Nuance Speech Recognition Software Powers Cisco Systems' Personal Assistant Application; New Offering Employs a Voice Interface to Simplify Business Communications

Business Wire, July 16, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2001

Nuance (Nasdaq:NUAN), the leader in Voice Web software, today announced that Cisco Systems has incorporated Nuance's industry-leading speech recognition and voice authentication software into Personal Assistant, an IP-based telephony application that is part of the AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) product family.

The Nuance-powered Cisco Personal Assistant, developed using Nuance SpeechObjects(TM), is raising the bar for productivity by enabling users to conduct a variety of tasks using simple voice commands, rather than a telephone keypad. Users can utilize the speech interface to dial by voice, manage conference calls from any telephone, retrieve, reply to, record, skip and delete messages, and forward calls to any location, alternatively applying rules such as time-of-day, caller identification and meeting schedules at the same time.

"The Cisco Personal Assistant is the first voice application resulting from the Cisco-Nuance relationship," said Ron Croen, president and CEO, Nuance. "It's a great example of how industry-leading telecommunications equipment providers are embracing speech recognition and the Voice Web to differentiate their offerings and deliver new productivity-enhancing tools to their customers."

An introductory edition of Cisco Personal Assistant and the Cisco Personal Assistant Directory Dialer is currently available with the Cisco CallManager for customer lab trials.

About Nuance

Nuance is the leader in Voice Web software -- speech recognition, voice authentication, text-to-speech and voice-browsing products that make 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 companies like Japan Telecom, OnStar, Qwest Wireless, Sears and UBS. 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.