Foothill Ranch, Calif., October 3, 2006 – Aiming to educate end users in a variety of vertical industries about the benefits of unifying voice and data communications, Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) has teamed with Campus Technology to deliver a webinar that targets the higher education market.  The webinar, titled “The Roadmap to Unified Communications: Surprise! You May Already Have What You Need,” will take place at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT on October 5, 2006.

According to AVST, a leading provider of advanced unified communications solutions, communications technology is rapidly changing with the integration of voice and data applications.  Many educational campuses are using outdated voice mail systems that are reaching end-of-life.  As IT administrators consider upgraded or replacement systems, those who choose to adopt unified communications will have a tremendous advantage, including increased mobility and productivity, better customer service and lower costs.

“It is essential for IT administrators at educational campuses to learn about and fully understand all the options that are available to them when seeking to replace or upgrade their communications system,” said AVST’s Vice President of Marketing, Denny Michael.  “Through years of experience and successes in a wide range of other industries, we’ve found that one of the best and most effective tools to get the appropriate information out to end users is through informative online seminars.”

This AVST-sponsored webinar for the higher education market will be moderated by Matt Villano, Senior Contributing Editor at Campus Technology.  Panelists include Hardy Myers, President and CEO of AVST and a speaker at last year’s annual ACUTA conference, and Scott Claverie, Director, Computing and Communication Services for California State University, Chico.  

Participants to the webinar will learn the following:

• How to leverage existing investments in migration strategies
  
• How to move to IP telephony and UC with minimal disruption to the campus
  
• How to streamline information pouring in through different channels—voicemails, e-mails, faxes

“Educational organizations need solutions that are customized to a campus environment and deliver new, productivity-enhancing capabilities to faculty, students and staff,” added Michael.  “As users become more mobile, system administrators should also look for a solution that helps them painlessly transition to IP telephony.  There are options available that will help them implement strategies to embrace these changes without having to completely replace their existing communications infrastructure.”

From small school districts to large colleges and university departments, AVST has been transforming learning environments with its CallXpress® unified communications platform for more than 20 years.  CallXpress delivers world-class call processing, voice messaging, unified messaging and advanced speech applications to help organizations become more productive.  Users can manage voice, fax and e-mail messages from any location at any time—via laptop, telephone, cell phone or the Internet.  The platform, which easily integrates with most legacy voice mail systems as well as the latest IP systems, was developed to offer quick and painless conversions to next generation technology through speedy implementation, simple administration and maintenance, and user interface emulations that are already familiar to users and result in minimal training.

To register for “The Roadmap to Unified Communications” webinar, please visit http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=26304&s=1&k=714AA1200568DD6BC8D9BD936055B221&partnerref=pr.  The webinar will also be recorded and archived on the Campus Technology website.

About AVST
Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a leading developer of Unified Communications solutions with over 15 million users relying on its products and services to maximize their productivity. With three decades of innovation excellence, AVST is solely focused on delivering communications solutions that increase individual, group and enterprise productivity. Its flagship Unified Communications platform, CallXpress®, offers best in class interoperability, scalability and resiliency while delivering advanced call processing, voicemail, unified messaging, personal assistant, fax, speech and notification capabilities. With CallXpress, an organization can uniquely protect and extend its existing IT and telephony infrastructure investments — now and into the future.

Headquartered in Orange County, Calif., AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, Wash. and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices throughout the United States. AVST's Unified Communications solutions are sold and supported internationally by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. For more information contact Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing, at 949-699-2300 or access the company's website at www.avst.com.