1st December, 2009

Turin, Italy – Loquendo, leading speech technology provider worldwide, and Alpine Electronics of America Inc. ("Alpine"), the industry-leading manufacturer of automotive audio and navigation products, announce their new partnership to add text-to-speech (TTS) technology to Alpine's future navigation products.

Loquendo TTS is fluent, expressive synthetic speech in the widest range of voices and languages in the industry, available for any application requiring speech and for all major platforms and environments, whether embedded, server or desktop.

With this new partnership, Loquendo TTS will be integrated into those Alpine next generation navigation products which can benefit from the addition of TTS – for reading driving directions, street addresses and points of interest (POIs).

"The partnership with Alpine is a key strategic move for Loquendo," says Luisa Cordano, Sales Manager of Embedded Technologies at Loquendo. "We are pleased to work with such a world-renowned brand and to help improve the driving experience for Alpine customers."

About Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.
Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alpine Electronics, Inc., which is an automotive electronics manufacturer that supports drivers in over 60 countries and provides the world's leading auto makers with audio, video, navigation and driver assistance products. The company specializes in system integration solutions with innovative vehicle entertainment and information technologies.

Alpine's R&D and manufacturing facilities in Japan, China, Europe and North America ensure that all products address the real world requirements of drivers in each market. The company is committed to developing products that are safe, comfortable and eco-friendly for the automotive environment.

For more information about Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. and their aftermarket products, visit
www.alpine-usa.com.

About Loquendo - Vocal Technology and Services
Awarded Speech Industry 'Market Leader' for the past three consecutive years, Loquendo provides a complete range of speech technologies for server, embedded and desktop solutions – in 27 languages with 65 voices, and constantly growing - helping businesses deliver a next-generation client experience while saving them millions each year.

Loquendo Embedded Technologies are innovative, easy-to-integrate solutions deployed in more than 9 million mobile and on-board navigation systems globally, as well as powering PDAs, assistive devices, virtual Web-assistants and other embedded solutions around the world.

Loquendo TTS, Loquendo ASR, and Loquendo Speaker Identification and Verification are high-quality, high-performance technologies, also available on the Loquendo MRCP Server and VoiceXML and CCXML platform.

Loquendo is a Telecom Italia company headquartered in Turin, Italy, with offices in the US, Spain, Germany and France, and a global network of partners.

For more info, and to hear Loquendo TTS for yourself, go to www.loquendo.com.