Speech Technology eWeekly - June 01, 2002

Features

Speech Recognition Market Talking to Dollars in 2001 and Beyond

Despite an economic climate that was particularly damaging to new technologies and the financial difficulties of Lernout and Hauspie, one of the leading providers of the technology, the US speech recognition market continued to grow in 2001, according to In-Stat/MDR.

Q & A

Benjamin Farmer and Dan Hawkins, analysts, Datamonitor

Independent market analysis firm Datamonitor expects the voice business market to return to positive growth during the second half of 2002 and grow quickly through 2007. At this time, the whole market (including platforms, enabling software, applications, and services) will be worth $4.33 billion. According to a new Datamonitor report, "Voice Portals and Applications", the silver lining of this delay has been a transformation of the speech recognition industry.This week's NewsBlast focuses on this report in a Q&A with Bejamin Farmer and Dan Hawkins.

Amol Joshi, Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing, BeVocal

Bell South recently chose BeVocal and Nuance to be the preferred platform for BellSouth's consumer and small business segments. We discuss with Amol Joshi, co-founder and vice president of marketing for BeVocal his thoughts on providing speech technology services for carriers.

James Colby, Assistant Vice President of Marketing, Comverse Voice Solutions

This week's feature of NewsBlast features a conversation with James Colby of Comverse and his thoughts on speech technology's impact on the network provider space.

Speech Technology News

ArialPhone Launches Nationwide Reseller Program Aimed at ComputerTelephony Market

ArialPhone announced a nationwide reseller program designed to extend the reach of the company's sales efforts into the computer telephony market.

Elan Gets Integro Networks' Voice Portal Talking; IDS Navigates with PocketSpeech

TOULOUSE, FRANCE - Integro Networks has chosen Elan's TTS for its Voice Communication Portal solution.

Memery Crystal and Thomson Snell & Passmore Opt for Digital Dictation from SRC

LONDON, ENGLAND - Memery Crystal and Thomson Snell & Passmore became the latest legal firms to opt for digital dictation workflowtechnology from legal speech solution provider, SRC, to improveproductivity, reduce costs and increase efficiency through better workloadplanning and resource management.

ART and SVOX Cooperation Set to Create New Speech User Interface for the Mobile World

ATLANTA, GA and ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - ART Advanced Recognition Technologies Inc and SVOX announced that the two companies have signed a technical cooperation and co-marketing agreement.

ThinkEngine Networks Names VP of Sales

ThinkEngine Networks, developer of voice services platforms, announced the appointment of David Ahee as Vice President of Sales.

Comverse Introduces New Instant Communications Solution; Comverse Unveils ImPact

WOODBURY, NY - Comverse unveiled its Instant Communications Solution (ICS), and unveils Impact.

Right Seat Software Intorduces Vox Proxy/CD Prep

GOLDEN, CO - Right Seat Software Inc., introduced Vox Proxy/CD Prep, a new version of its Vox Proxy, 3D talking animated character software.

Glenayre Technologies Adds ScanSoft RealSpeak to Versera Voice Services

PEABODY, MA and ATLANTA, GA - ScanSoft Inc. and Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced that Glenayre now offers ScanSoft RealSpeak as one ofthesynthesized speech solutions in its Versera Voice Services Suite.

General Voice Technologies Announces the Selection of SRT to Distribute RAPmeter

QUINEBAUG, CT - The RAPmeter, a software benchmarking and certification tool, measures desktop voice and speech recognition accuracy and performance (response time).

NetByTel Launches Voice-Enabled Survey Solution, Version 3.0

BOCA RATON, FL - NetByTel announced a suite of in-bound survey solutions that listen and understand the caller's voice.

Sail Labs Technology Installs Name Dialer Application at Brooktrout Technology

VIENNA, AUSTRIA - Sail Labs Technology developed and installed a Name Dialer speech application based the Conversational System speech platform at Brooktrout Technology.

ScanSoft RealSpeak Compact SDK Adds TTS to Automotive and Mobile Applications

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft, Inc. announced the ScanSoft RealSpeak Compact SDK.

InfoTalk Advances PDA to Revolutionary Speech Era

HONG KONG - InfoTalk Corporation announced that InfoTalk-Recognizer is now fully supported on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).

Fonix Introduces iSpeak For Pocket PC

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Fonix Corporation announced the release of iSpeak for Pocket PC.

Aculab Gives Voice to a Norwegian Virtual Switchboard

MILTON KEYNES, UK - A virtual switchboard to be deployed in Norway has been created using digital signal processing (DSP) resources from Aculab combined with speech recognition software from Nuance.

iVoice Speech-enables Intel's Digital Product Line

MATAWAN, NJ - iVoice Inc. announced the commercial introduction of digital connectivity for its speech enabled communication solutions.

