Conversay Announces First Commercial Deployment of Distributed Speech Recognition (DSR) Solution - Speech Solution Based on Conversays CASSITM Speech Engine and QUALCOMMs MSM5100 Chipset -

Conversay, a leader in enabling mobile speech technologies and Qualcomm, leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Companys CDMA digital technology announce the first commercial deployment of Distributed Speech Recognition (DSR) Solution on Qualcomm's MSM5100. While the speech industry has been discussing DSR for several years, Conversay is the first to deploy a commercial DSR solution. DSR splits the speech recognition processing tasks between mobile devices and network servers. This approach provides state-of-the-art speech recognition and text-to-speech features for mobile devices, enabling critical applications such as digit dialing, name dialing and menu voice navigation, while minimizing the processor/memory requirements. Conversay speech technology ports to QUALCOMMs MSM5100 Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset, making it possible for CDMA wireless device manufacturers to easily provide speech technology to their wireless customers. This benefits QUALCOMMs handset customers because the technology is ready to be integrated into the chipset developed to run on current networks, unlike speech technology competitors who are waiting for wireless carriers to release future generation networks.

REDMOND, Wash. (PRWEB) October 16, 2002 -- Conversay, a global leader in enabling speech technologies for both mobile and traditional Internet access devices today announced that Conversay is in the last phase of the first commercial application of a Distributed Speech Recognition (DSR) pilot with a major handset manufacturer and wireless service provider.

While the speech industry has been discussing DSR for several years, Conversay was the first to deploy a commercial DSR solution. DSR splits the speech recognition processing tasks between mobile devices and network servers. The Conversay solution improves recognition performance dramatically and delivers more robust and seamless applications than previously possible in mobile devices. This approach provides state-of-the-art speech recognition and text-to-speech features for mobile devices, enabling critical applications such as digit dialing, name dialing and menu voice navigation, while minimizing the processor/memory requirements. The small memory footprint, low CPU requirement and advanced architecture of Conversays DSR technology allow it to fit into many mobile devices currently on the market.

Conversay speech technology ports to QUALCOMMs MSM5100 Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset, making it possible for CDMA wireless device manufacturers to easily provide speech technology to their wireless customers. This benefits QUALCOMMs handset customers because the technology is ready to be integrated into the chipset developed to run on current networks, unlike speech technology competitors who are waiting for wireless carriers to release future generation networks.

It has been a pleasure working with QUALCOMM on this project," said Steve Rondel, founder and CEO of Conversay. We look forward to including Conversays speech technology in the production of the MSM5100 solution and future MSM implementations."

Conversay is a leader with its innovative speech recognition engine that works over current wireless data/voice networks," said Don Schrock, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. Conversays solution is well suited for the complexities of embedded devices with limited processing and memory constraints, which benefits our customers."

The MSM5100 chipset and system software is designed with the flexibility to support global CDMA2000 1X market requirements and operator deployment strategies. Combining wireless Launchpad applications with 3G CDMA2000 1X technology, the MSM5100 solution offers a rich set of applications - including gpsOne position location support, Qtunes MP3 player software and Compact Media Extension (CMX) MIDI-based multimedia software - and is capable of supporting up to 307 kilobits per second (kbps) in the forward link. The MSM5100 solution also supports QUALCOMMs Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) applications platform, and enables low-cost implementation of Bluetooth connectivity capabilities.

We are committed to providing the best speech recognition solutions for wireless handsets and PDA devices, " said David Jumpa, Vice President of Business Development at Conversay. By utilizing a client and server-based solution, our customers benefit from critical applications like digit/name dialing, menu navigation and a transparent transition to Distributed Speech Processing. This brings a new level of enabling applications to the wireless carriers and their subscribers by using either the wireless voice or data network."

About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Companys CDMA digital technology. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.

About Conversay
Founded in 1994, Conversay provides solutions that enable voice interaction with network information, including the Internet, when other interfaces are difficult or impossible. Built on an innovative speech engine, Conversay technology is speaker-independent, modular, scalable and accommodates unlimited vocabulary, making it ideally suited for mobile Internet applications. It can reside on the device -- including smart" phones, hand-held devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and more -- as well as drive speech-enabled content from the server side. Products and solutions include a voice browser, desktop and Web developer tools, a conversational server and distributed speech recognition. Conversay headquarters are in Redmond, Wash., and is located on the web at www.conversay.com.

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Conversay, Conversational Computing, and Conversation are trademarks or registered trademarks of Conversational Computing Corporation. QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. MSM, MSM5100, Launchpad, gpsOne, Qtunes, CMX and BREW are trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.