Wireless Wildfire, BellSouth Cellular launches service trial

Wildfire Communications is betting that its virtual electronic assistant will proliferate in the hands of the same airtime-burning wireless customers that create so much revenue for wireless service providers.

Early signs of that came last week when BellSouth Cellular announced that it will begin testing Network Wildfire, the public network version of the voice dialing and intelligent voice mail system, as an enhanced service in its Atlanta BellSouth Mobility market.

The carrier will test Wildfire as a complement to its existing PowerCall one-number service, which targets busy wireless customers who require constant communications capabilities.

"One-number services are going to play an increasingly important role in specific, targeted customer segments," said Dan Downey, director of new products and services for BellSouth Cellular. "We're looking at ways of enhancing our PowerCall service, and Wildfire has a fairly sexy technology.

The Wildfire Electronic Assistant uses speech recognition technology to streamline voice messaging, dialing and call routing sessions. Using simple voice commands, Wildfire customers summon a human-sounding "personal assistant" that answers voice commands with responses such as "Here I am" and "Oh, hi!" Other voice commands are then used to direct the system to perform various tasks.

The Wildfire Electronic Assistant also alerts users to incoming calls while another call is in session by quietly announcing the incoming caller's name. Wildfire can also be programmed to maintain contact lists, create conference call bridges and provide access to scheduling information and reminders.

Part of the purpose of technology trials - which are also being undertaken in Pacific Bell Mobile Services' personal communication services network and are about to be launched in the U.K. by Orange PCS - is to determine ways to improve the technology using a method one Wildfire representative calls "upgrade by interaction.

"We've designed Network Wildfire so that the assistant herself talks to customers about the new features," said Bill Warner, chairman and founder of Wildfire. "Each subscriber can upgrade as they wish, so as we add new features, only the people who want them get them.

That interaction with customers on what works and what doesn't is important to BellSouth Cellular, said Downey. "Regardless of what one-number service we go forward with, it will be defined by our users," he said.

BellSouth Cellular is expecting Wildfire's voice-activated interface to add some familiarity to the carrier's one-number service. "People are used to communicating by voice," Downey said. The ability to interrupt using simple voice commands, effectively allowing customers to "reopen the loop" on what can become a frustrating process, also adds to Wildfire's appeal, he said.

For the trial, BellSouth Cellular will add a Network Wildfire node to its wireless intelligent network center and interconnect with its mobile switching center (see figure). One industry analyst noted that Wildfire's migration to the public network environment should help speed customer acceptance. Previously, the Wildfire Electronic Assistant was distributed through authorized service providers that offered the service privately to individual customers.

"From the beginning, I saw this as a network service," said Jeffrey Kagan, president of Kagan Telecom Associates. "Until they started making it available through carriers, they had to market it themselves. Now they have a captive customer base.

The customers that will be the early adopters of the service are high-volume business users - both wireless and wireline - that spend a large percentage of their time on the phone, Kagan said. "Everyone doesn't need it, but if you're missing calls and missing business, that's where it comes in," he said. "It's the most powerful voice messaging tool you can get."