MICROSOFT DOUBLE FIRSTFOR TEXTHELP
A new product developed by Antrim-basedsoftware company textHELP! which has the potential to make the Internetaccessible to millions of people with reading difficulties has landed thecompany a twofold accolade from Microsoft.
The product, known as Browsealoud, hasbeen awarded Microsoft's prestigious 'Certified for Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional' standard,and textHELP! has also been elevated to 'Microsoft Certified Gold Product Partner' whichaccording to textHELP!s CEO, Mark McCusker, is a double first for a NorthernIreland company.
Browsealoud was developed over the lasttwo years and converts website text straight into speech. It is estimated that in the US alone 44million people cannot effectively use websites because of reading difficulties,and in the UK and Ireland approximately 15% of the population have similarproblems.
Mark McCusker, said:
By simply moving the mouse pointer overthe text or by the use of hot-keys, users can listen to the underlying textbeing spoken. Browsealoud is the onlyproduct on the market to allow users to do this for free.
Websites which adopt the service areinstantly speech-enabled, the only requirements being a link to theBrowsealoud programme download page and the brand logo on the home page ofthe site. Implementation of the serviceis straightforward, with the process handled remotely. This ensures that sites are speech-enabledwithin minutes without any website downtime. Entry costs are also low andthere are no ongoing management overheads.
The 'Microsoft Certified Gold Partner' status will givethe company early access to Microsoft product information, training and technical support. Only 130 companies worldwide have been acceptedonto the programme which is based upon rigorous independent testing by Veritest which is the sole authorized testing lab for several Microsoftcertification programs.
Thistesting programme establishes an unprecedented technical standard to identifyapplications that are secure and manageable, and that run reliably on theMicrosoft Windows family of operating systems. A thoroughexamination of the software is undertaken against Microsoft's 400 page testplan to ensure that the software meets current best practices for acceptance bysystems integrators and IT professionals.
Allison Watson, vice president of the worldwide Partner ProgrammesGroup at Microsoft said:
Microsoft provides itsCertified Partners with in-depth access to existing and emerging Microsofttechnologies and related training and resources to help ensure that they havethe technical intimacy needed to deliver quality solutions.
Today, Microsoftrecognizes textHELP! for demonstrating this level of expertise and welcomes itas a new Microsoft Certified Gold Partner.
textHELP! is one of Northern Irelandsstrongest growing technology firms and is one of the few companies to appear inthe Deloitte and Touche Fast 50 for past three years running.
Mark McCusker said:
At present we export to 20 countriesaccounting for 35% of the companys turnover. textHELP! already has a strongpresence in the UK and American education markets with a range of productswhich help those with reading difficulties access mainstream softwareapplications.
Browsealoud is the perfectcomplementary product and we are in the process of completing work on the nextstage - a reader for PDF documents called PDFaloud.
textHELP! was incorporated in 1996 whenit received an injection of funding from VC company Delta Partners. In the past four years turnover hasincreased ten-fold and employment has quadrupled to 24.
Forfurther information please contact:
Charlene Pollock
International Sales & Marketing Manager
textHelp!
Tel: +44 (0) 28 9442 8105
c.pollock@texthelp.com
Jonathan King
Client Manager
DCL
Tel: +44 (0) 28 9033 9949
jonathan@dclmedia.com