Epson and Fonix Announce New Speech Platform

SALT LAKE CITY, UT and TOKYO, JAPAN - Fonix Corporation (OTC BB: FNIX), a provider of speech interface solutions, and Seiko Epson Corporation, provider of information-related equipment, introduced a speech recognition and Text-to-Speech (TTS) platform that they claim will allow users to interact with embedded systems by speaking naturally. "The trends in device markets are driving increasing demand from customers and partners for convenient, natural user-interfaces," said Thomas A. Murdock, Fonix CEO. "Fonix has been ahead of the trends by anticipating need and creating standardized solutions for key markets. Our partnership with Epson makes our solutions market ready for current and future design wins." "The architecture and features of the Epson S1C33 Family make it a perfect match for the Fonix technologies," says Hirabayashi Yasuhisa, general manager of Seiko Epson IC Marketing Department. "These two technologies combined provide the best speech solution for a wide variety of embedded devices." "This is a strategic market opportunity for Fonix," says Rolf-Juergen Bruess, Fonix International president. "With speech bundled directly on the microcontroller, the development cycle is shortened, which decreases the integration cost and significantly decreases the time-to-market for device manufacturers."