SVOX acquires Speech Processing unit of Siemens AG, expands into ASR and Dialog

Zurich, Switzerland, SVOX, the leading provider of embedded speech solutions today announced the acquisition of the Professional Speech Processing Group of Siemens AG, according to SVOX CEO Volker Jantzen. SVOX has acquired all speech technology-related IP of Siemens AG developed over 25 years, including the SpeechAdvance™ speech recognition product suite and more than 60 patent families. The majority of the Professional Speech Processing Group’s employees will be integrated into SVOX Deutschland GmbH in Munich. SVOX Deutschland GmbH is a fully owned subsidiary of SVOX AG.

“In the past SVOX has only been providing technology for making cars and portable devices talk to you,” Mr. Jantzen said. “As a result of this deal, we are now able to make those devices also understand what you are saying. A real dialog between you and the machine is therefore now possible – all from SVOX. We will continue to innovate to enable natural and intuitive communication between humans and machines.”

As a result of the acquisition SVOX will immediately offer its own Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) products as well as complete speech dialog solutions. The deal allows SVOX to significantly reinforce its position in embedded speech solutions for the automotive and mobile phone industry and strengthen its technology leadership. The enlarged company will have a commanding market share in speech solutions for premium cars.

“By this acquisition SVOX is widening its portfolio of best-of-breed speech products,” Mr. Jantzen noted. “We are now in a position to offer complete speech solutions that are highly optimized for embedded environments.”

According to Mr. Jantzen, SVOX strategy is to enhance the end user experience by enabling a more intuitive speech dialog. “This combination is a natural fit because both companies have a long history of cooperation in various high-profile automotive projects, where Siemens ASR and SVOX TTS were successfully deployed as part of the same infotainment system,” he said.

Reinhold Achatz, Head of Siemens Corporate Research and Technologies, said “The transfer of the Professional Speech Processing Group to SVOX is clearly a positive development for our customers and the team members. With its leading position in embedded speech solutions and unique base of automotive and mobile customers SVOX is well positioned to exploit the obvious synergies of developing TTS, ASR and speech dialog solutions under the same roof.”

SVOX AG is the leading provider of embedded speech solutions for the automotive and mobile device industries. SVOX focus on embedded environments and the use of flexible software architectures allow for optimized ASR, TTS and speech dialog solutions that can be easily tailored to customers` technical requirements and market needs. For more information, please visit: www.svox.com.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. The company has around 430,000 employees (in continuing operations) working to develop and manufacture products, design and install complex systems and projects, and tailor a wide range of solutions for individual requirements. For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technical achievements, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality. In fiscal 2008, Siemens had revenue of €77.3 billion and a net income of €5.9 billion (IFRS). Further information is available on the Internet at: www.siemens.com