Phonetic Systems was established in 1999, and was one of the earliest Magma portfolio companies. Phonetic Systems provides large-scale speech recognition applications with its unique patented voice recognition technology and a proprietary Voice Search Engine, targeted for enterprises and service providers. By 2004, the company's revenues had grown substantially through sales of Automated Directory Assistance (ADA) systems to more than 130 Fortune 1000 customers, including Citigroup, JP Morgan, CSFB, Intel, Microsoft, ATT, Proctor and Gamble, Bank of New York and Fidelity Investments.

In February, 2005, ScanSoft Inc. (Merged with Nuance, NASDAQ: NUAN) the world's leading provider of speech technology and solutions, acquired Phonetic Systems. Yahal Zilka, as chairman and CEO, initiated and drove the transaction to a close.

(Press Release on the Acquisition: http://www.nuance.com/news/pressreleases/2005/20050203_phonetic.asp)