced it had entered into a letter of intent to purchase certain assets of British Columbia-based Voice Mobility International, Inc. As part of the transaction, AVST acquired Voice Mobility UCN250 software as a service (SaaS) platform and all related technology and customers. In February 2011, AVST completed an agreement for the exclusive use of Voice Mobility’s unified communications cloud technology, including all intellectual property related to the UCN250 unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platform.[27]

In late 2010, AVST selected United Kingdom-based Oak as a distribution partner in that country.[28] Then in 2011, the assets of Beacon Solutions were acquired by AVST. As part of the agreement, AVST acquired Beacon’s technology assets; a set of custom developed vertical CEBP applications for healthcare, education and government; technical expertise and the company’s existing customer base. [29]

In March 2012, AVST changed the name of its CallXpress platform to CX-E. During this same period, AVST launched the CX-S and CX-C product lines. The CX-E solution focuses on medium- to large-sized companies and organizations, while CX-S on smaller companies. CX-C represents a cloud-based UC platform.[30]

In 2013, AVST released Atom, a virtual 24/7 office manager application with location-based services, federated presence and a multi-lingual speech interface for the workplace. Also during 2013, AVST announced added support of hybrid UC cloud deployments in CX-E with more integration to Gmail and Microsoft Office 365, including unified messaging, calendaring, contacts and message waiting indicator.[31]

In summer 2014 AVST introduced CX-H (formerly Repartee LX), a unified communications solution designed for hospitality industry.

Products and solutions

AVST’s unified communications solutions service five primary market segments: enterprise, government, healthcare, education, and hospitality. The company’s primary product is its CX-E software platform (formerly CallXpress) that supports various voice, mobile, business process and collaboration applications.

Corporate information

A privately owned company, AVST's two major institutional investors are Ignition Partners, Bellevue, WA and Second Alpha Partners, New York, NY. Open Text Corporation, Bellevue, WA (NASDAQ: OTEX) is also a shareholder in AVST.[32]

Since September 2003, AVST is under the leadership of the President & CEO, Hardy Myers. The company's Board of Directors is in charge of supervising the strategic direction, business, operations and organizational structure of AVST. Current members of The Board of Directors of AVST are: Shawn Bohnert, Steve Hooper, Dennis O'Connell, and Jonathan Roberts.[33]

All of AVST's sales are realized through indirect channels. Company's Unified Communications solutions are sold and supported by a network of resellers and OEM partners including Aastra, Advanced Call Processing, Alcatel-Lucent, Altura Communication Solutions, Arrow S3, Black Box Network Services, CenturyLink, NEC, NACR, Newcastle Communications, and Techmode.[34]

Competition

The major competition for AVST comes from Cisco (Unity) systems, Microsoft (Exchange) [35] and Avaya. AVST also competes with: Siemens and Interactive Intelligence.[36]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "AVST Unifies Communications for Higher Education Market". AVST (press release). January 12, 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Case Study: Reseller Helps City of Phoenix Deploy CallXpress to Support 14,000+ Users". AVST. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  3. ↑ Shrivastava, Mandira (2014-05-30). "AVST Introduces CX-E at Texas DIR Connect Expo". TMC.net. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "AVST Announces New Version of Repartee". Market Wire. 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  5. ↑ "Independent Messaging Vendors Offer Greater Value for a Dynamic Marketplace". Frost & Sullivan. 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  6. ↑ "Applied Voice Technology Releases Major Upgrade of PhoneXpress, Its Voice and Call Processing System for Small to Mid-Sized Organizations". Business Wire. 1996-10-03. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  7. ↑ "Captaris rallies following asset sale". Market Watch. 2003-09-30. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  8. ↑ "Sound Advantage Takes New Name, Acquires the Captaris CallXpress Product Line and Readies New Speech Technology". Business Wire. 2003-09-30. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  9. ↑ "Frost & Sullivan Acknowledges AVST's Superiority in Speech Solutions". Frost & Sullivan. 2004-06-03. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  10. ↑ "AVST Closes $10 Million in Series B Funding; Investors Recognize AVST's Prominence in the Evolving Enterprise Communications Market". AVST (press release). September 28, 2004. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  11. ↑ "AVST Ships CallXpress 7.5". CallCenter Magazine. 2004-11-16. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  12. ↑ "AVST Enlists NetVersant Solutions to Deliver CallXpress Unified Communications Systems to Businesses Nationwide". AVST (press release). April 25, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ "AVST Adds Thirty New Resellers to Expand Global Footprint and Bolster Sales". AVST (press release). September 14, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Frost & Sullivan Presents Applied Voice And Speech Technologies (Avst) With Product Differentiation Innovation Award". PR Web. 2005-11-30. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  15. ↑ "AVST Wins VARBusiness' Five Star Partner Program Award". AVST (press release). May 16, 2006. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Best of the Midmarket. Voice Networking". Channel Web. 2006-07-31. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  17. ↑ "CallXpress:7.8 New Features". CPS Technology Group. 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  18. ↑ "Unified Messaging Educational Site Launched by AVST and ITworld.com". AVST (press release). February 28, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  19. ↑ Greene, Tim (2007-06-03). "VoiceCon: AVST offers four options to deploy unified messaging". Network World. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  20. ↑ "AVST Unveils CallXpress Speed Bundles for SMB Market". AVST (press release). August 14, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Report: AVST Named a Top Unified Messaging Provider". TMCnet.com. 2008-10-08. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  22. ↑ "New Study Places AVST in Top Spot Among Unified Messaging Leaders". Market Wire. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  23. ↑ "AVST Enhances CallXpress with Speech-to-Text Technology from GotVoice". AVST (press release). December 15, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  24. ↑ Jamison, Nancy (2009-03-30). "Unified Communications Comes to AVST CallXpress 8.0". UCStrategies.com. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
  25. ↑ Parker, Marty (2010-04-06). "AVST Takes a Leap Forward with NEC Deal". UCStrategies.com. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
  26. ↑ Pleasant, Blair (2010-04-07). "AVST Acquires Active Voice". UCStrategies.com. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
  27. ↑ "AVST Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase SaaS Technology From Voice Mobility International, Inc.". Market Wire. 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  28. ↑ "AVST Selects Oak as UK Distribution Partner". TMC News. 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  29. ↑ "AVST Acquires Beacon Solutions". Market Wire. 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  30. ↑ "AVST Introduces CX-E". TMC News. 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  31. ↑ "AVST Thinks Outside of Conventional UC Box With CX-Series 8.5 and Atom for the Enterprise". Market Wired. 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  32. ↑ "AVST Corporate Overview". Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  33. ↑ "AVST Senior Management Biographies". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  34. ↑ Popova, Elka (2007-07-05). "Customers Attest to the Value of Flexible Independent Messaging Solutions". Frost & Sullivan. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  35. ↑ Schwartz, Ephraim (2007-30-27). "Unified under law". InfoWorld.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-27. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ↑ "UC RFP Template Solution Description". UCStrategies.com and UniComm Consulting. 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-28.

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