Leading Vendors of Speech Recognition Telephony Software Identified

Egham, England - Gartner has named Nuance software market share leader in its latest report, "Speech Recognition Telephony Software: Worldwide, 2002-2007." The Gartner report identified Nuance as the leader in global speech recognition telephony software market categories for number of ports of software shipped (35,379), ports market share (36.0%), number of systems shipped (221) and systems market share (27.2%). SpeechWorks and ScanSoft, companies that merged in August 2003, ranked second and third, respectively. "Our leadership position is an acknowledgement by customers and partners of the strength and value of the Nuance offering," said Chuck Berger, president and CEO of Nuance. "Our unparalled investment in technology has led to superior performance and unique capabilities, which not only differentiates us in the market but also enables the delivery of advanced voice solutions that have saved customers millions of dollars." The report indicated Gartner's belief that the speech recognition market is poised for growth, with software license revenues projected to reach more than $258 million in 2007. Call center and business portal self-service applications are the largest segments for sales and growth in the speech recognition telephony software markets, accounting for 76 percent of all shipments worldwide. "Our customers invest in speech systems to achieve results, so this leading position in global speech systems deployed is especially meaningful to us," said Steve Chambers, senior vice president and general manager of Network Speech Solutions, ScanSoft. "Our superior speech recognition technologies, industry-leading breadth of languages, TTS, speaker verification, application technologies and unmatched professional services expertise allow our partner network to deliver high quality speech systems to enterprise and telecommunications customers worldwide." The Gartner report also indicates that the speech recognition industry is maturing as deployed systems provide proof that speech delivers a compelling return on investment and improved customer service. The report states that North America was the primary market for speech recognition solutions in 2002, representing 63 percent of the $127.5 million global market. Click here to see a complete listing of companies