TFLX: History of Magnum Software and MCFIII Inc

TELEFLEX
AWARD 1988

TELEPHONE NEWS March 26, 1990 Page 5
Technology

MAGNUM'S TFLX PHONEWARE SYSTEM ADDS
VIDEO MAIL TO ITS VOICE-MAIL CAPABILITIES

Magnum Software recently announced that in addition to voice-mail capabilities its TFLX Phoneware system now has the ability to send and receive photos and pictures. TFLX is the marriage between the Macintosh computer and the phone, said Robert McTyre, president. TFLX is the first generation of Phoneware, Magnum's complete system of hardware and software which works with any touch-tone telephone for a variety of interactive communications applications.

The TFLX Phoneware is a single-line system that enables the user to handle any incoming or outgoing telephone applications, whether they use natural voice and/or touch-tone input. Applications include: receptionist, order entry, voice/video mail, appointment center, tech support, and telemarketing. It has 2 analog ports, and 3 digital ports: 1 printer, 1 modem, and 1 appliance. It runs on a Mac Plus through Mac IIcx. Magnum won the International Voice Systems Review award for the most innovative voice product in the Integrated Technologies category.

Magnum's business is to combine sound, computer and the telephone. McTvre said. With the addition of our Picture and Audio Express (PAX) function, we have added the ability to send and receive pictures to another TFLX equipped Macintosh or to a video/picture phone.

Bob McTyre gives credit for the company's new offerings to his son Scott, Magnum's vice president of development. I'm a phone junkie, Scott McTyre said, and I think that our enhanced system will generate a great deal of interest because we have added the capability to take, store, merge, edit, add text and send or receive still pictures. It's a show and tell system.

PAX allows interfacing with videophones, using the videophones' built-in function to see as well as take pictures. Or you can use a video tape camera to take higher resolution images. TFLX can then store those images on disk, and have them ready for instant retrieval.

...VIDEO PLUS VOICE MAIL EQUALS A MORE VALUABLE TOOL

The TFLX's main claim to fame is its Picture Programming language which lets users create applications by linking Icon to Icon, or task to task, in a flow-chart pattern, Bob McTyre added. This means almost any Mac user can create applications without needing to know a line of code.

We're a small company and it has taken us 3-1/2 years to develop our language key. We also developed our own voice board. TFLX's Voice Merge features enables the system to utilize any data file information and merge it into spoken messages or replies on the fly, and in multiple languages.

The TFLX retails for $2,995. Video phone technology has just started and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, added Scott McTyre. It's difficult to answer who is using it today or where it is going, but it has to happen. A voice-mail system is a given, but when you have the ability to add video to it, you are giving users an even more valuable tool. (Magnum Software, 2115 Devonshire St., Suite 337, Chatsworth, CA 91311, 818/700-0510.)