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EXHIBIT 99
SPEECHWORKS TO ACQUIRE ELOQUENT TECHNOLOGY, ADDING 12 LANGUAGES TO TEXT-TO-
SPEECH PRODUCT OFFERINGS
Company Expands Industry-Leading Solution Set to Reach New International and
Embedded Device Markets
BOSTON, Mass. -- Dec 21, 2000 -- SpeechWorks International, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPWX),
a market leader in the telephony-based speech technology industry, today
announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Eloquent
Technology, Inc., a supplier of state-of-the-art speech synthesis or text-to-
speech (TTS) technology, in a stock and cash transaction valued at $5.25 million
in cash and approximately 300,000 shares of SpeechWorks common stock. This
acquisition will allow SpeechWorks to dramatically expand its successful TTS
solution known as Speechify(TM) into global markets. Speechify has been
available in US English since September 2000. The acquisition will also allow
SpeechWorks to accelerate development of TTS for embedded devices and associated
applications. The transaction is expected to close in January 2001 and is
subject to customary closing conditions.
TTS turns text-based content into spoken audio and is used in a variety of
wireless and portal applications such as reading news and email, unified
messaging and mobile commerce services. When the acquisition is complete,
SpeechWorks will offer TTS solutions in 12 new languages in addition to English.
The acquisition accelerates SpeechWorks development plans for its Speechify
text-to-speech engine into global markets by at least 12 months. SpeechWorks'
Speechify, based on technology licensed from AT&T Labs in June 2000, is already
supporting consumer applications including AOL By PhoneSM and Yahoo!(R) By
Phone.
"The market reception to Speechify has been overwhelming and we are very pleased
to extend our capabilities so quickly and so dramatically with the addition of
Eloquent's technology base and its superb team of developers," said Stuart R.
Patterson, CEO, SpeechWorks. "In addition, SpeechWorks will be able to leverage
Eloquent's small footprint technology to accelerate the development of global
speech services for the fast-moving embedded device market."
This acquisition signals a dramatic expansion of SpeechWorks' strong offering in
TTS, with the addition of Eloquent's innovative approaches to multi-dialect and
multi-language synthesis that have been in development for over 15 years. Today,
Eloquent's technology is available in male, female and children's voices in US
and UK English, standard and Canadian French, Castilian and Mexican Spanish,
Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Finnish, German and Italian.
Korean is currently under development. Eloquent has already deployed its
technology through products distributed by partners around the world.
ELOQUENT'S SMALL FOOTPRINT TTS, IDEAL FOR EMBEDDED DEVICES
A major benefit of Eloquent's TTS offerings is the small footprint of the
"formant based synthesis" technique. The small footprint is ideal for embedded
devices such as in car navigation systems, next generation mobile phones, and
hand-held devices. Eloquent's TTS solution is in final stages of development for
Windows CE, the platform used in a number of embedded devices, including the
Compaq iPaq. With TTS on embedded devices, consumers can hear information such
as email or directions, rather than relying on a screen.
Other benefits of Eloquent's offerings include high-quality speech output,
sophisticated text analysis, fast execution speed, low memory requirements and
flexible user options. These features result in a variety of scalability options
and reduced deployment costs.
ELOQUENT TECHNOLOGY AND SPEECHWORKS: A NATURAL PARTNERSHIP
Founded in 1983 and based in Ithaca, NY, Eloquent Technology, with its
innovative approaches to TTS, rapid language development and versatile product,
is recognized as a leader in the industry. The company founder and president,
Dr. Susan Hertz, has been involved in linguistics, computer science and TTS for
over 30 years. In addition to her role as president and CTO of Eloquent, she is
an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Linguistics at Cornell
University, and has written over 20 papers on topics in the areas of phonology,
phonetics and speech synthesis. She is a frequent speaker at international
forums for the speech and language industries and has consulted with many
international companies such as Fujitsu and National Semiconductor on the topic
of speech technologies. Dr. Hertz will remain on board as head of the
development team building SpeechWorks' small footprint solutions and multi-
language TTS capabilities.
Eloquent's technical staff of linguists and software engineers have over 115
years of combined expertise in speech technology and are proficient in over 28
languages. Building on the early research of Dr. Hertz and her associates,
Eloquent Technology focused on developing the powerful tools and sophisticated
linguistic models on which the Eloquent TTS toolkit is based.
"We are extremely excited to be joining forces with SpeechWorks. When combined,
our technologies will result in unparalleled global solutions for speech-based
communication systems of all types," said Sue Hertz, president and CTO of
Eloquent Technology, Inc. "We look forward to adding our applications and
technologies to the SpeechWorks platform and building on the remarkable momentum
they've developed with Speechify."
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ABOUT ELOQUENT TECHNOLOGY
Eloquent Technology, Inc. is recognized as a worldwide leader in text-to-speech
synthesis. The company's principal product, ETI-Eloquence, is founded on more
than 25 years of research and development and has been commercially available
since 1995. The company president, Dr. Sue Hertz, is an established authority on
TTS technology who has conducted pioneering research in the field since the mid
1970's. The extensive and innovative technological foundation underlying the
product has given rise to its exceptional quality, performance, flexibility, and
small memory requirements. Eloquent can be found on the web at www.eloq.com or
by calling 607.266.7025.
ABOUT SPEECHWORKS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Organizations worldwide rely on SpeechWorks (NASDAQ: SPWX) to delight their
callers and provide them with a new level of service over the phone.
Complementing the self-service model of e-business, SpeechWorks speech
solutions, including the revolutionary SpeechSite(TM) product, and Speechify
text-to-speech engine, let customers direct their calls, obtain information and
complete transactions automatically, simply by speaking naturally over any
phone, anytime.
SpeechWorks customers include some of the world's most sophisticated customer
service innovators such as America Online, Amtrak, Continental Airlines,
E*Trade, FedEx, Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group, United
Airlines and Yahoo! The Company offers the SpeechWorks Here Guarantee, the
industry's only program that includes a money-back guarantee. SpeechWorks
strategic partners include leading corporations such as AT&T, Dialogic, an Intel
company, InterVoice-Brite and Net2Phone. Investors included Citigroup's e-Citi
Unit, GE Equity, Intel Corporation, The Intel64 Fund, MCI WorldCom Venture Fund
and Reuters.
SpeechWorks is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has offices around the
world. To experience the power of SpeechWorks, call 1.888.SAY.DEMO. For
additional information, call 617.428.4444 or visit http://www.speechworks.com.
SpeechWorks, Speechify, SpeechWorks Here and SpeechSite are trademarks or
registered trademarks of SpeechWorks International, Inc. in the United States
and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
