CosmoCom and Siemens Nixdorf Partner to Bring Live Human Touch to New Interactive Television Services

CosmoCom and Siemens Nixdorf Business Services GmbH&Co OHG (SBS) announced at CeBIT '98 that they have signed a strategic partnership agreement under which SBS will market CosmoCom's live contact-enabling technology, CosmoCall™.

CosmoCall is a software product that fully integrates live multimedia communication via the Internet and/or the telephone into any Web site or network-based application, increasing productivity, enhancing customer care, and reducing communication costs. Under the agreement SBS has purchased a demonstration system and established a European competence center for the product. SBS will be providing CosmoCall as a component of its business solutions, in keeping with its core philosophy of "user centered computing."

The Partner Team presenting their Solution at CeBIT '98

SBS and CosmoCom will launch their alliance-based cooperation by exhibiting one such business solution at CeBIT '98, a major initiative integrating CosmoCall with SBS's recently launched set-top box, the Multimedia Integration Box (MMIB). The combination of these technologies allows television service providers such as cable operators to bundle live personal communication into the next generation of interactive television services, including digital programming, Internet access, and other online and interactive services.

The CeBIT exhibit will feature demonstrations of Electronic Commerce and Customer Support applications that begin with typical online, self-service interactions, but allow users to get live voice and video communication with customer service representatives whenever they need it, right through their televisions, with a simple click of the remote control. The exhibit will show CosmoCall software providing all the capabilities of an automatic call distribution system for both telephone and network-based callers, without the need for any additional telephone equipment.

"SBS believes that the coming wave of interactive television is full of E-Commerce and E-Customer Support opportunities that are a perfect match for CosmoCom's IP network-based call center technology," said Henning Vest, SBS's Executive Vice President. "CosmoCall's ability to restore the human touch makes it the missing link that the online world is waiting for. Therefore, we see CosmoCall as an important enhancement to our product offering in the set-top box area, giving us an advantage in this very competitive marketplace by making SBS's solution one that actually fosters more productive E-Commerce and more efficient E-Customer Service in a new and exciting way," continued Vest.

"CosmoCom supports SBS's industry standard, open approach to set-top box technology," said Steve Kowarsky, CosmoCom's Executive Vice President."

"The simple integration with CosmoCall that this approach facilitates is one example of the benefits of SBS's commitment to standards," Kowarsky continued. "CosmoCom is pleased and proud that SBS has incorporated CosmoCall into this solution, and looks forward to an exciting future for this and other areas of cooperation in the context of our alliance agreement with SBS."

The SBS / CosmoCom exhibit at CeBIT will take place in SBS's exclusive trellement (1509) in Building 1.

CosmoCom, Inc. is a Long Island based company that is revolutionizing electronic commerce and electronic customer service with CosmoCall, its technology for live contact-enabled applications. CosmoCall is a software product that can "live contact-enable" any Web site or network-based application, by accepting and queuing call requests directly from the application, and automatically routing and delivering calls to the most appropriate person. Help Desk operators and E-Commerce providers, both Intranet and Internet-based, find CosmoCall an ideal approach to providing live personal communication between customers and CSRs to back up and support their computer-based self-service offerings. The software-only solution supports both Internet and Telephone callers, routing both types of calls to the same group of agents equipped with only a PC and a headset.

CosmoCall is the simplest way to create a fully integrated call center environment, providing a high standard of customer responsiveness without cumbersome, costly, and unreliable techniques of "computer-telephone integration." The media rich connections and collaboration links created by CosmoCall make representatives both more productive and more effective in satisfying customer needs. CosmoCall both reduces staffing costs and increases access to qualified staff by making them location-independent at no extra cost. And CosmoCom's unique ability to serve both computer-based and telephone-based callers in a single integrated environment makes it a complete, attractive alternative to many traditional and less versatile approaches.

With 10,000 employees in 37 countries and sales for fiscal 97/98 forecast at around DM five billion Siemens Nixdorf Business Services GmbH & Co OHG, a subsidary of Siemens Nixdorf Informationssytems AG and Siemens AG, is one of the leading worldwide full-service providers. The solution and service portfolio includes consulting, systems integration, operational services and outsourcing on an international scale and is geared to the industrial, banking, insurance, public sector, telecommunication, transportation and utilities sectors. Siemens Nixdorf Business Services sees its role as that of the customer's strategic partner providing all services from a single source and thus pooling responsibility. Close partnership with the product business of Siemens Nixdorf and the divisions of Siemens organization plays a decisive role in realizing innovative business solutions.