Fonix Speech Solutions Power Hitachi Semiconductor Platforms

SALT LAKE CITY, UT and SAN JOSE, CA - Fonix Corporation (OTC BB: FONX), a provider of natural-user interface solutions for wireless and mobile devices, Internet and telephony systems, and vehicle telematics, and Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., an automotive semiconductor system solution provider, announced the availability of a solution that combines the Hitachi hardware and Fonix voice recognition software for in-vehicle computing systems. The companies also signed a joint marketing agreement that further refines the collaborative effort. "The Fonix embedded automotive voice-based technology provides a high-quality speech solution specifically tailored for telematics communication," said Tatsuo Yamamoto, Vice President of CIS/Telematics Business Unit at Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. "By incorporating Fonix speech software in proven system platforms that use SuperH processors, we make it easier for service providers and automotive OEMs to design speech-enabled car infotainment system (CIS) products. We save our customers valuable development time, too." "The Hitachi high-performance, automotive-grade SuperH RISC processors, combined with Fonix high-quality text-to-speech and automatic speech recognition, will provide a powerful platform that will give customers the most advanced speech applications available. This joint solution brings unprecedented speech capability into the automotive telematics industry. Developers can now integrate high noise-tolerant speech recognition and natural-sounding text-to-speech capabilities into their automotive products. Hitachi provides superb quality platforms with exceptional support and service, which is directly in line with our business and technical objectives", said Kurt W. Flygare, Fonix Vice President of Sales. "This relationship will allow us to continue to provide the best speech solutions to Hitachi, to developers of in-vehicle computing systems, and to all consumers."