Speech Technology eWeekly - July 01, 2005

Features

Hosted and Managed Speech Services in North America Poised to Be $845 Million Business by 2009

Hong, voice business analyst at Datamonitor, reports that "North America's $458 million hosted and managed speech services market is tipped to exhibit an aggressive 15 percent year-over-year growth rate through the next four years."

Q & A

Chris Lotspeich, Director of Marketing, LumenVox

Chris Lotspeich, director of marketing at LumenVox, explains that "Other tuning tools typically look at the enterprise level of the application, whereas the Speech Tuner gives an in-depth look 'under the hood.'"

Peter Gavalakis, Chair of the VoiceXML Forum's Marketing Committee

According to Peter Gavalakis, chair of the VoiceXML Forum's marketing committee, "Customers that specify only certified VoiceXML platforms in their RFPs know that the systems they will be purchasing will be fully standards-compliant. This assurance is important for companies seeking to avoid the risks associated with vendor lock-in and with obsolescence by adopting a standards-based technology approach."

Bruce Morse, Vice President of Contact Center Solutions, IBM

According to Bruce Morse, vice president of contact center solutions at IBM, "Delivering a speech server that exploits the Web application server and tooling environment is a logical extension of the IT organization, and enables clients to take advantage of the integration work that's already going on there."

Mark Rayburn, Director of Advanced Technology, CPT

According to Mark Rayburn, director of advanced technology at CPT, "Deep involvement with technology providers is crucial to the success of your hosting business."

Tim Miller, Director of Product Planning, Siemens

Tim Miller, director of product planning at Siemens, explains, "The shift of focus from browser, ASR/TTS elements and fixed applications to a more innovation-centric market means that the industry will now rapidly move from being a niche segment to a mainstream segment."

Speech Technology News

Telephonetics Recognized for Innovation at the National Business Awards

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD - Telephonetics has been honored with the coveted title of "Business Innovation of the Year" (South East Region) for the second year in succession at the National Business Awards.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Selects Voice Partners to Design New Customer Experience

PALO ALTO, Calif. - When Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) decided to implement speech technology, Voice Partners was asked to assist in defining and designing a voice-enabled, over-the-phone service.

XoVox Communications Releases XoVox Mobile and Communicator4, and Teams with LegalDocs

XoVox and LegalDocs have teamed to offer a system that connects the spoken word with a final formatted document. XoVox also released its latest version of XCommunicator, version 4 and XoVox Mobile.

Kurzweil Educational Systems Appoints New York Regional Manager

Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. has appointed Ed Smith to regional manager for New York.

VoiceSignal Releases Downloadable Speech Solution for Motorola MPx220 Smartphone from Handango Web Site

WOBURN, Mass. - VoiceSignal released a download of its one-step voice command speech solution.

Bankinter to Launch Multimodal Service Powered by Kirusa

MADRID, Spain and EDISON, N.J. - Bankinter, an Internet bank and brokerage firm in Spain, has signed a strategic agreement to develop a multimodal interface for their applications using Kirusa's multimodal technology.

VoiceObjects Enhances VoiceObjects X5

NEW YORK - VoiceObjects released the latest version of VoiceObjects X5.

Google Hires Dr. Kai-Fu Lee as Vice President, Engineering and President of Google China

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc. will open a product research and development center in China, and has hired computer scientist and industry pioneer, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, to lead the operation and serve as president of the company's growing Chinese operations.

MacSpeech Introduces iListen MX

BOSTON - MacSpeech released iListen MX, a new version of iListen.

Empire Medicare Services Wins Most Innovative Solution Award

MANASSAS, Va. - EMS will be participating at this year's SpeechTEK conference in New York City August 1 - August 4.

Wizzard Software Releases AT&T Natural Voices for Apple Mac OS v.10.3 Panther and v.10.4 Tiger

PITTSBURGH - Wizzard Software released AT&T Natural Voices for Apple Mac OS v.10.3 Panther and v.10.4 Tiger in English, French, German and Spanish.

Jane Phillips Medical Center Increases Safety Measures with New Voice Alert System from Wizzard Software

PITTSBURGH - Jane Phillips Medical Center (JPMC) has licensed AT&T Natural Voices from Wizzard for an internal alert system.

LumenVox Announces Support for ScanSoft

SAN DIEGO - LumenVox will be announcing the availability of their Speech Tuner with support for ScanSoft's OSR 2.0 at the upcoming SpeechTEK show.

