Speech Technology eWeekly - October 01, 2004

Q & A

Todd Mozer of Sensory

Todd Mozer believes that selling both chips and software in the embedded market is a real differentiation that allows Sensory to play a more consultative role in customer designs to help them find the best solution possible.

Speech Technology News

Aumtech and Kirusa Offer Joint Solution to Deliver Multimodal Applications

NEW YORK - Aumtech Inc. and Kirusa, Inc. announced a partnership to introduce a joint multimodal solution offering wireless end users voice and data access to mobile applications and services.

Kurzweil Educational Systems Introduces Kurzweil 3000 for Macintosh Version 3

Kurzweil Educational Systems introduced Kurzweil 3000 for Macintosh Version 3, reading, writing and learning software for struggling students, at the 22nd annual Closing the Gap conference.

ScanSoft Expands Packaged Applications Portfolio to Offer Apptera Enterprise Speech Applications

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Apptera™ and ScanSoft, Inc. have signed an agreement whereby ScanSoft will resell Apptera's packaged speech applications.

Nestle Waters North America Receives Cisco's 2000th IP Contact Center Solution

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Nestle Waters North America announced receipt of Cisco Systems' 2000th Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) installation.

HTK Appoints New Non-Executive Director and Sales Director

HTK announces two key appointments for newly created roles.

DynaVox Technologies Unveils MightyMo AND MiniMo

PITTSBURGH - DynaVox Technologies announced the availability of MightyMo and MiniMo.

Qwest Communications Launches Virtual Call Center Solution

DENVER - Qwest Communications International Inc. announced a new network-hosted call center solution that reduces large capital, networking, and specialized IT staffing and equipment maintenance costs by 30 to 50 percent.

VeCommerce Appoints Chief Technology Officer

VeCommerce Limited announced that Brett Feldon has been promoted to the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

SBC Communications Announces IP-Based Service That Syncs Wireline and Wireless Voicemails, Faxes, and Emails

SAN ANTONIO - SBC Communications Inc. announced SBC Unified Communications(SM), a new service that uses IP (Internet Protocol) to enable customers to gather all of their message services into one system.

Artisoft Acquires Vertical Networks

From CommWeb - Artisoft has closed its acquisition of privately held Vertical Networks. Artisoft paid approximately $19 million in cash. Artisoft Chairman William Tauscher will serve as chairman and CEO, and Vertical Networks founder Scott Pickett will serve as chief technology officer, of the combined company.

AutoZone Selects VoiceLogistics

AutoZone has selected the VoiceLogistics solution by Voxware, for implementation.

APEX Voice Communications Announces Latest Version of OmniVox

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. - APEX Voice Communications announced the general availability of OmniVox version 5.0.

MERA Introduces New Interworking and Security Features Along with FreeBSD

TORONTO - MERA works in close contact with telcos to deliver Session Controller for carriers & service providers.

Clarity Technologies Helps Provide Speech Recognition

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Clarity Technologies Inc announced that its CVC (Clear Voice Capture) noise suppression technology for automatic speech recognition software can now interoperate, and can be sold with, IBM(R) Embedded ViaVoice(R).

PostFinance Chooses Swisscom Systems

DUBLIN - PostFinance chooses Swisscom Systems for telephone self-service banking solution on Voxpilot VoiceXML platform.

Fluency Uses Virtual Agents for Responses to Direct TV Advertising

LONDON - ContactCapture, available from Fluency, has been used to handle over two million calls for the Freeview digital terrestrial television (DTT) service that brings viewers up to 30 television channels and interactive services, through their rooftop aerial.

Vocomo Announces VoIP-Based IVR Product Supporting VoiceXML 2.0, SIP, H.323, and RTP

Vocomo announced its new open standards Voice-over-IP (VoIP) IVR platform: VocomoVoice Response for VoIP.

Loquendo TTS Supports Mixed Language Texts and Expressiveness

Loquendo announced that a new European country has been added in its portfolio: Holland.

MacSpeech Releases MouseAnywhere ScriptPak

MacSpeech released MouseAnywhere, which allows the user to position the mouse using commands like "Go," "Nudge," and "Move Mouse."

Fonix Adds Voice Recognition to Game Play

Yelling at a videogame used to be considered a sign of overexcitement, or perhaps mild insanity. But today, when players holler at their video screens, chances are, it's helping them win.

GTECH to Voice Enable Web Infrastructure with Intervoice Omvia Voice Framework

GTECH Holdings selected Intervoice to deliver several speech-enabled applications within its customer service offering.

Convergys Adds Apptera's Configurable Speech Applications to SpeechPort Platform

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Convergys has signed an agreement under which Convergys will provide Apptera's suite of packaged speech applications as part of its speech platform.

VoiceGate and Strategic Connections Announce Technology Partnership

Strategic Connections Inc. and VoiceGate Corporation have joined forces to deliver a suite of productivity and call management tools designed to assist automotive dealers to sell more vehicles and increase customer retention.

BBC Broadcasters Select HTK for Database

Embarrassing blunders over names and places in unfamiliar languages should be a thing of the past for BBC broadcasters thanks to a solution developed by HTK.

Frost & Sullivan Honors Unified Messaging Solution by Interactive Intelligence

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Frost & Sullivan's recent study, North American Enterprise Messaging Markets, acknowledged Interactive Intelligence Inc.'s product innovation abilities in developing Communite(TM) for the enterprise unified messaging (UM) market.

teliSpeech available on VoiceGenie NexusPoint 6.4 Platform

PARIS and TORONTO - Telisma's new speech recognition technology integrates VoiceGenie's NexusPoint VoiceXML platform.

