Simply Speaking wins European Software Award

IBM VOICETYPE LEAVES THE COMPETITION SPEECHLESS

11 June 1997

IBM's VoiceType* Simply Speaking has been recognised as the number one speech recognition system in Europe, winning the Ziff Davis European Software Excellence award for the Desktop/Environment category.

Duncan Ross, Speech Recognition Business Manager, IBM United Kingdom Ltd. comments: "The reception VoiceType Simply Speaking has received from the consumer market has been phenomenal, since its launch in November last year.

"The fact that more than 250,000 new users around the world have chosen IBM's VoiceType family of products in that time is testament to their usability and innovation. We are delighted that the judges of Ziff Davis have also chosen VoiceType Simply Speaking and believe the latest additions to the product family will reinforce IBM's market leading position."

Notes to editor

For further information, please contact:

Kate Stretton/James Lloyd, Charles Barker Plc, 0171 830 8462/8493
kates@cbarker.co.uk / jamesl@cbarker.co.uk

Elaine Richards, IBM UK Ltd, 0171 202 5606
elaine_richards@uk.ibm.com

To qualify for the awards the software had to be available in at least two European languages and been shipped between January 1st 1996 and March 31st 1997.

The winners were chosen by a committee drawn from the journalists and product reviewers of Ziff Davis's laboratory review-based publications, PC Professionell, PC Expert and PC Magazine. This year editors from the German internet business title ZD Internet Professionell and from their sister consumer publications, Computer Gaming World and Univers Jeux et Micro joined the judging team to provide additional experience to evaluate the wealth of innovative products available in the consumer arena.

The ceremony took place during the seventh annual conference of the Software Publishers Association-Europe on Monday 2nd June 1997 in Cannes, France.

System requirements

Simply Speaking comes packaged with a noise-reducing, collapsible microphone. Minimum requirements are 16 MB RAM and a 100 MHz Pentium IBM-compatible PC running Windows 95 with 30 to 40 MB additional hard disk space, a CD-ROM drive and Soundblaster 16 or 100% compatible soundcard.***

Availability and Pricing VoiceType Simply Speaking is priced at £42 (+VAT) and is available now through the Dixons Stores Group including PC World, Dixons and Currys, and through other selected outlets.

The product is available in French, German, Italian, Spanish, US English and UK English.

*, **Product and service names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation and Lotus Corporation, or their respective owners.

Speech Recognition Leadership IBM set the industry standard for speech recognition software when it launched the VoiceType family of products. With more than 25 years of research in the field, the company has built a team of speech recognition specialists worldwide, dedicated to the development, support, marketing and sale of IBM speech solutions in many languages.

The VoiceType family of products includes Simply Speaking Gold for Windows 95, VoiceType 3 for Windows 95, Simply Speaking for Windows 95, VoiceType Developers Toolkit Version 3.0 for Windows 95 and OS/2 Warp which includes integrated VoiceType.

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