e.Digital and IBM Team Up With Five Other Industry Leaders to Establish Voice Technology Standards

Business Wire, April 13, 1999

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 1999--

e.Digital Corp. (OTC:EDIG) along with IBM and five other leaders in speech recognition and mobile technologies today announced at the DemoMobile 99 conference the formation of the Voice Technology Initiative for Mobile Enterprise Solutions (VoiceTIMES).

VoiceTIMES' goal is to coordinate the technical requirements needed for companies to build and deploy solutions using voice technologies and handheld mobile devices. Inaugural VoiceTIMES alliance members include Dictaphone, e.Digital, IBM (NYSE:IBM), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC), Norcom Electronics, Olympus, and Philips (NYSE:PHG).

With the explosive growth of mobile devices and the increasing demand for network access, the VoiceTIMES initiative was formed to define specifications for how voice commands and information are transmitted and received by existing and future mobile devices. Currently, there are no standards in place for mobile speech-enabled devices. The VoiceTIMES alliance plans to deliver the specifications and industry cooperation to build interoperable, cost-effective mobile solutions with voice technology.

"e.Digital has been an innovator in providing advanced PC and Internet-compatible digital mobile solutions for business and the medical dictation industry for over three years," said Fred Falk, president and chief executive officer of e.Digital. "We believe VoiceTIMES will allow e.Digital to expand development of speech-based mobile information gathering devices and leverage our product designs in to many additional industry solutions."

"In today's world of pervasive computing, users want simple, fast and hassle free mobile computing devices to connect and communicate," said W.S. "Ozzie" Osborne, general manager of IBM Speech Systems. "Through joint collaboration, the VoiceTIMES alliance aims to eliminate complexities for the consumer and solutions integrator, while providing future generations of standard compliant speech-enabled mobile products."

For detailed information on the VoiceTIMES alliance, it's inaugural members and objectives go to www.software.ibm.com/speech/overview...

e.Digital Corp. offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link mobile digital devices to PC's and the Internet. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom product development and manufacturing services. For more information on the company visit www.edig.com.