Bankinter
to launch Europe’s first multimodal service
Kirusa
technology powers the multimodal interface for
Bankinter's mobile applications over all three
Spanish networks.
Madrid, Spain, and Edison, New Jersey – June 30,
2005. Bankinter (Madrid: BKT), the leading internet bank
and brokerage firm in Spain; Kirusa, the leading provider
of multimodal solutions enabling mobile applications delivery;
and Internet Systems, a well known systems integrator
in the Spanish and Portuguese market, announced that Bankinter
has signed a strategic agreement to develop a multimodal
interface for their applications using Kirusa’s
multimodal technology.
The first such application, called the multimodal broker,
will allow the banks brokerage customers to manage their
brokerage accounts, and to do brokerage transactions from
their mobile phones by speaking into the phone in Spanish,
and seeing the results on their screen. For example, a
user can say “VENDER 200 ACCIONES DE REPSOL”
(sell 200 shares of Repsol), and see the stock transaction
form on the screen filled in with the words “200”
and “Repsol”. A user searching for information
on Repsol can speak “EVOLUCIÓN PRECIO DE
REPSOL” (price history of Repsol), and the price
graph for Repsol appears on the screen, reducing the search
from four clicks and 20 seconds to one click and 3 seconds.
Under terms of the agreement, the Kirusa Multimodal solution
has been delivered and deployed at Bankinter, and has
been integrated with Loquendo’s speech technology.
Bankinter is using a Java API to develop the “multimodal
broker” application. The application will be available
to all customers in Spain, on several Java based handsets
over the mobile networks of Vodafone Spain, Telefonica
Moviles, and Amena. Internet Systems is reselling the
platform, and providing the systems integration and support
services to Bankinter.
Bankinter made the decision to launch the “multimodal
broker” service after extensive tests that showed
widespread customer demand and enthusiastic support for
a multimodal interface to alleviate the usability barrier
for customers of the bank’s mobile applications.
This, and subsequent applications will make it easier
for the bank’s customers to transact business over
the mobile channel, as the mobile phone is increasingly
integrated into the Spanish customer’s lifestyle.
“Our customers want the flexibility to get financial
information, and to transact business from their mobile
phones, but do not like the current click-click and triple
tapping interface”, said Jesus Marquina, Chief Information
Officer of Bankinter. “We strongly believe that
offering them the choice of voice enabled search, and
of entering information by speaking while seeing the results
on the screen will further increase the number of completed
self-care transactions, and improve customer satisfaction.”
He continued, “We wanted a multimodal platform that
was robust, standards compliant, that could scale to all
our customers and all our mobile applications, and that
could add multimodal support to Java applications as well
as to .NET Compact Framework and to web based applications
accessed through a browser. After extensive testing and
evaluation, we find the Kirusa platform to be the most
advanced, scalable, and flexible in the market.”
“Our partnership with Internet Systems allows us
to deliver a solution that meets the needs of Bankinter
and its customers, and gives us an incredible entrée
into the Spanish market," said Dr. Inderpal Singh
Mumick, CEO and founder of Kirusa. "Multimodal interfaces
increase the adoption rate of mobile applications, especially
those involving search, messaging, form filling, and customer
care. As an early adopter of multimodal solutions, Bankinter
is a key strategic customer of Kirusa in driving adoption
of multimodal solutions amongst European service providers."
“Kirusa has the broadest and most robust multimodal
offer, with the features required by the Spanish market.
In addition to supporting Web based and downloaded applications,
Kirusa can deliver cutting edge capabilities that add
voice to SMS applications,” said CEO Alfredo Perez
of Internet Systems.
About Bankinter
Bankinter S.A is a multichannel bank that provides a broad
range of relation and financial operation possibilities
to its customers. It pioneered in Spain the use of alternative
channels such as telephone, Internet and, now, mobile
terminals, and is the market leader in the use of each
one of these remote banking systems. Some of its strengths
include its service quality, the constant innovation in
products and channels and state of the art technology.
For more information about Bankinter, please visit http://www.ebankinter.com
About Kirusa
Kirusa, Inc. is a multimodal solutions company that has
developed industry leading multimodal technology (with
several patents pending) for the delivery of applications
using multimodal interfaces. This next generation of wireless
technology allows users to customize the presentation
of information on wireless devices by either alternating,
or simultaneously receiving information through visual
and voice interfaces. Kirusa develops the unique Kirusa
Voice SMS multimodal application, multimodal search applications,
and supports third party developers of multimodal applications.
Kirusa's customers include the worlds' leading telecom
carriers and enterprises. Kirusa is headquartered in Edison,
New Jersey and was founded by telecom and Internet industry
veterans from AT&T, Lucent and Vodafone Airtouch.
For more information about Kirusa please call its headquarters
at +1 (732) 623-2118 or visit www.kirusa.com.
About Internet Systems
Internet Systems S.A is a specialist providing mobility
services for enterprises, empowering enhanced flexibility
and access to business processes and corporate internal
information. Since its founding in 1995, Internet Systems
S.A has provided technologically leading solutions for
Internet markets, including delivering engaging solutions
to companies such as Telfonica de España, PSA,
Spanish government agencies and more. For more information
about Internet Systems please call its headquarters at
+34 (91) 401-3325 or visit www.intersys.es.
Media Contact:
Gonzalo Garcia Rojas, Bankinter, Tel: +34 91 339-7855,
ggarciar@bankinter.es
Srilekha Pinnamaneni, Kirusa Inc, +1 732 623-2118, srilekha@kirusa.com
Alfredo Perez, Internet Systems, +34 91 401-3325, aperez@intersys.es
© 2001-2010 Kirusa, Inc.