December 5th, 2007

Loquendo, the global speech technology provider, today announced that the latest release of Loquendo TTS (version 7) is now available with the latest release of Loquendo VoxNauta™ platform (version 7.0), as well as with Loquendo MRCP Server 7 (previously known as Loquendo Speech Suite).

Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 already supports Loquendo ASR 7: integrators, therefore, can now upgrade their platforms with all Loquendo technologies - Loquendo TTS, Loquendo ASR and Loquendo Speaker Verification. Furthermore, Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 is now bundled with the latest Loquendo speech technologies integrated through MRCPv2, the most advanced and powerful IETF standard protocol.

Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 platform, already certified by the VoiceXML Forum as VoiceXML 2.0 compliant, fully supports all relevant W3C standards for voice applications, such as: CCXML 1.0 for call control, VoiceXML 2.0/2.1 for voice applications, SRGS 1.0 and SISR 1.0 for ASR grammars and SSML 1.0 for TTS prompts.

Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 now includes the following advanced features:

• Conference call management has been extended to SIP/RTP profile and can be programmed by means of CCXML 1.0 to realize very complex conferencing models. In the past the conferencing capabilities were limited to NMS-board integrations.
  
  
• Speaker verification functionalities are available in VoiceXML 2.0/2.1 applications by means of a Loquendo proprietary <object> element to access the Loquendo Speaker Verification engine capabilities.
  
  
• Density of IVR solutions – for VoiceXML services based on DTMF and pre-recorded prompts, or DMTF, pre-recorded prompts and input recording - has been significantly increased.
  
  
• The Management Console has been extended to include a Service Logs Analyzer tool, which is a graphical tool to analyze and tune a deployed VoiceXML service.
  

Loquendo TTS 7, therefore, brings to Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 all the advantages of a superior text-to-speech engine, along with an advanced architecture that maintains language/voice separation for the seamless upgrade to new languages and new voices.

Loquendo TTS 7 includes many new features, the latest being the Dynamic Range Control which improves TTS comprehension in noisy environments by compressing the audio signal and boosting selected frequencies. This innovative feature allows a new generation of applications to be adapted according to the environment - wherever increased intelligibility is required.

Loquendo TTS is the very first text to speech with a genuine 'emotional' component, an unparalleled leap forward in TTS technology - now prompts can be made more lively, expressive and natural sounding to better suit the application. It also comes with Mixed Language Support, by which any Loquendo voice is able to correctly pronounce foreign words in any language, while still retaining its native accent. This is particularly useful for the reading of titles and names, such as for cinema listings for example. Furthermore, Loquendo TTS now fully supports the X-SAMPA phonetic alphabet (as well as the SAMPA variants from TeleAtlas® and Navteq™), making it ideal for the reading out of addresses.

The availability of Loquendo TTS 7 on Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0 carries with it all the recently developed languages - such as Turkish - and the new voices - Zeynep for Turkish and Soledad for American Spanish. These new arrivals to the Loquendo family bring the total number of languages to 20 and the total number of voices to 52, all supported by Loquendo VoxNauta™ 7.0. Currently available languages include U.S. and U.K. English, American Spanish, Mexican, Chilean and Argentinian Spanish, Castilian, Catalan, Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian, German, Esperanto, French, Dutch, Greek, Swedish, Turkish, Canadian French and Polish in both male and female voices, with more always under development.

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 Speaker Verification and the Loquendo VoxNauta platform are high-quality, high-performance technologies that guarantee systems integrators the best solutions whatever the application.

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

Many enterprises and carriers worldwide have recognized the Loquendo difference and our advanced technologies power millions of calls every day in the telecommunications and enterprise markets across the globe.

Loquendo is a Telecom Italia company headquartered in Turin, Italy, with offices in the U.S., Spain, Germany and France, and a worldwide network of partners. For more information about Loquendo, and to try out all Loquendo voices for yourself, visit www.loquendo.com.