Auckland based Amtel Communications is looking to international markets for its shrinkwrapped WinScribe digital dictation system.
Marketing manager Steve Oswald says the product is designed to appeal to a broader audience than the traditional dictation system market of large businesses, hospitals and legal firms.
Amtel hopes to take advantage of what Oswald describes as an "archaic technology scene" in the dictation market.
"The opposition," says Oswald, "is largely proprietary and hardware-based, whereas WinScribe is based on open client-server technology. There is nothing else like this that is PC and client-server-based."
The system incorporates into its PC and telephone interfaces traditional tape-recorder-like functionality as well as insert recording and speed control. When a job is completed, WinScribe prioritises it and allocates it to a typist.
Oswald hopes to break into a new market of small and medium-sized organisations through concurrent licensing based on typist numbers. Organisations with a single typist will only pay for one seat, even if that typist is working for 40 or 50 authors.
System administrator software is also included to track the progress of work, typist productivity and to determine system privileges.
WinScribe was produced in-house by the Takapuna company with an investment of around $1 million, funded from its other computer telephony revenues, and Oswald is hoping it will be launched in around two months. He believes Amtel has an 18-month lead on the market, with the system already in use in Wellington Hospital.
Amtel is readying user documentation for WinScribe and context-sensitive online help. With the product being virtually complete the company is now looking for local and international distribution channels.