27th February 2006

London, UK - February 27th , 2006 – Fluency Voice Technology, (www.fluencyvoice.com) the speech recognition company, today announced that that it has been selected by Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV), a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services, for membership in the Avaya DeveloperConnection programme.

Fluency develops the Virtual Speech Agent (VSA) Suite™, a fully integrated speech recognition application suite that enables callers to utilise several self-service options by speaking naturally as if to a live agent.  The VSA Suite integrates with the Avaya Interactive Response (IR) platform, the Voice Portal (VP) platform and Interaction Centre (IC) to further automate call centre workflows and allow enterprises to deliver sophisticated speech-enabled services at a lower cost.

As a result, customers can extend their existing investment in the Avaya IVR touch–tone platform by upgrading to Fluency’s speech-enabled VSA Suite and integrating with existing call routing capabilities to optimise workflows.

The Avaya DeveloperConnection programme promotes the development, compliance-testing and co-marketing of innovative third-party products that are compatible with standards-based Avaya solutions. Member organisations have expertise in a broad range of technologies that includes IP telephony, contact centers and mobility applications – helping companies extend the value of multi-vendor networks and transform voice into a business application that delivers true value to the bottom line.

“Fluency’s membership in Avaya’s developer community will help joint customers quickly realise benefits to the bottom line,” said Philip Padfield, CEO of Fluency.  “By leveraging Avaya resources and working more closely with the company to deliver compliance-tested solutions to the market both companies will be able to deliver complete end-to-end speech-enabled solutions with proven integration in record deployment times.”

The Avaya DeveloperConnection programme currently includes more than 1,900 software and hardware developer companies, integrators, service providers and customers.  Members have created hundreds of innovative solutions tested for Avaya compliance, including natural language speech recognition applications, wireless services, specialised computer telephony integration and reporting capabilities, as well as applications tailored for specific vertical industries.

“With the involvement of companies like Fluency, our Avaya developer community has become a catalyst for rapid innovation and the creation of new multivendor applications that help enterprises around the world embed secure, reliable intelligent communications capabilities into the fabric of their business,” said Eric Rossman, vice president, developer relations and technical alliances, Avaya.

As a member of the DeveloperConnection programme, companies have access to a wide range of support from Avaya, including technical resources and training.  Member companies must also meet rigorous Avaya criteria for customer satisfaction, product support, business operations, marketing and sales. 

Membership information and a listing of solutions developed and tested under the DeveloperConnection programme are available at www.devconnectprogram.com.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications - and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services - Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results.  For more information visit the Avaya website: www.avaya.com.

About Fluency Voice Technology

Fluency Voice Technology is a leading provider of packaged speech recognition applications for use in call centres. Our solutions enable enterprises to significantly reduce costs and enhance customer service by automating much of the high volume call centre activities.

Key sectors for which Fluency has developed applications are Financial Services, Travel & Transport, Utilities, Telecoms and Retail. Fluency has always been at the forefront of speech recognition and has changed the way in which businesses use speech by introducing the first ever packaged speech application in 2002. Fluency has offices in the UK, US and India.