SEATTLE –(Business Wire)– Dec. 29, 2005 — Voice Search Technology to Offer Consumers Easy-to-Use Experience and One-Stop Access to Digital Entertainment and Information
VoiceBox(R) Technologies Inc., developers of the world’s first conversational voice search technology, and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR), the nation’s leading satellite radio service, announced today a strategic multiyear, creative and commercial alliance to create and deliver a voice-enabled XM Radio platform to the automotive industry. Through the partnership, the companies will co-develop a voice-search-enabled reference platform that will allow drivers to simply “say it and get it.” Drivers will be able to access XM Radio’s 160 digital entertainment channels of commercial-free music and premier sports, news, talk radio, and entertainment. The technology is expected to be made available to automakers and the aftermarket in mid-2006.
At next week’s 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the companies will demonstrate the telematics technology during the unveiling of the XM Advanced Services vehicle, a specially equipped 2006 Lexus LX 470 to be displayed at the XM Satellite Radio booth (Booth No. 4606) in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center Jan. 5-8.
“After extensive analysis, XM chose VoiceBox as its source for voice technology because of its intuitive and conversational voice search offerings that have remarkable accuracy in noisy, real-world environments; VoiceBox’s technology provides the ultimate voice-enabled user environment,” said Rod Mackenzie, director of Advanced Applications at XM Satellite Radio. “Together, XM and VoiceBox will be able to provide XM subscribers with a hands-free and reliable voice-enabled technology that offers more choices and quality services.”
The companies’ telematics offering will leverage integral technologies within VoiceBox’s Navigator Platform(TM) that enables breakthrough conversational control of media and navigation of digital content from any mobile device and from any IP network. The platform’s speech recognition algorithms are designed to determine the context and intent from conversational speech, enabling consumers to speak in free-form language. VoiceBox’s Navigator Platform runs on various embedded, desktop and server systems for applications such as music and media, navigation and driving directions, directory and hands-free dialing, and control over digital devices.
“VoiceBox Technologies is excited to join forces with XM Satellite Radio; this marks the beginning of a solid partnership with the industry’s leading satellite radio company,” said Mike Kennewick, chairman and CEO of VoiceBox Technologies. “VoiceBox and XM’s co-developed voice-enabled telematics offering will combine the power of VoiceBox’s voice-search and voice-to-data technologies with XM’s unparalleled technology and content leadership to provide consumers with a reliable and easy-to-use voice-driven experience to find personalized information on topics such as stocks, weather, music and traffic.”
About XM Satellite Radio
XM (NASDAQ:XMSR) is America’s number one satellite radio service with more than 5 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, D.C., New York City and Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame, XM’s 2005 lineup includes 160 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: the most commercial-free music channels, plus premier sports, talk, comedy, children’s and entertainment programming; and the most advanced traffic and weather information.
XM, the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Porsche, and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 130 different vehicle models for 2006. XM’s industry-leading products are available at consumer electronics retailers nationwide. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com.
About VoiceBox Technologies
VoiceBox(R) Technologies offers the world’s first conversational voice search platform, called the VoiceBox Navigator Platform(TM), enabling breakthrough conversational search and navigation of digital content from any mobile device and from any IP network. A key differentiator for VoiceBox’s Navigator Platform is that it consistently achieves a remarkable level of task completion searching across multiple content domains through its Knowledge Enhanced Search and Speech Recognition (KESSR) algorithms, which determine the context and intention behind the words spoken by the user. Intelligent queries and searches are then dynamically executed based on such context and user intent. The VoiceBox Navigator Platform runs on various embedded, desktop and server systems for applications such as music and media, navigation and driving directions, directory and hands-free dialing, and control over digital devices. VoiceBox, headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., develops and sells rich conversational language and voice search applications for the automotive, digital home, mobile phone and VoIP markets. More information is available through the Web site found at http://www.voicebox.com.
