AVST and CIT Enter Strategic Relationship

Business Wire, Jan 30, 2007

New Partnership Arms AVST Resellers and Customers with Greater Financing Options for Unified Communications Solutions

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. -- Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) today announced it has entered a strategic partnership with CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE:CIT), a leading global provider of commercial and consumer finance solutions. The new partnership provides AVST resellers and end-user customers with easy, flexible and innovative financing solutions for its CallXpress product line and related IP telephony equipment.

A leading provider of unified communications solutions, AVST has partnered with CIT to enable businesses of all sizes to realize the business and productivity benefits of a second generation communications platform through flexible financing options. AVST's CallXpress platform delivers world-class call processing, voice messaging, unified messaging and advanced speech applications and increases employee productivity, effectiveness and collaboration at a minimal investment.

"AVST is a welcome addition to our prestigious list of vendor partners," said Ron Arrington, President, CIT U.S. Vendor Finance. "CIT seeks relationships with established suppliers of essential business solutions. The unified communications marketplace is taking hold and our partnership enables AVST to further the advancement of this growing space through alternative financing options that make it easy to acquire their communications technology."

AVST has introduced the new program to its 180 U.S. based reseller partners with overwhelming response. "Our technology is all about choice and flexibility," said Denny Michael, AVST Vice President of Marketing. "Our new partnership allows us to extend those basic principles to financing options. Flexible and easy options in financing make our products more available to our end-user community thereby enabling them to upgrade their communications infrastructure to take them into the future."

CIT Vendor Finance is a global leader in financing solutions that drive incremental revenues for manufacturers, distributors, and other intermediaries. It provides customized financing solutions to customers in nearly 40 countries, supporting a wide variety of industries, including health care, industrial equipment, and technology.

About CIT

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), a leading commercial and consumer finance company, provides clients with financing and leasing products and advisory services. Founded in 1908, CIT has more than $70 billion in managed assets and possesses the financial resources, industry expertise and product knowledge to serve the needs of clients across approximately 30 industries worldwide. CIT, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 Index, holds leading positions in vendor financing, factoring, equipment and transportation financing, Small Business Administration loans, and asset-based lending. With its global headquarters in New York City, CIT has more than 7,200 employees in locations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. http://www.cit.com/

About AVST

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a leading developer of communications solutions for businesses of all sizes. Through its world-class unified communications platform, CallXpress[R], and its innovative speech application module, Seneca[R], AVST offers the industry's most powerful suite of second generation communications solutions including voice messaging, unified messaging, speech-enabled applications (including automated attendant and hands-free mobile worker access), and call processing (including embedded IVR).

The CallXpress unified communications platform is designed to facilitate the enterprise migration from legacy TDM call processing and voice mail solutions to IP-enabled unified communications by delivering the interoperability, scalability, feature depth and flexibility, and administrative capabilities that enterprise IT and Telecom teams are demanding.

Headquartered in Orange County, CA, AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, WA and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices across the United States. With over 35,000 systems installed worldwide, AVST's unified communications solutions are sold and supported internationally by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. Established in September 2003, AVST was formed from the combined businesses of Sound Advantage (established in 1997) and the AVT division (established in 1982) of Captaris, Inc. For more information contact Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing, at 949-699-2300 or access the company's website at www.avst.com.