Conversay Announces Commercial Deployment of Distributed Speech Recognition Solution

REDMOND, WA - Conversay, a developer of speech technologies for both mobile and traditional Internet access devices, announced that Conversay is in the last phase of a commercial application of a Distributed Speech Recognition (DSR) pilot with a handset manufacturer and wireless service provider. DSR splits the speech recognition processing tasks between mobile devices and network servers. This approach provides speech recognition and text-to-speech features for mobile devices, enabling critical applications such as digit dialing, name dialing and menu voice navigation, while minimizing the processor/memory requirements. Conversay speech technology ports to QUALCOMM's MSM5100 Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset, making it possible for CDMA wireless device manufacturers to provide speech technology to their wireless customers. This benefits QUALCOMM's handset customers because the technology is ready to be integrated into the chipset developed to run on current networks. "It has been a pleasure working with QUALCOMM on this project," said Steve Rondel, founder and CEO of Conversay. "We look forward to including Conversay's speech technology in the production of the MSM5100 solution and future MSM implementations." "Conversay is a leader with its innovative speech recognition engine that works over current wireless data/voice networks," said Don Schrock, president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. "Conversay's solution is well suited for the complexities of embedded devices with limited processing and memory constraints, which benefits our customers." The MSM5100 chipset and system software is designed with the flexibility to support global CDMA2000 1X market requirements and operator deployment strategies. Combining wireless Launchpad applications with 3G CDMA2000 1X technology, the MSM5100 solution offers applications including gpsOne position location support, Qtunes MP3 player software and Compact Media Extension (CMX) MIDI-based multimedia software - and is capable of supporting up to 307 kilobits per second (kbps) in the forward link. The MSM5100 solution also supports QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) applications platform, and enables implementation of Bluetooth connectivity capabilities. "We are committed to providing the best speech recognition solutions for wireless handsets and PDA devices, " said David Jumpa, Vice President of Business Development at Conversay. "By utilizing a client and server-based solution, our customers benefit from critical applications like digit/name dialing, menu navigation and a transparent transition to Distributed Speech Processing. This brings a new level of enabling applications to the wireless carriers and their subscribers by using either the wireless voice or data network."