TURIN, Italy and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Loquendo, the leading innovator in speech technology, and Roche, the healthcare-solutions provider, today announced the integration of Loquendo's Text to Speech into Roche's automated call centre.

Through this agreement, Loquendo's Text to Speech (TTS) software has been incorporated using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Thanks to this important new technology, Roche's customers can now call the service 24 hours a day, while previously the service was available only during business hours by means of a staffed call centre. Roche's IVR was developed by CTI Dealer using one E1 Board as the telephony interface.

Roche's product - a tester for people with diabetes, called Accuchek - has been in great demand for some time, and Roche consequently set up a call centre giving customers information on drugstores stocking the product. Now this service has been automated, customers need only dial in their postcode and they are given all the details of the nearest two drugstores where they can find Accuchek.

"This partnership is a perfect fit for Roche's strategy. With the integration, we were able to bring a 30% reduction of calls routed to the call centre," says Alexandre Baccaro - Accucheck Responde Supervisor. "Besides providing high quality technology, Loquendo has also enabled us to provide higher quality customer care, giving our customers 24 hour database access to over 3000 drugstores."

"Loquendo's TTS technology is ideally suited for Roche's automated call centre, and we are very pleased to be offering valuable assistance to those suffering from diabetes," says Rosanna Duce, Loquendo's vice-president. "The partnership with Roche is a natural development for Loquendo, which at the same time extends our reach into the important South American markets."

Loquendo offers a high quality, multi-lingual portfolio of speech technologies, which enable systems integrators to provide simple, intuitive voice interaction with information. Loquendo currently supports 17 languages from around the world, with additional language technologies under development.

About Loquendo - Vocal Technology and Services
With over 30 years cutting-edge R&D experience, global speech-technologies leader Loquendo provides all the technologies required for creating the ultimate speech-interaction solutions. Loquendo's best-in-breed technologies - Loquendo TTS, Loquendo ASR, Loquendo Speaker Verification - and the VoxNauta Platform enable integrators to rapidly and easily create best-in-breed solutions in 17 languages.

Currently available languages include U.S. and U.K. English, Castilian, Catalan, Mexican, Chilean, Argentinean, American Spanish, Italian, German, French, Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Dutch, Brazilian, Portuguese and Swedish - in both male and female voices. Many more are under development to give customers expanded reach in today's global marketplace.

Loquendo is a Telecom Italia company headquartered in Turin, Italy. It is the leading technological partner for integrators in the speech solutions field throughout Europe, the U.S. & Latin America. Many enterprises and carriers worldwide have recognized the Loquendo difference, and Loquendo solutions currently automate millions of calls every day.

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

About Roche
Roche employs around 65,000 people and sells its products in over 150 countries. Roche's multinational presence reinforces their ability to offer healthcare solutions worldwide and to anticipate needs in all regions of the world. Led and supported by the Group Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, a series of local subsidiaries are at your disposal to provide you with the best possible service.

About CTI Dealer
CTI Dealer, partner with Loquendo since 2003, was founded in 1996 and specialises in the development of IVRs, Automatic Dialers, Mobility Software and Digital Recording Systems. CTI Dealer is a Certified Microsoft Partner and has a strong customer base in many of Brazil's most important markets.