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Ancestry.com Selects LignUp to Give Voice to Family HistoriesMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- LignUp Corporation, a provider of converged communications solutions, today announced that Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource, is implementing voice-over-IP (VoIP) enabled applications based on the LignUp Communications Application Server. Ancestry.com is using the applications to enable site members to capture their oral histories and record memories about people or events in online family trees. The availability of applications that combine voice with rich media will help to increase families' use of the site by creating a richer experience for Ancestry.com members. Since Ancestry.com's tree-building and sharing features were launched in July 2006, members have created more than 3.8 million Ancestry Family Trees(TM), added an estimated 330 million profiles and attached 3.5 million photos, stories and scanned documents. Now, Ancestry.com takes these capabilities one step further by offering members the rich, personalized experience of audio recording family members sharing their stories and saving those audio files directly to their online trees. Ancestry.com has chosen the LignUp Communications Application Server to create and run its voice-enabled applications for several reasons. The 100% software, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based solution for VoIP reduces telecom costs. In addition, LignUp Web services enable quick and easy development -- with applications being built in days versus months. The first two LignUp-based applications that have been implemented for Ancestry.com are: -- Record my memories. The consumer calls into a number, and at the prompt, records his or her oral history. The recording is saved and stored online for family members to access. -- Record conversations. The consumer initiates a call between him or herself and a family member directly from Ancestry.com. Once the call is connected, the caller can "interview" the family member or share memories. The caller uses Web controls to start and stop the recording functionality. "Learning more about the people who shaped our lives is what family history is all about. Capturing oral histories direct from the source and preserving them for posterity is an amazing service we're proud to offer our members," said Drew Izzo, Vice President of Marketing for Ancestry.com. "LignUp has provided us with an easy and cost-effective means to literally give voice to our Ancestry.com site. In doing so, LignUp is helping us attract a larger community of consumers by allowing them to record audio and hear their own stories first hand." "Text is useful for sharing data, but with actual voice you are given much greater context, whether it's the thrill of newlyweds or the joy of a new child," said Kevin Nethercott, president and COO of LignUp. "We are honored to provide Ancestry.com with the proven VoIP platform for integrating voice and rich media to let consumers go beyond learning and begin experiencing their family histories." About LignUp Corporation LignUp Corporation delivers the highly scalable and flexible LignUp Communications Application Server, a comprehensive IP communications system and a development platform that allows for easy integration of voice and rich media into Web applications and portals. The standards-based (SIP, RTP, SOAP/WSDL), 100% software solution is based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA). It includes a full-featured, presence-aware IP-PBX, IVR, voicemail, unified messaging, and LignUp Communications Web Services that can be quickly consumed from .Net or Java environments. Applications leveraging LignUp can be quickly deployed on-premise or hosted by service providers. The proven LignUp software is in use today at more than 150 organizations worldwide. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, LignUp has offices in London and Tokyo. Visit www.LignUp.com for more information. About Ancestry.com With 24,000 searchable databases and titles and more than 800,000 paying subscribers, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. The site is home to the only complete online U.S. Federal Census collection, 1790-1930, as well as the world's largest online collection of U.S. ship passenger list records featuring more than 100 million names, 1820-1960. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc., a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including myfamily.com, Rootsweb.com, Genealogy.com and Family Tree Maker. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 8.2 million unique visitors worldwide and over 429 million page views a month ((C) comScore Media Metrix, August 2007). For more information, visit www.ancestry.com. |
