Nuance and MetaSwitch Offer “Carrier Optimized” Voicemail-To-Text

Today MetaSwitch and Nuance announced that voicemail-to-text software from Nuance is tightly integrated into MetaSwitches flagship CommPortal platform. Thus MetaSwitch continues its transformation from a sleepy softswitch provider with about $140 million in revenues to the “network application engine that can”, with ambitious growth targeted through the addition of new partners and capabilities.

While announcements in the domain of network devices often fall into the “telco plumbing” category, this one is significant because it signals that transcription and delivery of spoken messages will be more routinely integrated into the product offerings of the “multi-screen” (TV, PC and mobile phone) carriers. This press release surrounding the Nuance partnership includes a testimonial from the AVP of Commercial Products at Frontier Communications, welcoming the enhancement to the carrier’s existing voicemail facilities. Indeed, the major purpose of the partnership is to make it easy for MetaSwitch’s existing customers to add a popular, revenue producing feature.

MetaSwitch claims about 500 customers in North America alone. The list includes OEMs like Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, but really focuses on all manner of carriers (with publicly announced customers listed here).