Voxware Receives $150K in New Contracts from U.S. Postal Service as They Continue to Roll Out Speech-Based Solutions.

Business/Technology Editors

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 22, 2001

USPS Deploys Voice Solutions into Five Additional Package

and Distribution Centers

Voxware, Inc. (NASDAQ: VOXW), a leading provider of noise robust speech interfaces for logistics, package handling and industrial applications, announced today $150K in new contracts from the U.S. Postal Service for additional speech-based systems for Manual Case and Small Parcel Bundle Sorting.

The new contracts, totaling approximately $150K, are for Voxware's Small Parcel and Bundle Sort (SPBS) system for U.S. Postal Process & Distribution and Bulk Mail Centers in Fort Worth, Warrendale & Lehigh Valley, PA, and Cincinnati, and a Manual Case Distribution System for the center in Tampa. The installations, completed this week, bring to 18 the number of USPS facilities throughout the US where Voxware has implemented their speech-based sortation solution. Speech solutions for the USPS have generated approximately $700K in revenue last year for Voxware.

"Package handling and mail sortation systems continue to be a robust target segment for us," said Fred Rost, Voxware's Director of Marketing. "The Manual Case system and SPBS are legacy products we have continued to support since our acquisition of Verbex Voice Systems. This is a maturing market segment we continue to serve, where we have a competitive advantage, and have demonstrated performance and value. Though we have been focused over the last 18 months on creating the market for our VoiceLogistics(TM) product line, we now believe that as a result of considerable progress in that effort, we can begin to expand our efforts to further penetrate and serve the parcel and mail handling segment where we have an established market position," noted Rost.

Voxware's SPBS solution eliminates the `dexterity qualification' required of USPS employees who sort mail with the traditional processes. Without voice, employees have to juggle a keyboard with one hand and process mail with the other hand. This process is difficult to learn and is not ergonomically beneficial to employees. Unions support the use of voice in the SPBS process because of the ergonomic benefits it offers USPS employees. Some employees who are already familiar with scheme sortation use the Voxware system to reduce symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Voxware's Manual Case mail sortation solution works with USPS' existing processes and systems to achieve higher accuracy and more productive use of employees' skills and time. The Voxware USPS solutions work with the Postal Service NDSS database to assist mail route sorters in sorting mail pieces for the correct carriers. Voxware's Manual Case system allows operators to speak street address information using natural speech. Perhaps even more important than improved accuracy and productivity, the Voxware solution dramatically reduces training and memorization times now required with manual processes.

"One of the first reasons that we explored Voxware's voice solutions," explains Larry Belair, Operation Support Specialist for the Minneapolis Processing & Distribution Center, "was to reduce the amount of time required to train new employees. Individuals who sort mail to the carrier level go through scheme training on a specific zone or a specific city. That training entails about 30 to 60 hours of memorization training (which translates into 3 to 6 weeks) of the addresses for a specific carrier. With the Voxware system, training is reduced to only 20 to 30 minutes before our workers are up and processing mail. Employees speak the entire street address off the front of the mail - the Voxware system then returns a two-digit numeric code that represents the carrier who will be distributing the mail. Workers no longer have to memorize which carrier goes to which address, the Voxware system does that for them."

Currently, the Minneapolis facility uses two different Voxware systems for processing and distribution. The first is the Manual Case Distribution System that is used to sort mail down to the carrier level, meaning the carrier on the city stations (or branches) -- the people who actually deliver the mail to residences and businesses. The second system is the Small Parcel Bundle Sorter (SPBS), where employees voice-input the first three digits of the zip code, which then separates the mail to different regions.

"It takes weeks to train a new employee on a scheme. Now we can bring in someone new and have them sorting mail within the hour. This is especially helpful during holidays or when (scheme-trained) employees go on vacation," continued Belair. "Additionally the speech system is dialect- and language-independent. Our workforce is diverse here in Minneapolis. We are able to support the different languages of many employees if needed, and are able to train the system to recognize them speaking their native language as necessary, thereby allowing them to more easily perform their jobs."

The Voxware solutions are patented to work in high-noise industrial environments. In package sortation environments, employees may not be able to hear each other, but the Voxware recognizer continues to recognize speech accurately. Voxware's superior out-of-vocabulary rejection allows employees to ask questions or have a side conversation without interrupting or causing the speech system to error.

Voxware solutions deliver to USPS improved productivity, decreased requirements for overtime and training, support workforce diversity and flexibility, and improved ergonomic conditions that reduce physical limitations. Traditional sortation methods require intensive training and physical dexterity. In the new e-conomy, Voxware's speech-based solutions are delivering the U.S. Postal Service a competitive advantage. Speed and accuracy help ensure customer satisfaction, and their ease of use and other benefits see to the needs of USPS employees in the workplace.

About Voxware, Inc.

Voxware is a leading provider of interactive voice-based solutions for picking, receiving, return goods processing, cross-docking and put-away operations in the distribution and logistics industries. Voxware solutions are available for all major market industry sectors, including consumer goods manufacturers (CGM), consumer packaged goods (CPG), direct to consumer (e-commerce and catalog), food and grocery, package handling, retail, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), and wholesale distribution.

Voxware solutions are also deployed in package handling, mail sorting and manufacturing inspection operations. Voxware's corporate headquarters are in Princeton, New Jersey, with regional offices in Boston, Massachusetts and the Netherlands. Additional information about Voxware can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.voxware.com/.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain factors that may cause Voxware's plans to differ or results to vary from those expected including the risks associated with Voxware's need to introduce new and enhanced products and services in order to increase market penetration and the risk of obsolescence of its products and services due to technological change; Voxware's need to attract and retain key management and other personnel with experience in providing integrated voice-based solutions for e-logistics, specializing in the supply chain sector; the potential for substantial fluctuations in Voxware's results of operations; competition from others; Voxware's evolving distribution strategy and dependence on its distribution channels; the potential that speech products will not be widely accepted; Voxware's need for additional capital; and a variety of risks set forth from time to time in Voxware's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Voxware undertakes no obligation to publicly release results of any of these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unexpected results.

Voxware(R) and VoiceLogistics(TM) are trademarks of Voxware, Inc. All other product names are trademarks of their respective owners.