Meanwhile Octel Communications Corp has announced that Southwestern Bell Telephone will be using Octel Aspen Maxum voice processing systems for field market trials starting this summer. The trials will involve limited voice mail and telephone answering services within the phone company’s Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. This is an important first step toward providing voice messaging and voice information services to residential and business customers. Trials such as these will help determine the types of services customers will use, as well as the rate of development and size of this new market, the company reckons. The Aspen Automated Speech Exchange Network family of voice processing systems support voice messaging, audiotex – recorded messages, we call it – networking, gateway functions, voice information services packages such as complete system usage statistics (used for billing and system management), remote alarm and monitoring systems and the support for custom voice response applications development.