Verizon Wireless To License HeyAnita Voice Technology For Voice Gear Service

BEDMINSTER, NJ and LOS ANGELES — Verizon Wireless has licensed technology from HeyAnita to support Voice Gear, Verizon Wireless' suite of voice-enabled services that include voice-activated dialing, voice browsing and corporate e-mail browsing. The companies have signed a multi-year technology licensing agreement under which HeyAnita will provide Verizon Wireless with software and services to deploy a range of enhanced solutions.

Jim Straight, vice president, wireless data and Internet services, Verizon Wireless said, "Our technology alliances are integral components of our overall strategy. Advanced, flexible software and service offerings, such as those provided by HeyAnita, allow Verizon Wireless to maintain its leadership position in the wireless industry."

"HeyAnita is extremely pleased to have Verizon Wireless as a customer," says Sanjeev Kuwadekar, CEO and co-founder of HeyAnita. "Our product and service offerings fit perfectly with Verizon Wireless' short- and long-term strategies. This multi-year agreement demonstrates Verizon Wireless' commitment to HeyAnita as a technology leader and will serve as the basis for a long-term strategic relationship."

Corporate Email Reader, which lets users listen to and manage corporate e-mail over their Verizon Wireless handset, is available to Verizon Wireless business accounts with existing or new wireless service for $9.99 per month. Both business accounts and consumers can enjoy Voice Gear's Voice Activated Dialing and Voice Browsing—a service that gives access to Internet-based content, using voice commands to retrieve news, weather and sports updates, business page, financial information and more—each for just $4.99 per month with any calling plan. Voice Gear's Voice Activated Dialing and Voice Browsing are also available at extra savings in a bundled package for $8.99 per month. Normal airtime charges apply while using Voice Gear services. For more information on Voice Gear from Verizon Wireless, visit www.verizonwireless.com.

The Voice Gear solution provided by HeyAnita utilizes Nuance's automatic speech recognition (ASR) software and Rhetorical's text-to-speech (TTS) software.

About HeyAnita Inc.

HeyAnita is a leading voice software company focused on providing telecommunication service providers and enterprise customers with flexible, standards-based technologies for the deployment of voice and multimodal solutions. HeyAnita's versatile offering includes the FreeSpeech™ Gateway Server—a carrier-grade media server comprised of the FreeSpeech™ Platform, FreeSpeech™ Voice Browser (SALT and VoiceXML) and FreeSpeech™ OA&M suite—as well as prepackaged voice applications, developer tools, and professional services. HeyAnita Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with operations in the UK, India and a joint venture in Korea (HeyAnita Korea). For more information, visit www.heyanita.com.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless communications. The company has the largest nationwide wireless voice and data network and 31.5 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com.

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