Toshiba Licenses SPIRIT's Audio Software to Evaluate New Semiconductor Designs

BARCELONA, Spain (Mobile World Congress) - February 11, 2008 - SPIRIT DSP, the world's leading provider of voice and video software engines, announced today that Toshiba Corporation has licensed SPIRIT's audio software for evaluating Toshiba's next generation semiconductor designs.

Mr. Nobu Matsumoto, Senior Manager of Software Design Platform Dept, Center For Semiconductor Research & Development, Toshiba's Semiconductor Company commented, "Optimized hardware is only as optimized as the software that runs on it. In order to evaluate newly developed hardware, we were looking for high-performance audio software which has been already proven in practical use. The speed of the audio software, offered by SPIRIT, meets our requirements."

SPIRIT software brings the highest audio performance to mobile devices. SPIRIT's software makes everything possible for the hardware, serving as the ultimate benchmark when comparing different hardware platforms, and ultimately proving the true performance of the hardware.

"SPIRIT's power efficient software solutions are optimized for standard ARM CPUs as well as ARM's dedicated audio processors and enable consumer electronics manufacturers to bring compelling, next-generation multimedia products to market, quickly and with low risk," said Patrick Willekens, audio product manager, Media Processing Division, ARM. "SPIRIT, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has been a reliable partner to ARM for several years. Their clear market leadership and dedication to best-of-class software solutions is well aligned with ARM's goal to maintain competitive advantages in all areas of mobile multimedia, including audio and voice applications."

Alex Kravchenko, VP Sales at SPIRIT commented, "We're pleased to receive such recognition from Toshiba, a technological innovator and market leader, by serving as Toshiba's benchmark setter. To address the market requirements for portable multimedia players, we developed a complete high-performance, low-MIPS, small footprint audio solution incorporating state-of-the-art software components. Our audio and video software will help OEM/ODMs stay ahead of competition by delivering better products to the consumer marketplace. SPIRIT has been working with Toshiba for a long time. The SPIRIT-Toshiba partnership started in the late 90s. In 2004, we licensed SPIRIT's audio solution to Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH to increase the functionality of its processors. And today, we're happy to prolong the relationship with Toshiba's Semiconductor Company."

Only SPIRIT has voice and video engines that span all communication devices and all market segments, including mobile OEMs/ODMs, semiconductor vendors, VoIP service providers, software vendors, online gaming and social networking (including PC and mobile softphones, WiFi and 3G phones, cordless IP phones, IMS platforms, Web conferencing, social networks and set-top boxes). Today, SPIRIT mobile OEM customers jointly exceed 55 percent of the worldwide smart-phone shipments.

About SPIRIT

SPIRIT DSP (www.spiritDSP.com) employs 140 professionals, and has been in the international software licensing business since 1992. A bootstrap company, SPIRIT has been profitable for 15 years. For the last 10 years, SPIRIT's focus has been on voice and video communication software products. SPIRIT counts among its customers Adobe, Agere, Arima, ARM, Atmel, BT, Cisco, Compal, deltathree, Flextronics, Ericsson, HP, HTC, Huawei, Importek, Korea Telecom, Kyocera, LG, MediaRing, Microsoft, NEC, Nortel Networks, NXP, Oracle, Paltalk, Polycom, Quanta, Radvision, Reigncom, Samsung, Siemens, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Trinity Convergence and Veraz, and among 200+ other communication OEMs and software vendors. SPIRIT communication software is used in over 80 countries and powers more than 100 million embedded voice channels. SeeStorm is a SPIRIT affiliate for synthetic video conferencing.