What is Portico? Portico is the only second-generation virtual assistant that has the ability to manage your messages, juggle your appointments, keep track of your contacts, and access information from the Internet. Just tell Portico what you want - in plain everyday words, or if you like, retreive the same information over the web. Portico works the way you do. No menus, no tricky commands. With Portico, you are only a phone call away from anything you need to stay in touch. If you know how to use the phone or a web browser, you already know how to use Portico

For the first time, your information is centrally accessible. Your virtual assistant will answer the phone for you if you're busy, route calls when you're out of town, and even prioritize and read your email messages to you. Portico is so responsive, you can interrupt mid-sentence with a new request, eliminating the need to wait through menus. You won't get bogged down with messages you don't want. And you shouldn't miss the ones you do want.

The brains behind Portico are contained in a sophisticated Network Operations Center. This state-of-the-art system represents the future of communications. The Network Operations Center embodies the General Magic business model: minimum maintenance with maximum functionality.

The Network Operations Center was built from the ground up to be a technology showcase. Today, it's one of the world's largest voice recognition-based networks(). The sophisticated voice recognition technology can identify thousands of phrases spoken in plain English().

The service architecture is based on recognized industry standards. So it's configured with all the latest technology. High-performance components make this system sophisticated and very robust. The network has a fault-tolerant ATM backbone running Intel-based Windows NT machines. And of course, the network is fully integrated with the Internet, so it's based on HTML, HTTP and TCP/IP.

Because the system is standards-based, we have the ability to integrate any and all of the latest technologies that emerge in the future. The network is designed to be a cutting-edge system, utilizing the best-of-breed equipment and software technologies.

It's a 24/7 world, and the Network Operations Center is designed to keep pace. Dedicated operators work around the clock to ensure maximum uptime. The network even helps them diagnose problems. If a part of the system ever encounters a problem, it automatically takes itself off-line. The key components of the system are 100 percent redundant with built-in fault tolerance, so everything is always running at peak performance. Thanks to this advanced architecture, you can be assured that we're taking care of you.

Portico is a friendly service that will become an indispensable tool. So, the system can handle heavy traffic. According to General Magic, Network Operations Center can serve more than 100,000 users; that's 100,000 people working smarter thanks to Portico(). And the modular, scalable design makes adding additional capabilities a snap.