Contact:
Glenn Lockhart
Viable Inc.
Tel: 240.292.0222 x227
Fax: 301.230.2442
Viable and Mascom Team Up to Provide Video Relay Services
ROUND ROCK, TX – June 12, 2008 – Viable Inc., a provider of video relay services (VRS) for deaf and hard of hearing people, and Mascom have partnered in opening a video relay call center in Round Rock, TX, a half-hour north of Austin, where the Texas School for the Deaf is located.
Mascom is a company that provides sign language interpreting services. In a VRS call, deaf and hard of hearing people for whom American Sign Language is their native language use video technology to connect to a Video Interpreter (VI), who will dial out to another party then interpret their conversation.
"This is an exciting time of expansion for the company and we are opening another call center in response to increased demand from ViableVRS customers," said John T.C. Yeh, president and founder of Viable. "Callers who choose ViableVRS can continue to expect fast response times and quality interpreting when they make VRS calls."
People who want to call ViableVRS have a variety of connection options:
- Via dialing ViableVRS.tv on any videophone
- Via one-click connection on the VPAD
- Via one-click connection with Viable Vision for the PC
- Via dialing ViableVRS.tv using XMeeting for the Mac
"We are thrilled to partner with Viable; their technologies are outstanding and their commitment to the deaf and hard of hearing community is second to none, which fits in with our service philosophy," said Kim Hawkins, president of Mascom.
This is the second call center partnership Viable has announced in the second quarter of 2008 and brings the company's nationwide presence to the following locations: Corona, CA; Ellicott City, Frederick and Rockville, MD; New York, NY; and Round Rock, TX.
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About Viable, Inc.
Viable provides next-generation video relay services for deaf and hard of hearing persons that can be accessed wherever there is Internet or wireless connectivity, opening them to a world of communication possibilities. Founded in 2006, Viable is a private, deaf-owned company, and the majority of its employees are deaf and hard of hearing and are personally vested in the innovation and development of the company’s products and services. Further information is available at www.viable.net.
About Telecommunications Relay Services
Mandated by Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, telecommunications relay services (TRS) enables individuals with hearing or speech disabilities to achieve functional equivalence by accessing telephone systems to place or receive calls through an intermediary known as a relay operator or relay interpreter. Emergent IP technology has given rise to video-based solutions, which are known as video relay services (VRS). VRS options include using a webcam or a videophone to connect to a video relay interpreter, and allow deaf and hard of hearing callers for whom sign language is native to fully achieve the ideal of functional equivalence.