Philips Announces SpeechMagic Award Winners

VIENNA, Austria - Royal Philips Electronics has announced the winners of the SpeechMagic Awards 2005.

Corporate Strategies Deploys iVoice's Auto Speech Attendant

Corporate Strategies has installed the iVoice Speech Enabled Auto Attendant.

Persay Releases Platform for Biometric Speaker Verification

TEL AVIV, Israel - Persay Ltd. released a platform for biometric speaker verification.

VoiceObjects and Inference Partner

COLOGNE, Germany; BOSTON; and MELBOURE, Australia - VoiceObjects and Inference Communications partnered to integrate the Inference Grammar Trainer technology into VoiceObjects X5.

Gold Systems Releases Speech-Powered Password Reset Solution

Gold Systems released Gold Systems' Password Reset.

bridgeSpeak Leverage Empirix's Hammer to Test New Voice Application for Auto Dealerships

NEW YORK - bridgeSpeak leveraged Empirix's Hammer automated testing system to test drive its new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solution for auto dealerships.

Loquendo Releases ASR 6.7 and Linux Version of VoxNauta Platform

TURIN, Italy - The new version of Loquendo's automatic speech recognition gives customers the tools to adapt their own acoustic models without the need for specific technical know-how. The Linux version of Loquendo's VoxNauta platform is based on Linux Red Hat 7.3.

Message Technologies Adds Microsoft Speech Server to Hosting Options; Partners with Pronexus

Message Technologies added Microsoft Speech Server (MSS) and a Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) specification. Message Technologies has also reached a reseller and hosting agreement with Pronexus.

Harvard Study Reveals Nuance FASt Caller Survey Helps Companies Improve Services and Retain Customers

A Harvard Business Review study reveals that phone-based satisfaction surveys can increase customer profitability.

Datria Releases 3.0 Series of Applications

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Datria released its 3.0 series of applications, including Ticket Management™, Scouting & Inspection™, and Storm Recovery™.

Edify Positioned in the Leader Quadrant for Gartner EVP/IVR Magic Quadrant

Edify was named in the Leader Quadrant in the Gartner Enterprise Voice Portal and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Magic Quadrant 2005.

PhoneAnything Receives Accessibility Award

PhoneAnything has received the "Accessibility Award" in this year's New Statesman New Media Awards.

MacSpeech Certifies Plantronics .Audio 85 Headset

MacSpeech has certified the Plantronics .Audio 85 multipurpose stereo headset for use with its product, iListen.

MAP Telecom Is Under New Management

MONACO - MAP Telecom has a new management team.

Aculab and Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2 TIM Trials Are Moving into Final Phases

MILTON KEYNES, U.K. - Many of Aculab's evaluation trial partners, of its telephony interface manager (TIM) for the Microsoft Speech Server 2004 R2, are now moving into the final test and production phase of their solutions, following the integration and testing of Aculab's TIM.

Wizzard Software and IBM Extend IBM ViaVoice Toolkit Agreement

Wizzard Software to sell and support IBM ViaVoice speech recognition and text-to-speech toolkits and IBM ViaVoice runtime distribution licenses.

Sepura NCT's Selects Clearspeech Technology for Tetra Handsets

Sepura has licensed Cambridge technology company, NCT's ClearSpeech noise reduction technology for integration into their TETRA hand-held radios.

Voice Partners Plans to Make Open Source Prompt Generation Tool Free to the Speech Industry

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Voice Partners plans to give an open source analog prompt generator (APG) to leaders in the speech industry in attendance at the upcoming SpeechTEK 2005 conference in New York City on August 1, 2005.

Fordham University Selects Nuance and Speech Technology Associates Team to Develop Advanced Voice Automation System for Students, Parents and Faculty

MENLO PARK, Calif. - The Fordham University Enrollment Group selected Nuance and its partner Speech Technology Associates, Inc. (STA) to develop the speech recognition and CTI-enabled auto-attendant solution, Automated Operator™.

KeyBank Deploys Apptera's Voice-Powered ATM Locator

NEW YORK - KeyBank has deployed Apptera's voice-automated ATM Locator to help customers pinpoint the nearest location for its ATMs and service centers.

Roberto Pieraccini Joins Tell-Eureka as CTO

NEW YORK - Tell-Eureka named Roberto Pieraccini to its executive management team as chief technology officer.

Empirix and Genesys Launch Integrated Testing and Monitoring Solutions for Genesys Voice Platform (GVP)

BEDFORD, Mass. and SAN FRANCISCO - Empirix Inc. and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., jointly released integrated testing and monitoring solutions for Genesys Voice Platform (GVP) environments.

