VOC Vision OP China

RNS Number:8123U
Vocalis Group PLC
28 November 2000

                                    
                         Vocalis Group plc announces

                joint venture with Complex-IT of South Africa


Vocalis Group plc ("Vocalis"), the international speech technology group, and
Complex-IT, a South African Internet support services organisation, have
signed a R 8 million joint venture agreement.


The two companies have agreed to form Complex-IT Vocalis, a SA-based company
that will offer the range of Vocalis developed interactive voice products and
technologies - such as speech recognition telephony technology and Internet
products and services - to channel partners and corporate organisations.


Complex-IT Vocalis will provide the full complement of sales, marketing and
technical support services.


"Users will be able to optimise their Website investments by reaching a wider
audience than Internet surfers alone using the Vocalis Internet products and
services" says Ronnie Sarkin, Executive Chairman of Complex-IT Holdings.


"Complex-IT Vocalis' mission is to bring the benefits of the Vocalis speech
recognition telephony solutions to all South Africans, even the completely
computer illiterate.


"Just as today users can 'click and point' at a computer screen, now they can
talk freely with applications from any telephone using this technology. This
makes web-based information available to many thousands of people, not only in
South Africa but the rest of Africa too, who do not have access to a PC with
an Internet connection," says Sarkin.


Mike Williams, Director of Business Development at Vocalis says, "The
partnership between Vocalis and Complex-IT is poised to make a significant
impact on the network product offerings in the South African market."


"We work in partnership with many organisations world-wide," he says. "We have
selected Complex-IT, and formed a joint venture with this company, because of
the vast potential that exists in South Africa for speech recognition
technologies allied to Web-enabled business activities. Complex-IT offers the
expertise that we were looking for, and has a proven track record in this
field."


"This potential exists not only within the well developed commercial sectors
in this region, but also with those who do not have access to computer
hardware and software with internet connectivity, who are now able to be part
of the on-line electronic business explosion using any telephone."


Williams says, "Vocalis products use the most natural form of communication -
speech - to deliver a wide range of Web-enabled business solutions from any
telephone, in particular the cellular market given the rapid growth of this
sector in South Africa."


Vocalis' latest offering, SpeecHTML, enables telephone access to web-based
information, and the ability to interact using spoken commands.


Williams says, "SpeecHTML can be used to offer basic IVR applications, voice
portals and personalised information services all from standard HTML web
pages. Anyone who has access to a telephone can obtain information stored on a
SpeecHTML-enabled Website. SpeecHTML bridges the gap between the Web and the
telephone."


SpeecHTML combines two technologies: advanced speech recognition and
text-to-speech conversion. SpeecHTML integrates these, together with telephony
facilities, into a gateway package that creates a wholly speech driven way of
accessing and interacting with Web pages. This technology is ideal for
allowing access to information when people are on the move, in particular to
the South African market from any cell phone or land line.


Complex-IT Vocalis will offer these technologies on a managed service basis,
whilst retaining ownership and control. This enables companies to experience
new technologies without any of the investments in hardware and software
usually associated with offering these types of services, whilst at the same
time having complete flexibility to develop the voice portal to match their
own unique company image.


The company is operational with immediate effect and is based in Johannesburg.


    For further information:


    Charles Halle                       JP Burgun/Caroline Evans-Jones

    Vocalis Group plc                   ICIS

    Tel: +44 1223 846177                Tel: +44 20 7628 1114

    enquiries@Vocalis.com               Info@icisnet.com





About Vocalis


Vocalis, as a leading speech technology Group, builds a range of voice
activated telephony products for customers around the world. Vocalis was
formed in 1993 and has been trading on the London Stock Exchange since July
1996.


The Vocalis technologies areas include:-


Vocalis' Internet Product and Services range allows access to information on
the Internet by simply picking up the telephone and hearing the information.
SpeecHTML allows telephone access to web-based information, which is driven
using spoken commands for such services as voice portals, interactive response
applications and information services. SpeechMail enables people to call and
access their e-mail messages, they can hear them, reply and delete them using
simple spoken commands.

The Websites are:


http://www.speechtml.com (Demo no: 082 245 9100)

http://www.vocalisspeechmail.com (Demo no: 082 245 9101)


SpeechWare, Vocalis' proprietary third generation advanced speech recognition
technology, which is available to purchase under license. This is fully
supported with toolkits and is available in most of the languages across the
globe.

The Website is www.vocalisspeechware.com


The Vocalis Website is at www.vocalis.com


About Complex-IT


Complex-IT is a South African based group utilising intellectual capital of

highly experienced, successful and qualified shareholders and senior
management to develop new businesses. Current focus is in IT and healthcare,
both locally and in the USA. The combined IT experience at board level is 70
years with many international hardware and software manufacturers and
technologies having been represented over the years.


Complex-IT is developing the Vocalis speech recognition market predominantly
in Southern Africa, with further opportunities in sub Saharan African to
follow. Over 60% of the subscriber dial-up market and 50% of the corporate
market has been signed up within a few months for SpeechMail. Many new
customers are already extending their web sites to provide Vocalis' SpeecHTML
service following intensive market penetration by the Complex-IT Vocalis team.


Through Complex-IT's healthcare initiatives, Vocalis products will be rolled
out in this sector providing vertical market product opportunities for Vocalis
in other parts of the world as well.


Web site is http://complex-it.co.za



For further information contact: -

Complex-IT Holdings

Ronnie Sarkin : 082 414 0114, rons@complex-it.co.za

Michael Renzon : 083 269 9519, miker@complex-it.co.za

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