Phone-Or and ART Cooperate to Bring a Better Speech Recognition Application to Market

    OR-YEHUDA, Israel & ATLANTA--July 9, 2002--Phone-Or Ltd., provider of optical microphone solutions, and ART Advanced Recognition Technologies, Inc., a global leader in natural human user interface technologies, announced today the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will enable the companies to work together to provide an enhanced speech recognition application to the growing telematics market.
    The collaboration between the two companies will bring together Phone-Or's EverBeam(R) optical microphone for automotive telematics and ART's smARTspeak XG(TM) speech recognition solution. Already tested together, EverBeam and smARTspeak XG yield excellent recognition rates in various driving conditions.
    "Phone-Or recognizes that speech recognition is the enabler of hands-free applications for automotive telematics and that the microphone is an integral and critical part of any voice-activated application. We, therefore, understand the importance of working with ART in order to bring the best speech recognition solution to the automotive telematics market. With increased accuracy of speech recognition, as ART's recognition results demonstrated with EverBeam, drivers will have a much safer and enjoyable driving experience," commented Oded Turbahn, President and CEO of Phone-Or.
    Eran Aharonson, President of ART, agreed: "We were impressed by how the already high recognition rates increased even more when ART's smARTspeak XG engine is used together with Phone-Or's EverBeam. We believe this collaboration will enhance in-car speech-enabled systems and therefore increase consumer loyalty."

    About Phone-Or

    Phone-Or develops, markets and manufactures a revolutionary, patented optical microphone system that incorporates its field-tested background noise suppression (BNS) technology. Phone-Or's optical microphone and BNS system constitute an enabling solution for speech-recognition-based applications by providing excellent sound quality, clearer speech and unparalleled noise-free communications. Phone-Or is an Intel Portfolio Company and has strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Motorola and Kenwood.
    Phone-Or is headquartered in Israel, with an office in the US. For more information about Phone-Or and its optical solutions, visit www.phone-or.com.

    About ART Advanced Recognition Technologies, Inc.

    Established in 1990, ART Advanced Recognition Technologies, Inc., is the acknowledged pioneer and market leader in natural user systems of embedded speech and handwriting recognition for mobile devices. With over a decade of software innovations, ART develops and markets technologically superior solutions for the control and command of mobile devices by the human voice and natural handwriting. Through its range of proprietary technologies based on unique, signal-processing algorithms, ART provides next-generation human interface solutions for cellular handsets, smartphones, mobile communicators, PDAs and handheld devices, and automotive systems.
    Today, ART's embedded software-only solutions are deployed in dozens of product lines from industry leaders such as Acer, Casio, Franklin, GVC, Hitachi, Hutel, Konka, LGE, Inventec, Maxon, Mitsubishi, NeoPoint, Panasonic, Philips, Quanta, Samsung, and Siemens Automotive. ART has strategic and technological partnerships with numerous industry leaders, including Agere Systems, Analog Devices, DSP Group, e-SIM, Microsoft, Motorola, OTM Technologies, Parthus, Pegasus, Persay, Symbian, Texas Instruments, and TTPCom.
    Based in the United States, with sales offices on the east and west coasts, ART maintains a wholly owned Israeli subsidiary -- ART Ltd. -- where research and development are conducted. ART is active in the US, European, and Asian markets. For more information about ART, see: http://www.artcomp.com.

    smARTspeak XG(TM) is a trademark of ART Advanced Recognition Technologies, Inc. Names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.