Motorola and Nuance Team to Bring Voice-Driven Content and Commerce to Phones Across the Globe; Speech Recognition Puts Motorola's MIX and Mya on the Voice Web

Business Wire, July 17, 2000

Business & High Technology Editors

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. and MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2000

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN), the leader in voice interface software, today announced plans to extend the Voice Web to the global market. Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will license Nuance's industry-leading speech recognition software for use in its Mobile Internet Exchange(TM) communications platform, also known as the MIX(TM) platform. Nuance's software will also be used to power MyaSM, Motorola's recently unveiled cyber-assistant, and a host of other services and applications. In addition, Motorola and Nuance plan to work together to internationalize both Mya, the cyber-assistant, and the MIX platform with support for up to 15 languages, further extending these products into the global marketplace.

"The teaming of Nuance and Motorola is a powerful combination that will enable the world's telecommunications carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver voice-driven content and commerce to any phone," said Ronald Croen, president and CEO of Nuance. "Nuance has clearly found an excellent global partner in Motorola and, together, we anticipate propelling the Voice Web to the global market."

"Motorola is pleased to work with Nuance because of its success in deploying voice systems that are highly scaleable, international in scope and targeted for particular geographies," said Janiece Webb, senior vice president and general manager of Motorola's Personal Networks Group. "With this collaboration, Motorola will become the first telecommunications solutions provider to adopt a multi-language, single communications platform. This takes our `Web Without Wires' strategy to a new level by allowing consumers to access Internet content and services through the power of voice virtually anywhere in the world. The result is a richer end-user experience."

Nuance and Motorola are also working closely together to empower the developer community and drive the creation of voice-enabled content using VoiceXML, which is poised to become the de facto standard for voice application development. In May, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) acknowledged the submission of the VoiceXML specification by the VoiceXML Forum, of which Motorola is a founding member, and Nuance a participating member. The future adoption of the VoiceXML specification by the W3C will help accelerate the delivery of voice-enabled Web content and services, and expand the reach of the Internet to anyone with access to a telephone. By linking the Nuance and Motorola developer communities, and through the shared commitment to open standards, the two companies are positioned to create a critical mass of voice-driven applications using VoiceXML that can be delivered to the market on the MIX platform.

About Mobile Internet Exchange Platform

Motorola's Mobile Internet Exchange platform (also known as the MIX communications platform) is a complete solution enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to offer the Internet, e-mail and personal data and to provide integrated voice and data capabilities to mobile users. The MIX communications platform and Mya, the amazing cyber-assistant, offers an exciting and unique end-user experience with capabilities ranging from voice dialing of phone numbers to allowing a user to read or listen to Internet content or e-mail while mobile.

The MIX platform, a wireless Internet end-to-end solution, is both network/architecture independent and is a feature server of Motorola's Aspira(TM) architecture. The MIX platform includes the necessary hardware, software and integration services to get the system up and running quickly. It is comprised of servers, gateways -- a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) gateway for data and a VoxGateway(TM) for voice -- software applications and content. The software applications and access to content, provided by the Myosphere(TM) suite of applications, including Mya, the cyber-assistant, reside on the MIX platform. Motorola's professional integration services make it a complete, turnkey package. Additional information is available at www.motorola.com/mix.> About Nuance

Nuance develops, markets and supports a voice interface software platform that makes the information and services of enterprises, telecommunications networks and the Internet accessible from any telephone. Every day, millions of people interact with Nuance systems at blue-chip companies like American Airlines, Charles Schwab, The Home Shopping Network, Lloyds TSB, Sears and United Parcel Service. Nuance is also driving the creation of the Voice Web and delivering software for V-Commerce(TM) (voice-enabled e-commerce) services and applications. Nuance is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., with global sales offices and partners supporting solutions in multiple languages around the world. For more information about Nuance, visit www.nuance.com or call 1-888-NUANCE-8.

About Motorola

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 1999 were $33.1 billion. Additional information is available at www.motorola.com.