Getting the World Talking With Technology

Latest component technology allows users to surf and complete electronic forms via speech

London, England, February 14, 2000—Chant Inc., the leading developer of speech technology tools for software developers and webmasters announced today at European DevWeek 2000 availability of its speech components via ComponentSource (www.componentsource.com), the market leading Internet based distributor of software components and related services.

The components, known as SpeechKit, allow for rapidly adding speech recognition and speech synthesis (text-to-speech) capabilities to software programs and web pages. This allows the user to talk with software programs and web sites to fill out forms, query databases, enter transactions, navigate pages, ask questions and get responses without having to use a computer mouse or keyboard.

"Time to market is a key requisite for developers looking to develop their solutions at the speed that ebusiness requires," said John Earle, president and founder of Chant Inc. "By encapsulating our expertise for speech recognition in these components, we are enabling developers to add an extra level of interactivity to their applications and web sites saving them both time and resources".

Speech technology enhances the ability to navigate and interact with applications. Whether it’s obtaining product information, pricing and availability, booking reservations, placing orders or playing games, customer satisfaction stems from the customers’ ability to easily interact and transact.

The ability to use the mouse or keyboard to interact with the application or web page is not affected, as both the mouse and keyboard can be used in combination with voice. Users who have speech technology installed from vendors such as Dragon Systems, IBM, Lernout & Hauspie and Microsoft, can use this technology to interact with applications and web pages through SpeechKit. For users who do not have any speech technology installed, Chant provides recognizers and synthesizers to support voice-driven and text-to-speech functions.

SpeechKit handles all the low-level processing with the speech engines and operating system, thus eliminating the need for in-depth understanding of how speech technology works and the need to intertwine this low-level code within the application business logic.

Availability

SpeechKit will be available worldwide from ComponentSource (www.componentsource.com). Developers will be able to evaluate, purchase and download the components and take advantage of ComponentSource’s unique e-business to business services. These include multilingual pre and post sales support, multi-currency purchasing, corporate account schemes, purchase history and CD back up.

About ComponentSource

Founded in 1995 ComponentSource has built the world's largest repository of open market software components. The company sells to a worldwide customer base having pioneered the global distribution of software components over the Internet with an award winning e-business service model that has helped establish it as the market leader. The company is actively recruiting and assisting new authors to enter the global open market for EJB, CORBA and COM components. www.componentsource.com

About Chant

Chant Inc. is a leading provider of software and services that helps organizations gain competitive advantage with speech technology. Chant helps organizations identify and implement the most attractive opportunities appropriate their company and industry. Chant is the first company to provide engine-independent middleware for developing desktop, web-enabled, and telephony applications that use speech technology. www.chant.net

Chant, SpeechKit, Talking with Technology, and Getting the World Talking With Technology are trademarks or registered trademarks of Chant Inc. All other marks are owned by their respective companies.