The relationship calls for the companies to work closely together to identify e-commerce, m-commerce and risk management applications that could make use of Vocent's voiceprint authentication solutions.

Sarah Perry, senior vice president, strategic alliances and investments at Visa International, says: "This alliance with Vocent provides us with an opportunity to examine the enormous potential of biometric security, specifically voiceprint authentication."

As a first step, Vocent will deploy a voiceprint authentication solution to automate IT help desk services for Visa employees.