America Online Inc. and Net2Phone Inc. Wednesday invested $15 million in unified messaging provider Webley
Systems Inc.
The cash infusion is the result of Webley’s second round financing
initiative. Net2Phone (NTOP) last month sold a 32 percent share of its company to a consortium of
corporate investors led by AT&T Corp. (T).
By acquiring a minority interest in Webley, Net2Phone will be able to
license Webley’s advanced technology to offer an interesting menu of
convergent messaging and communications services. The menu includes “find
me; follow me,” call forwarding, Web- and phone-based e-mail, voice-mail
and fax integration, and Internet access from cell phones or other wireless
devices.
David Greenblatt, Net2Phone chief operating officer, said Webley’s
sophisticated unified communications services fits in well with Net2Phone’s
enhanced IP network service offerings.
“With Webley technology, users have a virtual Personal Assistant that can
take a message, forward calls, read faxes over the phone, translate and
dictate emails to text, and much more, either from a PC, standard
telephone, or wireless device,” Greenblatt said. “Net2Phone is excited to
be able to employ this advanced technology for the benefit of its many
customers.”
By combining the two companies, Webley and Net2Phone intend to leverage a
number of developments that are affecting the telecommunications, computing
and Internet industries. Through the agreement Net2Phone also becomes the
network of choice for voice-enabling new technologies like Webley’s unified
messaging.
Patricia Mathis, Webley chief executive officer, said the investments by America Online (AOL)
and Net2Phone will help facilitate growth plans.
“These agreements are part of Webley’s second round of investment
financing, and give the company a solid base for expansion of its services
to a much greater number of users,” Mathis said.
Ron Peele, AOL Investments vice president, said AOL would like to tap into
unified messaging technology.
“We believe unified messaging is an area of vast future growth as
intelligent communications become more prevalent,” Peele said. “Webley
offers an innovative and flexible solution with a focus on customer
support, which we believe is the right approach.”
Webley Systems is a leader in unified messaging due to its natural speech
recognition driven personal assistant, aptly dubbed Webley. Webley is a
fully featured personal assistant integrating customers’ messages over the
phone and the Internet. Through a personal web page, customers can upload
their contact lists automatically and retrieve messages.
