| ScanSoft Added to Telematics Valley, an Intra-Industry Consortium to Promote Adoption of Telematics |
|
|
|
Joins Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Saab, Volvo, and Other Leading Vendors in Driving the Telematics Industry ForwardPEABODY, Mass. January 14, 2002 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that it has joined Telematics Valley, an open forum designed to promote the acceptance and adoption of telematics solutions on a global scale. With 56 companies active on its roster, Telematics Valley includes many of the world's leading automotive manufacturers and technology suppliers, including Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Saab and Volvo. Telematics is an emerging market within the global automotive industry that combines wireless voice and data solutions to provide drivers and passengers a range of applications, including location-specific security, navigation assistance, real-time traffic information and in-vehicle entertainment services. Founded in August 2001, Telematics Valley was created to provide a cross-industry forum that facilitates collaboration between automotive and technology suppliers, strengthens commercial and political support for the industry and leverages research and education within the area of telematics. With the addition of multi-national vendors such as ScanSoft, the Telematics Valley is widening its efforts to an international scale, while gaining traction and recognition throughout the industry. ScanSoft's participation in the Telematics Valley consortium will allow the company to cooperate with leading telematics application developers, automobile manufacturers and suppliers, with the goal of more rapidly advancing the development and deployment of telematics applications throughout the world. "Speech is the most natural interface for applications where a keyboard and mouse are impractical or unsafe, both of which are true for automotive applications," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer at ScanSoft. "We are pleased to be the first embedded speech provider to join Telematics Valley, and are proud to join with other leading vendors in shaping the future of telematics technology and applications." Today, ScanSoft's embedded speech solutions, comprising automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech, are used to enable the hands-free use of navigation, climate, information and entertainment systems within the car, resulting in improved driver safety. ScanSoft will broaden its automatic speech recognition solutions for automobiles and mobile devices through its previously announced acquisition of the Philips Speech Processing Voice Control business. The acquisition is expected to close this quarter. Combined, ScanSoft and Philips reference accounts for automotive and telematics applications include Bosch-Blaupunkt, CellPort, Citroen, Clarion, Daimler Chrysler, General Motors, Land Rover, Microsoft, Motorola, Pioneer and Siemens. Please visit www.scansoft.com/automotive/about/ to learn more about ScanSoft's automotive solutions. For additional information on Telematics Valley, please visit www.telematicsvalley.org About ScanSoft, Inc.ScanSoft, Inc. is a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes -- saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service. Trademark reference: ScanSoft is a registered trademark or trademark of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in ScanSoft's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof. |



