Press Release
QSound Announces Partner Agreement with ARM to Deliver Industry-Leading Enhanced Audio Solutions
CALGARY, CANADA - September 6, 2006 - QSound
Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSND), a leading developer of audio and voice software
solutions, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with ARM
[(LSE:ARM); (NASDAQ: ARMHY)] on a strategic collaboration to bring
industry-leading MIDI synthesis, 3D spatialization, stereo enhancement and
3D positional audio solutions to the wireless market.
The partnership will include joint engineering, marketing and roadmap
alignment activities related to the QSound microQ audio software solution.
Through this collaboration QSound and ARM will be strongly positioned to
respond to the demanding industry requirements within the Ringtone, Music
and Gaming markets by providing highly optimized audio software solutions
across the ARM® CPU family.
"As users increasingly demand mobile handsets and personal electronic
devices with further enhanced audio feature sets and advanced performance,
this collaboration between QSound and ARM makes complete sense," said Will
Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a leading technology market
research firm. "ARM’s leading position in this market segment, and
the industry acceptance of QSound’s microQ audio software solution, will
provide a solid basis for the success of this relationship."
"After evaluation of the QSound microQ technology, we found it offered the
best combination of audio quality, performance and memory usage, resulting
in a highly competitive solution. In addition the modular, component-based
architecture creates a flexible solution which addresses the audio
requirements of mobile handsets in a more scalable fashion," said Lance
Howarth, general manager, Embedded Software, ARM. "As requirements for
audio sub-systems increase to include synthesized and sampled ringtones,
stereo effects, and 3D positional audio, processing demands increase. With
QSound expertise in audio processing and ARM’s knowledge of optimizing
software for the ARM architecture, together, we can offer a highly
competitive solution."
"The partner agreement between QSound and ARM will enable QSound to remain
at the forefront of the audio technology market," said David Gallagher,
president and CEO, QSound Labs Inc. "The ability to deliver ARM
technology-optimized microQ solutions today, coupled with the benefit of
access to and alignment with the ARM roadmap in the future, will enable
mobile handset OEMs and platform providers worldwide to be certain of
‘Best in Class’ implementations for all of QSound’s product portfolio."
About ARM:
ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. All other brands or product
names are the property of their respective holders. “ARM”' is used to
represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the
regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM
France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS
Design Automation Inc.; AXYS GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.;
and ARM Physical IP, Inc.
This release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Act of 1995 concerning, among other things, collaboration with
ARM on joint engineering, marketing and roadmap alignment activities for
microQ, strong positioning of QSound and ARM to respond to industry
requirements for audio software solutions in the mobile device market with
highly competitive solutions, and ability for QSound to lead in the audio
technology market. Such forward-looking statements involve risk and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results, performance or
achievements of QSound, or industry results to differ materially from
those reflected in the forward-looking statements, and which include
continued partnership and collaboration activities with ARM, acceptance of
microQ by OEM’s, ODM’s and consumers, continued growth of the mobile
devices market, dependence on intellectual property, rapid technological
change, competition, general economic and business conditions, and other
risks detailed from time to time in QSound's periodic reports filed with
the SEC. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations,
projections and opinions of QSound's management, and QSound undertakes no
obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to such
forward-looking statements which may be made, for example to reflect
events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence
of unanticipated events.