Brite Expands Natural Language Speech Recognition Capabilities With Nuance Reseller Agreement; Partnership to Accelerate the Development of V-Commerce Applications

Business Wire, Oct 28, 1998

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28 1998--Further strengthening its commitment to deliver a broad range of speech recognition capabilities, Brite Voice Systems (Nasdaq:BVSI), a world leader in the design, manufacture and delivery of enhanced telecommunications and interactive information solutions, announced today that it has entered into a formal valued added reseller (VAR) agreement with Nuance Communications.

Nuance is the leading provider of natural language speech recognition and speaker verification for V-Commerce and enhanced network services applications. The agreement enables Brite to sell Nuance products in conjunction with the company's interactive voice response (IVR) systems on a global basis.

Brite Delivers Superior IVR Solutions

Brite is a leading provider of open, client/server based interactive voice response (IVR) and computer telephony integration (CTI) and Internet solutions. Brite's open architecture IVR systems can be integrated with a variety of computing environments, allowing for flexibility and growth potential.

Brite has deployed some of the largest, most sophisticated IVR systems in the world, offering a highly reliable technology platform, system integration expertise, and strong after-sale service and support. Customers include financial institutions, higher education, telecommunications, government and Fortune 1000 companies.

"Nuance provides speech recognition technology with leading edge accuracy and scalability," said Garrett Digman, vice president of marketing. "Natural language speech recognition will help our customers provide improved customer service, reduce costs associated with live operators and develop a competitive advantage in their markets. With this agreement, Brite will now be able to offer our customers a wide variety of options to meet those needs."

Nuance Delivers Highly Accurate and Scaleable V-Commerce Technology

Nuance provides a family of natural language speech recognition and speaker verification products for completing self-service transactions. Nuance 6, the core client/server software in the Nuance product suite combines unparalleled accuracy and natural language understanding to deliver the performance advantages of Nuance in speech recognition applications. Nuance SpeechObjects, a set of standards-based reusable components, make it fast and easy to develop natural language speech applications.

Nuance recently introduced V-Commerce(tm), which brings the power of voice to electronic commerce applications. V-Commerce applications enable anyone to complete self-service transactions by simply using their voice. The company recently formed the V-Commerce Alliance, a group of technology and services companies that are collaborating with Nuance to make it easier to build and deploy V-Commerce applications. In addition to Brite, V-Commerce Alliance members include Motorola, Inc., SAP Labs, Broadvision, Inc. and Visa International.

"We are excited that Brite has chosen to resell Nuance products," said Chuck Buffum, director, channels and partners, Nuance Communications. "Brite provides a powerful and open environment for deploying V-Commerce and enhanced network services applications. The combination of their scaleable platform and expertise in building large-scale IVR applications with our proven recognition and verification technology offers an ideal solution for companies wishing to quickly leverage the benefits of natural language speech recognition.

About Brite

Brite is a world leader in providing enhanced telecommunications systems and interactive information systems. Brite's products include network and handset based prepaid, voice activated dialing and enhanced calling card systems for wireless and wireline communications companies, and IVR-CTI for businesses and organizations. The company also provides managed service capabilities for these products. Brite's world headquarters are located in Heathrow, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, and has offices worldwide. Contact Brite at 1-800-SEE-BRITE, or on the Web at www.brite.com.

Brite is certified ISO 9001/TickIT, a globally accepted quality management recognition. Brite's certification includes the design, development, manufacture, installation and support of computer-based voice and multimedia systems. The certification also includes the company's associated managed services, information services and training services.

About Nuance Communications

Named one of Upside's Hot 100 Private Companies and Red Herring's Top 50 Privately Held Companies, Nuance Communications develops natural language speech recognition and speaker verification software for V-Commerce and enhanced network services applications. The company's products enable anyone to gain access to information and services and complete transactions using everyday conversational language. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company focuses on customer service applications in call centers, particularly within the financial services and travel industries, and on enabling enriched functionality and new services in telecommunications networks. For more information, see Nuance's Web site at http://www.nuance.com or call (650) 847-0000.