Nuance Continues Leadership in VoiceXML With New Release of Voice Web Server; Industry-Leading Companies Implement Solutions Based on Voice Web Server

Business Wire, May 21, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001

Nuance (Nasdaq:NUAN), the leader in Voice Web software, today announced Nuance Voice Web Server 1.2. Combining the industry's most robust speech recognition engine, Nuance 7.0, with a VoiceXML interpreter that fully supports the VoiceXML 1.0 standard, Voice Web Server 1.2 enables hardware platform vendors and Voice ASPs to quickly and easily build and deploy carrier-ready, VoiceXML-based speech solutions. By choosing applications that are built on Voice Web Server 1.2, customers can leverage their investments in existing Web infrastructure to deliver speech-enabled services and applications at lower costs. Nuance will be providing additional information about Voice Web Server 1.2 at V-World, the speech recognition industry's leading global conference, starting today and running through Wednesday, May 23, at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina.

The latest release of Voice Web Server further establishes Nuance as the market leader in VoiceXML-based software and technology for the Voice Web. Over thirty companies are already working with Voice Web Server 1.2 to rapidly build speech application hosting environments, enable their platforms to fully support the VoiceXML 1.0 standard and create speech-based services. With such widespread support, Voice Web Server is firmly positioned as the leading software for companies incorporating VoiceXML into their solutions.

"Siemens is leveraging technology from the Voice Web Server solution for its Voice Portal platform, the VoxPortal," said Mr. Laurent Hue, Siemens Corporation. "We have found it very easy to integrate Nuance's VoiceXML interpreter into our solution and anticipate that we'll see a much quicker development process and better applications as a result."

Voice Web Server is designed to integrate seamlessly with the Nuance Verifier voice authentication software and Nuance Vocalizer text-to-speech software. In addition, Voice Web Server 1.2 incorporates early support for the next release of the VoiceXML specification and enables developers to take full advantage of advanced capabilities with support for features such as n-best and hotword recognition.

"Time-to-market and low deployment costs are what's really driving the Voice Web ecosystem," noted Mark Plakias, Senior VP, Voice & Wireless, at The Kelsey Group. "By combining a VoiceXML interpreter, speech recognition, verification and TTS in one offering, Nuance really jump-starts development."

Fast Time to Market and Cost Savings for Platform Providers and ASPs

With the growing demand for VoiceXML solutions, platform providers and ASPs are trying to get to market quickly with robust, VoiceXML-enabled solutions. Using Voice Web Server, these companies can avoid investing resources to build their own VoiceXML interpreter and integrate it with a speech recognition engine. Nuance is working with many companies who are already taking advantage of Voice Web Server 1.2 including: BT Ignite Solutions, Gold Systems, Inc., iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, a Sun-Netscape Alliance, Mitel Networks, M7 Networks, Omron Corporation, Vocent, Inc., Voxeo and Z-Tel.

"Mitel Networks has always believed that speech recognition enhances the most natural form of communication -- voice," stated Mike Berlin, vice president, Messaging and Applications. "With the VoiceXML-enabled solution, our customers will be able to develop voice applications customized to their business needs. Mitel Networks considers this capability an absolute synergy with our IP-based communications solutions for our enterprise customers."

Carrier-Ready Performance and Robust Functionality

Voice Web Server 1.2 is designed to deliver the performance, scalability and reliability that carriers demand. High port density and efficient CPU usage help to minimize hardware costs, while sophisticated caching technologies enable fast and efficient processing of large applications and frequently requested VoiceXML pages. Load balancing across speech recognition, voice authentication and text-to-speech resources provides for a fault-tolerant, high-availability operation.

Voice Web Server provides the industry's highest accuracy rates -- over 96% on many deployed systems. Other benefits include:

-- Readiness for integration into Nuance partner environments

-- Development flexibility, with support for applications written in
SpeechObjects(TM), application components with reusable grammars, prompts and
dialog, and JavaScript and VoiceXML

-- Flexible telephony deployment options, with support for T1, E1 and ISDN-PRI
interfaces

-- Broad telephony platform support, including solutions from Intel and NMS
Communications

-- Readiness for global deployments with support for 20 languages

"Enterprises and carriers alike are demanding VoiceXML solutions because they simplify development, offer a broad range of deployment options and leverage existing Web infrastructures," said Ron Croen, CEO and president, Nuance. "With Voice Web Server, Nuance is showing its dedication to helping our partners bring competitive offerings to meet this market demand quickly and easily."