Creative Announces Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP -- The First Product To Ship With Microsoft Phone And Microsoft Internet Explorer

Creative Announces Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP -- The First Product To Ship With Microsoft Phone And Microsoft Internet Explorer

All-In-One Solution Turns The PC Into A Complete Multimedia Communications Center

SINGAPORE -- May 13, 1996 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF), the leading provider of multimedia products for personal computers, today announced Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP, an all-in-one multimedia, telephone communications and Internet solution for the small office, home office user and tele-commuters. Taking advantage of Microsoft® Corp.'s newly announced Microsoft Phone and Microsoft Internet Explorer, Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP provides a central management system that consolidates e-mail, voice-mail and fax messages for central and remote retrieval. Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP is the only multi-function telephony card developed in partnership with Microsoft and designed specifically for Windows 95, while maintaining compatibility for customers of Windows 3.1.

Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP combines Creative's industry standard Sound Blaster 16 PnP; a 28.8 Kbps/V.34 data/fax/voice modem, and a full-duplex speaker phone with echo cancellation, in an integrated solution. It is designed to give users the ability to manage business communications when in or away from the office. Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP is available immediately through Creative's extensive network of retailers and distributors at an estimated street price of $269.

"With the Phone Blaster we get a strong indicator of the future for integrated PCs and telephones," said Rob Enderle, senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group. "Although this product is currently designed to enhance the productivity of small office and remote workers, eventually we expect capabilities like this to dominate the corporate desktop."

Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP Features And Benefits

Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP includes Microsoft Phone for computer telephony applications, and Microsoft Internet Explorer for accessing information on the Internet. Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP also includes Netspeak's WebPhone for full-duplex voice communications over the Internet without incurring any long distance toll charges. The voice-recognition and text-to-speech technology incorporated in Microsoft Phone can be used under any Windows 95-based application. Telephony features included in Phone Blaster such as music on hold, multiple mailboxes and fax-back capabilities, provide the small office with the capabilities only found in a larger organization.

"We chose to work with Creative on the development of Microsoft Phone because of its leadership position in setting multimedia standards for the mass market," said Paul Saunders, Desktop and Business Systems Division product manager at Microsoft Corp. "Phone Blaster represents the culmination of our efforts to deliver a powerful, elegant telephony solution to our customers."

Additional Features And Benefits Of Phone Blaster 28.8 PnP include:

Computer telephony features such as: Caller ID, pager notification, music on hold, fax forwarding, fax on demand, and announce only
Remote access with voice-recognition and text-to-speech for retrieving and forwarding messages
Netspeak's WebPhone for full-duplex voice communications over the Internet, local area networks and wide area networks
Multiple user-configurable mailboxes (number limited only by hard disk space)
Pacific Image Communication's SuperVoice, a feature rich computer telephony application operating under Windows 3.1
Trial versions of America Online and CompuServe online services
Creative utilities: Creative Multimedia Deck, WaveStudio, and Soundo'LE
Plug and Play support for Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and DOS

"With Phone Blaster, Creative is continuing in its strategic inroads into the business and tele-commuter market by providing cost-effective business solutions that will significantly boost performance and productivity," said K.S. Chay, president of Creative Technology Ltd.

Creative Technology, Ltd., is the world's leading provider of advanced multimedia solutions for personal computers, including sound, graphics, communications and video conferencing products. The company's Sound Blaster® technology has been accepted as the worldwide standard sound platform for PCs, and the company's global distribution network is the most extensive in the multimedia industry. Creative is focused on enhancing the overall user experience by providing powerful, enabling, high-value technology for the mass market.

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Sound Blaster is a registered trademark and Blaster and Phone Blaster are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and / or other countries. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.