"Many customers buy our products because top publications rate Dragon NaturallySpeaking as the most accurate at transcribing speech. With Version 4, we have extended our leadership by making the system even more accurate and by reducing the time it takes for a user to get started," said Roger Matus, Dragon Systems' Vice-President of North American Marketing. "Dragon Systems was the first to introduce reduced training and now expands it to systems using a wide variety of processors."

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 4 Features and Benefits:

• REDUCED TRAINING TIME - Dragon NaturallySpeaking learns to recognize users' voices in about five minutes on computers that have a 300 MHZ or faster CPU so users can get up and running quickly and easily.

  *PC Data May 1999

• IMPROVED BESTMATCH™ III FOR EVEN HIGHER ACCURACY - Improved BestMatch III technology takes full advantage of today's high-end processors such as the Intel Pentium III and the AMD Athlon to achieve the highest level of accuracy Dragon Systems has ever offered. Leading PC publications have reported accuracy results at 98 to 99%.

• BREAKTHROUGH IN VOCABULARY SIZE - The active vocabulary (vocabulary stored in memory) has been doubled to over 160,000 words in Version 4 for American English without significantly increasing memory requirements. This is more than double the largest active vocabulary available in the industry to date. This breakthrough means that users are much more likely to get the correct word when they dictate. The total vocabulary size is 250,000, the largest in the industry, and is completely customizable.

• WEB BROWSING BY VOICE - Speech-enabled Internet capability allows users to navigate the Internet, using Microsoft Internet Explorer, by voice. This feature provides a faster and more effective way for users to open links and participate in chat rooms on the web.

• INCREMENTAL VOCABULARY BUILDER™ - The Vocabulary Builder allows for personalization of the existing active vocabulary. Users can personalize their vocabulary, which will help improve their speech efficiency and accuracy rates. The Vocabulary Builder not only automatically adds the words that a user normally uses to the active vocabulary, it also teaches the system about his or her writing style.

• NATURAL LANGUAGE COMMANDS - Users can navigate, edit, format and correct in Microsoft Word 97 and Microsoft Office 2000 by saying intuitive natural commands in a number of different ways.

• COMMAND & CONTROL WINDOWS APPLICATIONS BY VOICE - Users can quickly and easily control the Windows® desktop by voice. Users can now execute commands, such as "Start AOL Instant Messenger," and "Switch to WordPerfect®," by voice.

• NEW SET-UP WIZARDS - Audio wizards talk the user through set-up procedures, simplifying the set-up process and decreasing training time.

• MULTI USER SUPPORT - More than one user can train the application to recognize his or her own voice and personal style of speaking. Now, everyone in the family or in an office can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking and tailor it to fit personal needs.

• TEEN VOICE MODELS - Special teen voice models are included to make it easy for young adults, ages 9 and up, to talk into chat rooms and get their homework done easily.

• WORKS IN VIRTUALLY ANY WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT - Users can just point their mouse and click in an application. Their text automatically appears in the text window where the cursor is. The product works well with Microsoft Word®, Corel® WordPerfect®, Lotus® Notes®, WordPro®, Internet chat packages, and many more.

• DICTATION SHORTHANDS - Shorthands "behave" like macros to allow the user to automatically and quickly insert an entire paragraph of text by simply saying a word or short phrase.

• SAPI 4.0 SUPPORT - Support for the new standard API ensures that Dragon NaturallySpeaking will seamlessly integrate with future speech-enabled Windows applications that employ this standard.

• NUMBER AND DATE FORMATTING - Users can dictate numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, and more using natural language. For example, a user could say, "Sixty-seven dollars and twenty-six cents," and see $67.26 appear on the screen.

• TRUE CONTINUOUS SPEECH - First to market with a large vocabulary, general purpose continuous speech product, Dragon Systems' continuous speech products continue to win awards for their ease-of-use and superior accuracy. Users can be highly productive by dictating continuously and naturally up to 160 words per minute.

• HIGH QUALITY NOISE-CANCELING MICROPHONE - A high-quality noise-canceling microphone, which has been optimized for speech recognition, is included.

DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING PRODUCT FAMILY:

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING ESSENTIALS™- This product replaces Dragon Point & Speak™. It is a consumer-oriented speech-recognition solution that enables users to easily create text by speaking into their favorite Windows applications, including word processing applications, email and online chat rooms. Estimated street price $49 U.S.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING FOR TEENS - Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Teens is the first large vocabulary, continuous speech recognition product designed specifically for young adults. It features a user interface with a customized vocabulary and special voice models for speakers aged 9 and up. It can help the creative process by letting students focus on the content of their work, instead of the typing process. Homework can be done faster by eliminating the need to type. Available in Version 3.01.only. Estimated street price $49 U.S.

   

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING STANDARD - This value-packed edition includes all the major features that have made Dragon NaturallySpeaking America's #1 selling continuous speech product (PC Data). It includes Dragon Systems' BestMatch™ technology for superior accuracy, Natural Language Commands, Select-and-Say™ formatting and editing, dictation into virtually any Windows application, such as Microsoft Office 97 or 2000, and more. Estimated street price $99 in U.S.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING PREFERRED - Contains all the features of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Standard and adds features designed for business and other users, including Dragon NaturallyMobile™ features for transcription of recorded speech dictated into a handheld recorder, dictation playback so you can hear what you just said, and text-to-speech, which allows the computer to read text aloud to you for easier editing. Estimated street price $149 in U.S.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING PREFERRED USB - Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred USB combines the Dragon NaturallyClear™ USB System H100 and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred software in a retail package. Estimated street price $199 in U.S.