Convergent Voice and VoiceGenie Partner to Deliver Voice-Enabled Multi-Channel Contact Center Solutions

TORONTO, CANADA and ROCHESTER, NY - VoiceGenie Technologies Inc and Convergent Voice Inc. announced their co-marketing and sales alliance.

IBM Announces ViaVoice for Enterprises

SOMERS, NY - IBM announced ViaVoice Pro EnterpriseEdition for Windows: an all-in-one voice recognitionsolution aimed at value-added resellers.

Telephonetics, Vodat Partner on First Voice-Activated IP Dialing Solution

Telephonetics formed an alliance with Voice over Internet Protocol supplier Vodat Solutions.

Microsoft Releases Tools That Will Enable Mainstream Developers To Add Speech to Web Applications

SAN JOSE, CA - Microsoft announced the beta release of the Microsoft .NET Speech SDK, a Web developer tool and product deployment based on the SALT specification. The SDK can be ordered from Microsoft's Web site at www.microsoft.com/speech/stmag

Comverse VoiCD Mobile Music Solution Selected By Advanced Info Service

WOODBURY, NY - Comverse announced that Advanced Info Service (AIS), a Thailand mobileoperator, has selected Comverse's VoiCD advanced mobile music end-to-endsolution for listening to, and distributing music and other multimediacontent over telecom networks.

LocusDialog Widens Its European Market Reach with SPIE Communications Distribution Agreement

MONTREAL, CANADA - LocusDialog announced an agreementwith SPIE Communications to market and distribute its speech telephonysolutions in Europe.

Fulcrum Voice Technologies Partners with EADS-Telecom

HIGH WYCOMBE, UNITED KINGDOM - Fulcrum Voice Technologies is partnering with EADS-Telecom on a European Commission part-funded Euro 1.7M research project 'AnITA' under the EC 5th Framework, IST 6 Programme.

NMS and uReach Provide Integrated Voice-Enabled Messaging Solutions to Carriers with NMS HearSay

ATLANTA, GA - NMS Communications and uReach Technologies announced the availability of uReach's application suite integrated with NMS HearSay.

Telisma Unveils New Pricing Model

PARIS, FRANCE - Telisma announces its new pricing model. This partner-oriented model is based on a per-recognized-word mechanism and offers low upfront costs and unique flexibility.

Ectaco, VoiceMethods Unveil the New Tourist Phrase Bank with Russian and English Speech Recognition

Ectaco has released the Ectaco Partner UT-203, a phrase bank developed on the basis of VoiceMethods speech recognition technologies.

Screaming Media And BeVocal Make Virgin Mobile USA Services Sing

NEW YORK, NY, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, and WARREN, NJ - Virgin Mobile announced that it has called on ScreamingMedia and BeVocal to provide voice-driven entertainment applications for its VirginXtras.

SpeechWorks and Speech Design Power SMS-to-Voice Delivery to Any Telephone

BOSTON, MA and GERMERING, GERMANY - SpeechWorks International Inc. has partnered with Speech Design to offer speech recognition and TTS services to telecommunications organizations across the world.

Ectaco Releases New Partner Dictionary English-Dutch Software for Pocket PC

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - Ectaco Inc has released new Partner English-Dutch dictionary software for Pocket PC devices.

Automobile Club de L'Ouest Selects ScanSoft RealSpeak

PEABODY, MA and GENT, BELGIUM - ScanSoft Inc. announced that the AOC has selected ScanSoft's RealSpeak for its first speech-enabled race information service.

Baycare Health System Selects Phonetic for Dynamic Voice Access; Release of Version 5.0 Voice Search Engine

BEDFORD, MA - Phonetic Systems announced that Florida-based BayCare Health System implemented the PhoneticOperator Global Enterprise Administration solution to voice-enable the company's 35,000 directory listings across nine hospitals.

Air Travel Industry Takes Off With InfoTalk-Air

HONG KONG, BEIJING and SINGAPORE - InfoTalk Corporation announced the general release of InfoTalk-Air, a voice-enabled solution specially designed for the air travel industry.

iVoice Announces System Compatibility with Key Voice Technologies

MATAWAN, NJ - iVoice Inc. announced interoperability, providing speech recognition capabilities with its Speech Enabled Auto Attendant to Key Voice Interchange voice mail system from Key Voice Technologies.

Speech Recognition Company Wizzard Software Announces New Contracts

PITTSBURGH, PA - Wizzard Software announces it has been hired by Talk2U Inc. to perform Quality Assurance (QA) testing on a voice data collection for a desktop speech recognition engine manufacturer.

