SpeechWorks Awarded U.S. Patent for DialogModules; Popular Application Building Blocks Speed Deployment of Speech Applications

Business Wire, Jan 24, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2001

SpeechWorks International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPWX), a leader in the telephony-based speech technology industry, today announced that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 6,173,266 for the design and use of its DialogModules(TM) technology. DialogModules, introduced in 1996, are pre-packaged application building blocks used by developers to deliver speech-enabled applications quickly with high quality. With DialogModules, software developers are spared from re-writing code for frequently-occurring functions within speech solutions.

These pre-packaged building blocks provide tuned vocabularies, grammars and user interface designs for common speech applications. For example, rather than re-writing how a speech service would process the caller's response to a "say yes or no" prompt, developers can simply leverage the `Yes/No DialogModule' with instant success. DialogModules paved the way for today's common industry practice of developing speech applications based on high-level, reusable building blocks that deliver both quick time-to-market and a highly consistent user interface. Today, well over 25 million calls have been answered by systems that use DialogModule technology.

DialogModules collect common information needed from callers using a speech system, such as Credit Card Numbers, Dates, Yes/No answers, Addresses, Names and Zip Codes, evaluate the information and immediately process callers' requests. The technology is used by SpeechWorks customers including First Union National Bank, Continental Airlines, E*Trade, United Airlines, Amtrak and many more to help deliver a consistent user interface for their speech applications.

For example, callers to the United Airlines flight information system can request flight information by date of departure or arrival. People can express dates verbally in many different ways (e.g: "January thirtieth", or "Jan. thirty" or "One, thirty, two-thousand-and-one", etc.). With the DialogModules embedded into the speech application, whatever way a caller expresses a date is easily understood by the speech system.

"We're proud of our legacy of technology innovation, recognized in the U.S. Government's patent award for DialogModules," said Stuart R. Patterson, president and CEO of SpeechWorks International, Inc. "We have focused on and enhanced the DialogModule technology consistently since the company was founded and we are confident that the power of the DialogModule concept will bring benefits to developers all over the world - in new languages and within new standards-based systems - for years to come."

About SpeechWorks

Organizations worldwide rely on SpeechWorks (NASDAQ: SPWX) to delight their callers and provide them with a new level of service over the phone. Complementing the self-service model of e-business, SpeechWorks speech solutions, including the revolutionary SpeechSite(TM) product, and Speechify(TM) text-to-speech engine, let customers direct their calls, obtain information and complete transactions automatically, simply by speaking naturally over any phone, anytime.

SpeechWorks customers include some of the world's most sophisticated customer service innovators such as America Online, Amtrak, Continental Airlines, E*Trade, FedEx, Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group, United Airlines and Yahoo!. The Company offers the SpeechWorks Here Guarantee, the industry's only program that includes a money-back guarantee. SpeechWorks strategic partners include leading corporations such as AT&T, Avaya, Dialogic, an Intel company, InterVoice-Brite and Net2Phone. Investors included Citigroup's e-Citi Unit, GE Equity, Intel Corporation, The Intel64 Fund, MCI WorldCom Venture Fund and Reuters.

SpeechWorks is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has offices around the world. To experience the power of SpeechWorks, call 1.888.SAY.DEMO. For additional information, call 617.428.4444 or visit http://www.speechworks.com.

Other than historical information contained herein, certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on management's current expectations. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from such expectations include: the timing of sales of the Company's products and services; market acceptance of the Company's speech-activated systems; the Company's reliance on a limited number of large orders for substantially all its revenue; the Company's ability to develop new products and services in the face of rapidly evolving technology; the uncertainties related to the Company's planned international operations; the Company's ability to manage growth of its business; the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property; the Company's reliance on resellers and original equipment manufactures for a portion of its sales; the Company's ability to respond to competitive developments; and the Company's reliance on attracting, retaining and motivating key technical and management personnel. These and other risk factors are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.