WorldGate and Aequus Technologies Announce Multi-Year Agreement to Promote Ojo Video Phones

WorldGate Communications, Inc. (WGAT) announced a multi-year agreement with Aequus Technologies Corp., a provider of communication solutions for individuals with disabilities, to promote Ojo Personal Video Phones. The devices supply Video Relay Services (VRS) across the US to individuals who have hearing disabilities.

Hal Krisbergh, founder, chairman, and CEO of WorldGate Communications said, “We’ve known Aequus for some time and share their vision of helping those with disabilities to better communicate.”

Aequus Technologies, a recently approved VRS service provider from the Federal Communications Commission, was interested in acquiring an easy-to-use video phone technology compatible with broadband networks and with high quality images for video communications. Aequus found all that in WorldGate’s Ojo Personal Video Phones and within the next two years, they are planning to install thousands of Ojos for customers who have difficulty in hearing, through Aequus’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Snap Telecommunications, Inc. The phones will be available under the Snap!VRS brand. Snap will also utilize the Ojo directory service to support its offerings.

Ojo is the first personal video phone that will enable users to experience realistic, face-to-face, personal communications over DSL and cable broadband networks. Richard L. Schatzberg, founder and chief executive officer of Aequus, says that the new Snap video relay services with Ojo Personal Video Phones will provide an exciting new way of communication for people using American Sign Language.

VRS is a form of Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) that enables persons with hearing disabilities to communicate with video phones rather than through typed text. A TRS operator known as a “communications assistant” (CA) links itself with the VRS user, letting the user see the CA and communicate in signed conversation. VRS has become enormously popular among people with hearing disabilities as the phone enables easier communication VRS user and the CA.

Source: WoldGate