28th Feb 2006 07:01
Eckoh Technologies PLC28 February 2006 For Immediate Release 28 February 2006 Eckoh Technologies BRITAIN'S NEWEST CINEMA CHAIN "EMPIRE" SIGNS 3-YEAR SPEECH DEAL WITH ECKOH TECHNOLOGIES - Contract to provide Empire Cinemas with automated cinema informationand booking service, from March 2006 until 2009 - Rollout to 17 cinemas across the UK, including London's landmark"Empire Cinema" in Leicester Square Eckoh Technologies, one of Europe's leading speech application serviceproviders, today announced a 3-year contract to supply Empire Cinemas (Britain'snewest cinema chain), with an end-to-end automated cinema information andbooking solution. Empire Cinemas was established by Irish investor Thomas Anderson, following thetakeover of 17 cinemas from the Odeon and Cineworld cinema chains. Theacquisition includes, as the new group's flagship site, the prestigious Empire,Leicester Square, host to numerous film premieres and special events. The automated information and booking service (tel: 08 714 714 714), will berolled out to all 17 cinema outlets from March 2006, providing Empire cinemacustomers with a 24/7, one-number solution for accessing local cinema and filminformation as well as the ability to book tickets and specify seatingpreference. In addition to the automated speech service, live agents will be onhand to address callers with special requirements. The entire service will be powered by advanced speech-recognition technology,giving customers a faster, more convenient and personalised means of accessingcinema and film information versus more traditional touch-tone systems. Allcalls will be managed and hosted on Eckoh's highly scaleable call processingplatform, which is capable of handling up to 8,000 calls concurrently. Justin Ribbons - CEO, Empire Cinemas, commented: "Eckoh's reputation for providing best of breed speech technology, combined withtheir proactive approach and proven track record of operating high volume speechapplications for other leading cinema providers, made them the natural providerof choice. By partnering with Eckoh, we looking forward to leading the way inthe provision of highly sophisticated and innovative cinema services to ourcustomer base." Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer - Eckoh Technologies, added: "We are delighted to be given the opportunity to partner with Britain's newestmajor cinema chain and we're excited about the innovative approach that EmpireCinemas are taking with us in designing the new service. The Empire owners andmanagement team have extensive experience in the industry so it is immenselyrewarding that they have selected Eckoh as their partner of choice. We lookforward to raising the self-service bar even higher through the delivery of aleading-edge, customer centric solution for the cinema market." Ends For further information about Eckoh TechnologiesMartin Turner, Chief Executive Tel: 08701 100 700OfficerNik Philpot, Chief OperatingOfficer Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000Mark Edwards/Jeremy Garcia Notes to Editors About Eckoh Technologies: Eckoh Technologies plc designs, builds, hosts and manages Speech Solutions forlarge corporations and organisations using ASR (Advanced Speech Recognition) andIVR (Interactive Voice Response) technologies. It is a leading UK serviceprovider and infrastructure owner/operator, and intends to exploit theanticipated growth in demand for Speech Solutions across Europe. In 2003, Eckoh formed a strategic alliance with BT to capitalise on the growingopportunity for speech technology in the corporate marketplace. The combinedstrengths of both parties have created an unrivalled and value-added speechproposition and clients of the alliance include: Barclays Stockbrokers, TDWaterhouse, NIE, UGC Cinemas, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Rail Enquiries andThree Valleys Water. In addition to those above, Eckoh has direct contracts to supply hosted SpeechSolutions to clients including Vue Cinemas, William Hill, 02, Virgin Mobile,Ideal Shopping Direct, Tote and The London Stock Exchange. Eckoh has a call processing platform of 10,000 lines (capable of handling over650,000 calls an hour) of which over 8,000 lines incorporate speech recognitiontechnology making it the largest speech enabled call processing platform inEurope. Eckoh also operates the following businesses: •IVR - Eckoh is one of the largest providers of managed IVR and SMS services in the UK to media clients including ITV, BBC, Trinity Mirror, Channel 4, Endemol, IPC and EMAP. •Network Services - under the "Symphony" and "Anglia" brands, Eckoh supplies fixed line and mobile telephony products and services, to SMEs in the UK and Ireland. Network Services has an SME customer base of approximately 8,000. In the year to 31 March 2005 Eckoh Technologies plc generated a turnover of£79.7 million and had a cash balance of £13.3m. Further information can be foundat www.eckoh.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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