Worldwide Speech Technology Leader Expands in EMEA; Roland Richter to Lead Dragon Systems' EMEA Operations - Europe, Middle East and Africa - Company Operations

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, August 16, 1999

As part of its expansion into international markets, Dragon Systems, Inc., a worldwide leading developer of speech technology, announced Monday that it has enhanced the management of its international sales and marketing operations. As part of the effort, former Novell Vice President Roland Richter has been appointed Dragon Systems' Vice President, EMEA. He will be responsible for directing Dragon Systems' sales and marketing efforts throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa. Andreas Widmer, Dragon Systems' Vice President of International Sales and Marketing, who built Dragon Systems EMEA operations, will now dedicate his efforts to creating new opportunities and building markets in Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Over the past year, Dragon Systems has experienced rapid growth and expansion in Europe. Dragon NaturallySpeaking products have won over 95 international awards including the prestigious 21st Annual SMAU Industrial Design Award (Italy); PC Professionell Innovation of the Year (Germany); PC Guide Switzerland 1998 Product of the Year: Business Software; Innovation 98 Info PC iT/COMDEX France: Best Development Tool and many more. Dragon Systems, Inc. opened two new international offices in 1998 in Marlow, United Kingdom and Paris La Defense, France and moved production, telesales and technical support into Europe. Dragon Systems' products are available in English, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and German.

"Dragon Systems is delighted to welcome Roland Richter to our team. Roland's expertise, reputation and knowledge ensure our continued success as we reach the next levels of growth," said John Shagoury, President of Dragon Systems. "Roland brings to Dragon Systems, a great deal of experience in managing leading companies and will help us to further solidify and expand our presence in Europe."

Dragon Systems, Inc., is a worldwide leader in PC speech recognition. Dragon Systems develops and markets high-performance, cost-effective speech and language technology that, in multiple world languages (including U.S. English, British English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish), enable users to create text, issue commands, and enter and access data simply by speaking. The company also licenses technology worldwide through developers, distributors, resellers, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), and ISVs (Integrated Software Vendors). Dragon Systems ports its technology across multiple operating systems and hardware platforms --from handheld devices and PCs to workstations, and is pursuing leading-edge research and development projects for computer and telecommunications applications. Since introducing Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the first large vocabulary continuous speech recognition system able to create general purpose text, in 1997, the Company has received over 100 major industry awards worldwide.

Founded in 1982, Dragon Systems has its headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts. It has European subsidiaries in Munich, Paris and in Marlow near London, and additional research laboratories in Cheltenham, England (Dragon Systems GmbH, Dragon Systems SA, Dragon Systems UK Ltd, and Dragon Systems UK Research & Development Ltd, respectively).