CSC Selects ScanSoft RealSpeak

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, announced that Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC), an information technology (IT) services firm, is using ScanSoft RealSpeak as the synthesized voice for the Maryland State Highway Administration's traffic information system. Through the integration of RealSpeak, drivers are provided with traffic, weather and road conditions via the Maryland Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) network, which are low power radio stations located throughout the state. The Maryland State Highway Administration, in conjunction with CSC, developed CHART (Coordinated Highways Action Response Team,) a multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary program that monitors the busy Baltimore-Washington Corridor as well as roads and bridges statewide. Staff at the Statewide Operations Center (SOC) use real-time data collection and analysis to assess traffic and road conditions, issuing advisories and actions to emergency personnel and drivers as needed. Data is aggregated and analyzed from personnel in the field, the driving public and over 1,000 remote sensors located in over 500 miles of roads and bridges. By extending the system with ScanSoft RealSpeak, the Maryland State Highway Administration found a way to communicate real-time information to the driving public. Drivers tune into a HAR station, and listen while ScanSoft RealSpeak converts text-based information into human-sounding speech. RealSpeak eliminates the need for a human broadcaster and reduces the cost of delivering the service, which is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. "It is clear that the timely delivery of accurate information can protect the traveling public," said David Snyder, CSC's CHART II project manager. "ScanSoft RealSpeak has given CHART an important tool in their effort to meet the daily challenges of advanced traffic management. RealSpeak met CHART's requirements of high quality, which insures that the information is heard correctly, and ease of integration into the CHART II System, ensuring that the operators are able to quickly disseminate information to the traveling public." "The leadership and innovation demonstrated by the Maryland State Highway Administration and CSC is an excellent example of government at work," said Wayne Crandall, senior vice president of sales and business development at ScanSoft. "Their use of RealSpeak text-to-speech within a real-time and distributed system provides a roadmap that will surely be followed by other city, state and federal safety agencies."