Periphonics Receives $3 Million in Orders for IVR Systems from Two Leading Discount Brokerage Firms

Business Wire, Oct 21, 1996

BOHEMIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 21, 1996--

Orders for $1.6 Million from Charles Schwab and $1.4 Million from

National Discount Brokers Are Placed

Periphonics Corporation (NASDAQ:PERI) today announced it has received two orders totaling $3 million for interactive voice response (IVR) systems from two major discount brokerage firms, Charles Schwab, Inc. (NYSE:SCH) and National Discount Brokers, a subsidiary of the Sherwood Group (NYSE:SHD). Charles Schwab, an established Periphonics customer, will incorporate Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition into its IVR system, while NDB, a new customer for Periphonics, will be managing its IVR system internally for the first time. Initial deliveries will begin in the second quarter of Periphonics' fiscal 1997, which ends November 30, 1996.

The $1.6 million order from Charles Schwab is for hardware support and operating software that Periphonics will provide for Schwab's VoiceBroker(TM), the first telephone service using speech recognition technology to provide retail investors with real-time quotes on listed stock, mutual funds, and market indicators. The Periphonics VPS platform is based on an open Unix client environment that is referred to as "Open Signal Computing and Analysis Resource" (OSCAR). The OSCAR solution supports Large Vocabulary Recognition with capabilities ranging from hundreds to thousands of individual words and phrases.

The new order increases the total number of IVR system lines that Charles Schwab, a Periphonics customer since 1993, has deployed in four Charles Schwab service centers. Some of these lines are dedicated to the VoiceBroker(TM) service, which adds large vocabulary speech recognition to Schwab's systems. VoiceBroker(TM) provides fast, accurate quotations, recognizing major regional accents and over 13,000 security names. The speech recognition engine was built by Nuance Communication and SRI.

"When applied in the securities industry, IVR technology can dramatically increase the number of trades a firm can execute by allowing agents to focus on revenue generating calls while routine phone inquiries are handled by IVR technology," stated Terry Meehan, Vice President of Marketing for Periphonics.

National Discount Brokers, a new Periphonics customer, has placed a $1.4 million order for a robust and scalable Periphonics IVR system that can be managed internally. There is an option to purchase an additional $416,000 in equipment in December 1996. "The new Periphonics system will allow us to manage our system internally, rather than relying on a service bureau as we have in the past," stated Ed Kucharski, Chief Information Officer for NDB. "We will have more control of our system, decrease our execution costs and give better service and reliability to our customers." The equipment will update NDB's PowerBroker(SM) system and will be used by NDB customers to trade securities, obtain real-time quotes, get account balances and access other NDB services through their touch-tone telephones, 24 hours a day. The NDB system will also be used to send notification via fax, e-mail or voice call back and will have foreign language versions in Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin.

"We're pleased to forge a relationship with NDB," continued Meehan. "We're confident that our advanced features, comprehensive customer support services, and open systems architecture will protect NDB's initial investment by allowing them to upgrade their system to handle increasing volume."

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward- looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the risk factors listed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.

Periphonics Corporation develops, markets and supports high performance automated interactive transaction processing systems that allow individuals to interact with computer databases using a touch-tone telephone, speech input, fax and Web browsers. The Company's systems are based on industry-standard open architecture computer hardware and Unix operating system software which, in combination with its own proprietary IVR technology, address the needs of mid-sized and large-scale organizations. Headquartered in Bohemia, New York (Long Island), Periphonics has systems installed in more than 50 countries.

CONTACT: Periphonics Corporation, Bohemia

Kevin O'Brien

Chief Financial Officer

(516) 468-9360

or

Anne M. Strauss

Public Relations Coordinator

(516) 468-9591

or

Trina Hardiman

McDonough & Associates

(212) 334-0033

or

Karen L. Ferraro

Director of Marketing

(516) 468-9276