EsnaTech Steps Up With Working ASR AA Product

From CommWeb - The EsnaTech Telephony Office-LinX enterprise edition is more than just an auto attendant. It supports many features including unified messaging and instant messaging, but this test focused on the automated speech recognition auto-attendant capabilities. This component of the product comes with many features including support for eight different languages.

Telisma Records French Children's Speech Database as Part of the Neologos Project

One of the Neologos objectives is to overcome this shortage of dedicated data for French children.

Eicon Networks Introduces New Shiva VPN Gateways

BOSTON - Eicon Networks announced the introduction of the Shiva VPN Gateways range with new security features and software.

Toshiba Phone System Announces Strata CIX

Toshiba announces the Strata CIX upgrade to the Strata CTX.

Loquendo Launches Expressive TTS

At SYSTEMS 2004, which will take place in Munich, Germany from October 18-22, Loquendo will be unveiling Loquendo TTS Expressive Voices.

Eicon Networks launches Diva Server SoftIP v1.0

BOSTON - Eicon announced the launch of Diva Server SoftIP version 1.0, a new software product that extends Diva Server call control and media streaming capabilities towards IP Telephony, using Voice over IP (VoIP)and Fax over IP (FoIP) signaling protocols.

Enventis Telecom Powers Hosted IP Services with TeleGea VoIP Delivery Management

Enventis Telecom has selected TeleGea's VoIP Delivery Management Solution to help manage delivery of services.

teliSpeech Available on VoiceGenie NexusPoint 6.4 Platform

PARIS and TORONTO - Telisma and VoiceGenie Technologies Inc. announced the testing and integration of Telisma's teliSpeech technology with VoiceGenie's latest VoiceXML platform release, NeXusPoint 6.4.

varetis and Telisma Team to Promote a New Automated Directory Assistant

PARIS and MUNICH - varetis and Telisma announce the availability of Telisma's technology - teliSpeech.

LXE's MX3X Computer Available with Voxware's VoiceLogistics Applications

PRINCETON, N.J. - Voxware, Inc. announced that Voxware's VoiceLogistics applications are available on LXE's handheld wireless computer, the MX3X.

France Telecom Integrates Telisma's Speech Technology

PARIS - France Telecom launches "Mes Contacts" ("My Contacts") - a new personal directory featuring Telisma's speech recognition technology.

Acapela Group Announces Partnerships

At the Gitex trade show in Dubai, Acapela is speaking out at its stand, but also at those of Speakatel and Etisalat with Salma, its Arabic speech synthesis.

Empirix and Siebel Announce Strategic Partnership

LOS ANGELES - Empirix Inc. and Siebel Systems, Inc. announced that Empirix has elevated its partnership status to the Siebel Strategic Software Partner level by entering into a development agreement.

Wachovia Selects Convergys to Provide Automated Customer Care Services

CINCINNATI - Wachovia selected Convergys to provide speech solutions utilizing its patented open hosting environment to support self-service customer care.

IntegraMed America Creates New Version of ARTWorks software.

IntegraMed America has created a new version of its ARTWorks software.

Jamie Arnold Joins ScanSoft as Chief Financial Officer

PEABODY, Mass. - ScanSoft, Inc. announced that it has named James ("Jamie") R. Arnold, Jr. to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer.

MERA Enhances Its VoIPal Session Border Controller with New Interworking Functionalities

TORONTO - MERA Systems announced that it has enhanced its VoIPal Session Border Controller with SIP features and routing mechanisms.

VAS International Receives US Patent for Visa Voiceprint Verification Biometric Identification System

WOODSTOCK, Ga. - VAS International awarded US Patent number 6,799,163.

Belgacom Selects ScanSoft Directory Assistance Solutions to Power New Multilingual Automatic Service

PEABODY, Mass. and GHENT, Belgium - Belgacom has worked with ScanSoft to develop 1234, an automated multi-lingual national directory assistance (DA) service in Belgium.

U.S. Army to Use MedivoxRx's Talking Pill Bottles in Humanitarian Efforts

PITTSBURGH - MedivoxRx Technologies Inc. announced that it has received the first order for its Talking Pill Bottle from the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

Just Released - The 1.0 Beta Release of Sphinx-4

The 1.0 beta release of Sphinx-4, a speaker-independent speech recognition system written in the Java programming language has been released.

SRC Brings Dictation Solutions to the Internet with SRC Direct

LONDON - SRC has launched SRC Direct, an e-commerce Web site offering professionals digital dictation and speech recognition products.

MAP Telecom Launches VoiceXML Business Exchange

MAP Telecom announced the launch of VoiceXML Business Exchange or VBX.

Circles Selects Empirix for Siebel Testing

LOS ANGELES - Circles announced that it has selected Empirix e-TEST™ suite to test the performance of its Siebel 7.5 customer relationship management (CRM) application prior to deployment.

AGL Resources Extends Deployment of eQuality Software from Witness Systems

ATLANTA - AGL Resources, Inc. announced that it has extended the deployment of Witness Systems' eQuality® performance optimization software by adding Witness Systems' e-learning and compliance recording solutions.

One Voice for 75,000 Barclays Staff

London - Barclays selects voice recognition solution from Fluency and Energis.