Partnership between Loquendo and Voxpilot

TORINO, ITALY - Loquendo and Voxpilot have together formed a partnership in the field of VSP services.

iVoice and CYGCOM Sign North American Distribution Agreement

MATAWAN, NJ - iVoice Inc. and CYGCOM Integrated Technologies Inc. announced a distribution agreement whereby CYGCOM will promote and resell iVoice speech enabled communication solutions to its reseller channels throughout the United States and Canada.

Mangosoft Forms Alliance with General Voice Technologies

WESTBORO, MA - Mangosoft Inc. and General Voice Technologies Inc. announced a marketing alliance that is intended to help make voice recognition technology easier and more accessible to users.

Aculab and Pronexus Announce Partnership

SINGAPORE, MILTON KEYNES, UK and OTTAWA, CANADA - Pronexus and Aculab announced a strategic alliance and joint marketing agreement.

Glenayre Technologies Adds ScanSoft RealSpeak to Versera Voice Services Suite

PEABODY, MA and ATLANTA, GA - ScanSoft Inc. and Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced that Glenayre now offers ScanSoft RealSpeak as one ofthe synthesized speech solutions in its Versera Voice Services Suite.

Preferred Voice Launches New Peripheral for the Telco Market

DALLAS, TX - Preferred Voice announced the completionof SAM (service access module).

LumenVox Announces Linux Supported Speech Recognition Engine

SAN DIEGO, CA - LumenVox announces the availability of theirSpeech Recognition Engine (SRE) v2.5. This new version provides developersmore flexibility by being compatible with both Linux and Windows platforms.

Voiceforce Partners with .NET Award Winner

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Voiceforce announced it has formed a strategic partnership with Cyence International.

NMS Communications, Nekotec and NETCOM Enable Voice-Activated Dialing for Pegaso PCS

FRAMINGHAM, MA - NMS Communications was selected by Latin American speech recognition solutions provider NETCOM to provide the voice processing platform for Pegaso PCS' voice-activated dialing (VAD) system, Sistema de Voz Pegaso.

John Landau Joins ITXC as EVP of Product Management

PRINCETON, NJ - ITXC Corp. announced John Landau has joined the company in the newly created position of Executive Vice President of Product Management.

Edify, BenchmarkPortal Team on Customer Satisfaction Portal

Edify has teamed with BenchmarkPortal to provide a service that enables contact center managers to gather real-time information regarding a caller's customer satisfaction level.

Necsy Selects PIKA Technologies' Voice Cards for Advanced Multimedia Contact Center

OTTAWA, CANADA and ITALY - Necsy S.p.A, has selected PIKA Technologies' MM-series analogue and digital E1 ISDN voice cards to enable voice services in Phoenix.

Latitude Taps NMS Communications for Foundation Technology

FRAMINGHAM, MA - NMS Communications has been chosen by Latitude Communications to provide the foundation technology for the company's MeetingPlace M3 platform.

VoiceGenie and speechvantage Introduce Voice-Driven Auto Attendant

HORSHAM, PA and TORONTO, CANADA - VoiceGenie TechnologiesInc. and speechvantage,Inc. announcedthe introduction of their new GenieVantage Auto Attendant Gateway solution.

Airport in Asia Selects InfoTalk RSVP

SINGAPORE and HONG KONG, - InfoTalk Corporation announced that Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has adopted InfoTalk RSVP for its Telephone Flight Inquiry Service.

InterVoice-Brite Announces VoiceXML 2.0 Compliant Browser

DALLAS, TX - iVB Enterprise Solutions announced the general availability of its newOneVoice(r) Media Gateway product supporting VoiceXML 2.0 for the deploymentof integrated voice and web self-service applications.

Preferred Voice Launches New Peripheral for the Telco Market

DALLAS, TX - Preferred Voice announced the completionof SAM, a proprietary, patent-pending remoteintelligent peripheral that allows the creation of speech-driven subscriberservices using legacy, switch-based feature sets.

Voiceware to Provide Voice Prompts for Lycos Asia's World Cup

Seoul, Korea - Voiceware Co. Ltd. announced that they have supplied the Text-to-Speech, VoiceText to Lycos Asia for its World Cup Live Update SMS Service.

Korean-Japanese & Japanese-Korean Language Translator for PDA

SEOUL, KOREA - Korean-Japanese & Japanese-Korean Language Translator forPDA, Pocket TransWiz 2002 was released which adopted TTS,VoiceText by Sysmeta Corp., a natural language processing technologyprovider.

VeCommerce Ensures All Punters Have a Bet During 2002 FIFA World Cup

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - VeCommerce Limited announced that its VeBet based voice-enabled wagering application has gone live at Ladbrokes in the UK.

OnStar Expands Safety Security Services to RV Industry

Recreational vehicle owners will now be able to travel America's highways with OnStar's safety, security and personal calling convenience services.