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Nuance and IBM Establish Agreement to Advance Innovative Speech Solutions

^{Published on 2009-01-15 05:24:24, Last Modified on 2009-01-15 05:25:15 - Market Wire}
 

BURLINGTON, Mass. and ARMONK, N.Y.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech solutions, and IBM (NYSE: IBM), a pioneer in speech technology, today jointly announced that Nuance and IBM have entered into a licensing and technical services agreement to enhance and expand innovative speech solutions designed to better serve enterprises, consumers, carriers, and partners worldwide.

With the objective of advancing customer access to speech innovation, Nuance and IBM technologists will cooperate to incorporate IBM technology into Nuance's speech solutions. Nuance expects the first integrated speech innovations combining Nuance and IBM technologies to be available within two years. IBM will continue to serve its own customers. In a second component of the agreement, Nuance will purchase speech-related patents from IBM.

"IBM and Nuance share a vision to proliferate advanced speech capabilities across a broad range of devices and environments," said Dr. John E. Kelly III, IBM senior vice president and director, IBM Research. "We recognize that Nuance is a leader in the speech marketplace and we believe this technology agreement will accelerate the delivery of speech innovations to the world's consumers."

"We are enthusiastic about this strategic relationship with IBM, building on its rich history of speech research to accelerate the creation and adoption of next-generation speech solutions," said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO, Nuance. "Through this relationship, we expect to inspire a new level of technical advancement unprecedented in the speech industry from which the customers and partners of both companies will benefit."

Financial details were not disclosed.

About IBM

For more information about IBM, please visit [ www.IBM.com ].

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit: [ Nuance.com ].

Nuance and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release, relating to future plans or future events or services, are forward-looking statements which are subject to specific risks and uncertainties. These could involve particular market trends, competition factors and other risks described in documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results, events and services may vary significantly from the forecasts. The reader is warned not to rely on these forward-looking statements without reservation, since these are simply reflections of the current situation.