Microsoft Acquires Technology Assets From Unveil Technologies

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 6, 2005 —Microsoft Corp. today announced it has acquired certain intellectual property assets from Unveil Technologies Inc., a leading developer of enterprise call center technology and the award-winning Unveil Conversation Suite.

With this acquisition, Microsoft will be able to incorporate the Adaptive Learning and Conversation Assist components of the Unveil Conversation Suite into future versions of Microsoft® Speech Server, supporting the company’s continued commitment to deliver the most flexible and integrated speech platform at the lowest total cost of ownership.

Microsoft believes that, when integrated into the Speech Server platform, Unveil’s innovative learn-by-example and agent assist technologies will make it easier, faster and less expensive for customers to develop and optimize speech applications.

“Unveil’s technology is a natural fit with Speech Server because it is in line with our vision of making speech applications affordable and easy to develop and maintain,” said Rich Bray, general manager of the Speech Server group at Microsoft. “By supplementing our toolset with Conversation Suite technologies, even a nontechnical call-center manager can prototype and develop robust speech applications.”

“Technology like Unveil’s Conversation Suite helps make speech recognition systems even more efficient and beneficial for companies looking for ways to improve their contact centers,” said Art Schoeller, senior analyst for Yankee Group. “Integrating this technology into a larger platform such as Speech Server is a natural extension for both companies and will have a positive outcome for customers.”

As part of the acquisition, Microsoft will hire certain key Unveil development employees. Unveil’s existing customers will have the opportunity to participate in future programs that include the acquired technology. More information about Unveil technology can be found at http://www.unveil.com.

Part of the Windows Server System™, Microsoft Speech Server is a Web-based, speech-enabled interactive voice response and multimodal application solutions platform. As a Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)-based solution, Speech Server follows the Web application deployment model, using an ASP.NET-based Web server as the application server. The two main components of the Microsoft Speech Server platform are the Telephony Application Services and Speech Engine Services, which include Automatic Speech Recognition, Text-to-Speech and prompt manager. More information about Microsoft Speech Server can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/speech.

About Windows Server System

Microsoft Windows Server System is integrated server software providing the infrastructure for IT operations, application development, integration and information work. Built on the Windows Server™ operating system and designed with Common Engineering Criteria, Windows Server System is focused on making it easier for IT professionals to connect and manage their IT environments. Because Windows Server System products are integrated for enhanced manageability and security, they help organizations reduce complexity and lower costs. All Windows Server System products support open industry standards including those based on XML to promote interoperability with other platforms. More information on Windows Server System can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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