Turin, Italy, May 28th, 2008

Indesit Company, in the concept zone of its stand at Eurocucina, presented Sophius, the voice controlled oven, a prototype realized with the technology of Loquendo, global speech technology provider, and Amuser, multimedia solution provider.

Sophius is the first fully voice-controlled domestic appliance. Using the voice – the most intuitive, natural and immediate means of interaction – Sophius allows the user to set the cooking time and temperature or, if preferred, the preset programme desired. Voice commands can be guided – by Loquendo's expressive TTS prompts - or spontaneous – said freely and naturally as the speaker wishes. Sophius is able to understand naturally spoken commands such as "Cook the pizza at 180 degrees for 20 minutes".

Sophius is one of Indesit Company's next generation appliance concepts that were demonstrated at the Eurocucina exhibition in Milan last April, and embodies new technologies and design solutions to improve the quality of life at home. By incorporating Loquendo's highly accurate and robust speech recognition, and award-winning text to speech technology, Indesit Company created a cutting edge, pioneering solution that is set to transform the domestic environment.

Indesit Company's innovative products are the result of an intensive research and design programme into materials, style, ergonomics and the needs and wishes of consumers.

"Indesit Company has always seen innovation as a priority for business development, for the creation of value and for sustainable growth," said Silvio Corrias, Indesit Company Innovation & Technology Director. "Every year we completely renew at least 50% of our products, involving major investments." The collaboration between Loquendo and Amuser is part of Indesit’s innovation model, based on a wide-reaching system of networking that involves suppliers, producers of goods and products related to domestic appliances, universities and research centres in Italy and abroad, allowing us to establish collaborative relationships from the initial phases of concept design and development." "Sophius, incorporating Loquendo speech technology, received one of the most enthusiastic responses at Eurocucina," continued Silvio Corrias.

"With Amuser's groundbreaking VUI solution, Loquendo expands its presence into Home Automation - a relatively new sector for speech technology," says Paolo Coppo, Loquendo VP for Marketing and Business Development. "Loquendo is always searching for new and innovative applications for its technologies and the Sophius voice-controlled oven brings a new generation of VUI into the domestic environment, taking the strain out of household tasks."

About Indesit Company
Indesit Company is Europe's second largest manufacturer of household appliances by market share and the world's fifth. Founded in 1975 by the current chairman Vittorio Merloni and listed on the Milan stock exchange since 1987, the Group posted sales of over €3.4 billion in 2007, having turned out around 16 million appliances. Indesit, Hotpoint-Ariston and Scholtès are the Group's main brands. Indesit Company operates through 17 production facilities and 24 commercial branches worldwide and employs over 17,000 people.

More information on the website www.indesitcompany.com.

About Amuser
Amuser S.p.A. is a leading provider of multimedia and multimodal solutions. Founded in July 2004 with the acquisition of the Voice Application branch of Loquendo, Amuser's portfolio includes high-quality multimedia (voice, SMS/MMS, video, WAP, web, fax, mail) and multimodal solutions for Large Enterprises, Telcos and Media companies. Amuser is headquartered in Rome, Italy, with offices in Turin and Milan.

About Loquendo - Vocal Technology and Services
With over 30 years experience in speech technology, Loquendo is at the forefront of the global speech market. Loquendo TTS, Loquendo ASR, Loquendo Embedded Technologies, and Loquendo Speaker Identification and Verification are high-quality, high-performance technologies that guarantee systems integrators the best solutions in 23 languages with 56 voices. Loquendo voice technologies are also available on the Loquendo MRCP Server and on VoiceXML and CCXML platforms.

Loquendo is the only speech technology vendor that provides a complete product line for navigation and handheld devices, desktop PCs and telephony servers, guaranteeing the same portfolio of languages and the same core engine in all these environments.

Loquendo Embedded Technologies are innovative and easy to integrate solutions that can be found powering navigation systems, on-board devices and virtual assistants on the websites of leading companies all over the world.

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

For more information about Loquendo, and to hear demos of all the Loquendo voices, go to www.loquendo.com.