   

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING PROFESSIONAL - Contains all the features of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred and adds sophisticated customization features for the business professional who creates significant amounts of text. The Professional Edition includes multiple user and topic configurations, increased active vocabulary sizes, text-to-speech capabilities, and recorded speech, which allows for complete hands-free operation of a PC. It has a list price of $695 and is available directly from Dragon Systems or through Dragon Systems VAR channel.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING LEGAL SUITE - Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal Suite is the first Dragon NaturallySpeaking continuous speech recognition software product designed specifically for the legal market. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal Suite allows attorneys, judges, paralegals, legal secretaries, and others in the legal profession to improve their productivity by creating documents, briefs, notes, and correspondence. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal Suite includes support for various handheld devices, including Dragon NaturallyMobile Recorder Option Kit, Sony®, Olympus®, and others, enabling users to create documents while on the go or away from the computer. For a complete list of certified recorders, please visit our website. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal Suite has a list price of $995 and is available directly from Dragon Systems or through Dragon Systems VAR channel.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING MEDICAL SUITE - Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical Suite is a continuous speech recognition system specifically designed for medical professionals to create patient records, medical reports, notes, correspondence and other documents. Medical professionals can dictate directly into Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical Suite includes support for various handheld devices, including Dragon NaturallyMobile Recorder Option Kit, Sony®, Olympus®, and others, enabling users to create documents while on the go or away from the computer. For a complete list of certified recorders please visit our website. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical Suite has a list price of $995 and is available directly from Dragon Systems or through Dragon Systems VAR channel.

• DRAGON NATURALLYCLEAR™ USB SYSTEM H100 - This solution is the first commercially available speech-input system with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector. Dragon NaturallyClear USB System H100 consists of a microphone and sound-input system that bypasses the sound system to reproduce high-quality speech input for speech-recognition software. Estimated street price $69 U.S.

• DRAGON NATURALLYMOBILE™ - This solution allows users to create, edit, and even format documents by speaking into a handheld device. When the user wishes to write a document, record a thought, fill out a report, or otherwise capture information, he or she can quickly speak into the Dragon NaturallyMobile pocket recorder using the built-in microphone. There is no longer a need to wait for a computer to boot or even to put on a headset microphone to capture speech. When the user is ready, the recordings can be downloaded to a PC using a high-speed serial link and the Dragon NaturallyMobile software provided with the product. Dragon NaturallySpeaking will transcribe the text and can execute commands for formatting and editing the text. The recorded speech can be transcribed at a speed faster than real time, meaning faster than it took the person to record it. Estimated street price $249 U.S.

• DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING MOBILE ORGANIZER - The world's first handheld speech system designed to work with Palm™ Desktop, Microsoft® Outlook®, Lotus® Notes®, GoldMine® and Symantec® ACT!™, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Mobile Organizer combines the rich feature sets in Dragon NaturallyMobile, enabling users to quickly and easily create emails, calendar appointments, and PIM entries using a handheld digital recorder. An ideal solution for busy professionals, this solution recognizes spoken words, analyzes what is said and takes the desired action, using today's popular software applications, making it easy to complete work from virtually anywhere. Estimated street price $299 U.S.

  AVAILABILITY AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

  Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 4 supports Windows 98, Windows 95, and Windows NT®. Version 4 Dragon NaturallySpeaking Standard, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Essentials, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred USB will be available by August 30, 1999, in U.S. English. Version 4 of the Professional Edition, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Mobile, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Mobile Organizer are scheduled to be available by the end of September. International languages and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal and Medical Suites are planned to follow in the next quarter.

  Version 4 requires a 200 MHz Intel® Pentium® Processor or equivalent. At least 48 MB RAM is required for Windows 95 and 98, and 64 MB RAM is necessary for Windows NT. A CD-ROM and a minimum of a 200 MB of free disk space is needed for installation. A sound board or built-in audio system that meets Dragon Systems quality requirements is also required. Contact Dragon Systems or visit the Web site for the latest hardware compatibility list. The Preferred USB requires Windows 98 and a Universal Serial Bus compliant desktop or laptop with an available USB port. A noise-canceling headset microphone is included. Before installing the program users should refer to the latest compatibility list on the Dragon Systems Web site: www.dragonsystems.com or www.dragonsys.com. For tech support issues, customers may call 1-617-965-7670 or visit www.dragonsys.com/support.

   

  About Dragon Systems, Inc.

  Dragon Systems, Inc., is a worldwide leader in PC speech recognition. Dragon Systems develops and markets high-performance, cost-effective speech and language technology that, in multiple world languages (including U.S. English, British English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish), enable users to create text, issue commands, and enter and access data simply by speaking. The company also licenses technology worldwide through developers, distributors, resellers, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), and ISVs (Integrated Software Vendors). Dragon Systems ports its technology across multiple operating systems and hardware platforms - from handheld devices and PCs to workstations, and is pursuing leading-edge research and development projects for computer and telecommunications applications. Since introducing Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the first large vocabulary continuous speech recognition system able to create general purpose text, in 1997, the Company has received over 100 major industry awards worldwide.

  Founded in 1982, Dragon Systems has its headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts. It has European subsidiaries in Munich, Paris and in Marlow near London, and additional research laboratories in Cheltenham, England (Dragon Systems GmbH, Dragon Systems SA, Dragon Systems UK Ltd, and Dragon Systems UK Research & Development Ltd, respectively).

  Dragon Systems and NaturallySpeaking are U.S. registered trademarks of Dragon Systems. The Natural Speech Company, NaturallyMobile, BestMatch III, Select and Say, NaturallyClear and Point & Speak are trademarks of Dragon Systems, Inc. All other trademarks listed herein are the property of their respective owners.