LOS ANGELES-After more than a year of testing, Pacific Bell Wireless announced it will offer the Wildfire electronic personal assistant from Wildfire Communications Inc. to its personal communications services customers in Los Angeles, making it the first U.S. carrier to license the technology.
Using text-to-speech and voice recognition technology, the Wildfire service answers subscribers’ calls and relays various types of messages when given verbal commands from the user. Other services include voice dialing, voice-controlled voice mail, incoming call alert and an address book capable of storing up to 150 contacts.
Los Angeles subscribers of Pacific Bell’s mid- to high-usage One Rate plan can buy the service for another $20 a month when committing to a one-year contract. The lowest plan is $70 for 300 anytime minutes and 1,000 weekend minutes, plus 30 cents for additional minutes. The highest is $150 for 1,200 anytime minutes plus 1,000 weekend minutes and 20 cents for any additional minutes.
Unlike other electronic personal assistants, Wildfire is not a service bureau. Rather, it is a client-server application carriers can buy outright and integrate into their networks. The installed solution uses ProLiant 6500 servers from Compaq Computer Corp. running SCO UnixWare and Wildfire software directly connected to Pacific Bell’s mobile switching center and Signaling System 7 network.
The first carrier to deploy the Wildfire service was Bell Mobility of Canada. While the company was excited for that launch, entrance to the U.S. market was critical for Wildfire.
Pacific Bell was one of the initial contributors to Wildfire’s research and development effort.
