Vocollect’s Talkman® T5 Wearable Computer Wins Two Prestigious International Awards for Design Excellence

Partners with UK Company PDD on product design ergonomics

London, UK and Pittsburgh, USA — March 7 2006 — Vocollect, the world’s largest supplier of voice-directed work, has won two international awards for product design excellence for its new T5 wearable computer, it was announced today.

The first award, being presented in March, is in the Computers category from the International Forum Design in its 2006 awards competition. The second award, being presented in June, is in the Product Design category of The RedDot Design Award. The ergonomic design of the Talkman® T5 stems from a collaboration with PDD, a leading UK-based design and innovation consultancy.

The iF Awards competition is a prestigious international annual awards event that attracts over 1,800 contestants from more than 30 nations. Staged since 1954, today the iF award is regarded as one of the most important design competitions worldwide.

The RedDot Design Award is also a prestigious international design awards event, one that has been drawing more than 4,000 entries each year from 40 countries. Staged since 1955, the earlier name for this awards competition was the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen.

Among the smallest industrial-grade wearable computers ever built, the pocket-sized Talkman T5’s advanced functionality and ergonomics deliver consistent and dependable performance in demanding work environments. A light, unobtrusive cover brings higher levels of ruggedness to the new design, and Vocollect collaborated closely with PDD to bring a stronger ergonomic feel to the T5 which is substantially lighter and more compact than previous Vocollect wearable computers. The new curved design enables the T5 to be worn comfortably on a belt or shoulder harness, making it easier and safer to wear in industrial.

The Talkman T5 offers a number of new advantages, including:

Bluetooth® Wireless Connectivity – The use of untethered peripheral devices like belt-worn printers, diagnostic equipment and bar-code readers enhances worker productivity and safety

Automatic Operator Load – After connecting their headset, the operator’s voice templates (profile) are downloaded automatically, enabling team members to be productive in seconds

Battery Management – The T5’s high-performance smart battery provides details on run time since a full charge from Vocollect’s VoiceConsole™ deployment management software. PDD developed a more versatile system to allow for differences in terminal management and charging

Increased Comfort – The pocket-sized T5 is 33 per cent smaller and 45 per cent lighter than its predecessor the Talkman T2x and offers exceptional freedom of mobility.

“Vocollect has a long history of innovation, and we continue to make leadership investments in research and development. These awards are a result of our ability to identify market opportunity and translate it into a truly innovative design that will provide significant new capability for our customers performing Voice-Directed Work™. Our collaboration with PDD helped us ensure that we created an innovative design that was practical, effective, and ergonomically pleasing to distribution centre workers using our Talkman devices,” said John Steadman, Vocollect vice president of product operations.

Graham Lacy, development director at PDD, said of the award: “It is always gratifying to have your efforts recognised – we’re very proud of winning both the iF Award and the RedDot Award, and of our successful collaboration with Vocollect on the T5 product. We believe that the new visual design identity will bring the product to a broader and more casual base of users.”

About Vocollect
Vocollect delivers proven gains in productivity, accuracy, safety and job satisfaction to companies seeking to improve their supply chains. The Vocollect Voice portfolio features a complete range of hardware, software and services built for voice performance, reliability and adaptability in the global supply chain and logistics marketplace. Every day hundreds of thousands of people on six continents rely on Vocollect and its worldwide network of more than 100 certified supply chain resellers and channel partners to improve work. For more information, visit www.vocollect.com.

About PDD
PDD is one of the world’s leading product innovation consultancies, with over 25 years of experience spanning the consumer, medical, packaging, telecom, commercial, and industrial sectors. PDD draws its inspiration from design, technology and real life, combining them in the most original way, to bring the right products to market at the right time. To learn more, visit http://www.pdd.co.uk.

PDD CONTACT:
Gemma Went

+44 20 8735 1111

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jennifer Clement, jclement@vocollect.com, 412.825.5336

Raf Jezierski, rjezierski@vocollect.com, +44.1628.552945