Voxeo Introduces VoiceCenter 6

NEW YORK - Voxeo Corporation released the sixth generation of its VoiceCenter IVR platform.

Sensory Releases Voice Recognition Module

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Sensory, Inc. released the VR Stamp™ module, providing integration of voice recognition (VR) into consumer, industrial, automotive and medical electronics.

Kable Fulfillment Services to Deploy Witness Systems Workforce Management Software

ATLANTA - Kable Fulfillment Services has extended deployment of Witness Systems' workforce optimization software.

Fraser Health Selects NEC Unified Solutions to Provide Unified Messaging and Voice Recognition

IRVING, Texas - Fraser Health, a British Columbia health authority, has selected NEC Unified Solutions, Inc. to provide unified messaging and voice recognition technologies to enhance its converged voice and data network.

Avery Glasser Joins Opus Research

SAN FRANCISCO - Avery Glasser has joined Opus Research.

VocaLabs' SectorPulse Report Shows T-Mobile and Verizon Continue to Lead Wireless Customer Service

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - In Vocal Laboratories' seventh quarterly report comparing the service levels of five cellular telephone providers, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile continue to lead, but Cingular is showing considerable improvement and is closing the gap.

Datria and VoiceObjects Forge Strategic Alliance

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and COLOGNE, Germany - Datria and VoiceObjects signed a partnership agreement that will serve as a flexible foundation for the companies' relationship.

AvMed Deploys Conversational Voice Self-Service From TuVox and ScanSoft

CUPERTINO, Calif. - AvMed Health Plans, a Florida not-for-profit health plan, has deployed speech applications from TuVox and ScanSoft to enhance its customers' service offerings with voice-enabled self-service.

Electronics 2000 and Natural Speech Communication Partner

Electronics 2000 and Natural Speech Communication partner to deliver speech recognition solutions in the U.K. and Ireland.

CyberExtruder Selects Acapela Text-to-speech

NEW YORK - CyberExtruder has selected Acapela's text-to-speech engine to voice enable its new technology whereby an image of a person's face is turned into a rendered 3D-model. This service will be demonstrated during SpeechTEK show in NYC, from August 1-3.

Germany's 11810 Directory Assistance Service Speaks with a New Voice

MUNICH, Germany & GHENT, Belgium - Germany's voice-automated white and yellow pages directory service, 11810, launched a new and improved customized voice by varetis AG and ScanSoft, Inc.

Aspect and Concerto Agree to Merge

Concerto Software Inc. and Aspect Communications Corporation have entered a definitive agreement to combine the companies.

Vodafone Portugal Offers New Information Services Using ScanSoft Speech Solutions

BURLINGTON, Mass. & LISBON, Portugal - Vodafone Portugal has implemented ScanSoft's voice-driven suite of information services that subscribers can access through their mobile devices.

Monaco Telecom Enables VoiceDriven Communications to Expand Voice Services Market in Europe

In cooperation with Monaco Telecom, VoiceDriven Communications distributes its packaged and customized solutions to carriers and enterprises Europe-wide.

Dickinson Financial Selects Workforce Optimization Solution From Witness Systems

Dickinson Financial, the holding company for Bank Midwest and its affiliated banks, has invested in Witness Systems' workforce optimization solution.

EMDAT Selects Envox CT ADE to Power Its InTouch Service

EMDAT, a provider of integrated dictation and transcription software solutions, has selected Envox Worldwide's Envox CT ADE to power its InTouch phone-based dictation service.

Genesys Study Indicates Growing Popularity of Self-Service Applications Among Call Center Executives and Consumers

A recent study commissioned by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratoriesfound that self-service customer interaction systems are quickly becoming a standard method of communication between organizations and customers, and consumers are demanding and expecting easy-to-use, sophisticated technology to expedite their customer service inquiries.

Envox Worldwide Introduces Envox CT ADE 8.4

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. - Envox Worldwide released Envox CT ADE™ version 8.4, the company's first formal CT ADE product release since it acquired the product line from Intel in March, 2005.

Apptec Voice Solutions and Brooktrout Technology Deliver Digital Dictation and Transcription Service to the Medical Industry and Legal Community

NEW YORK - Apptec Voice Solutions has selected Brooktrout Technology's speech platform for its next generation of digital dictation and transcription services.

Robert Aiudi Joins Spoken Translation as Vice President of Sales and Business Development

Spoken Translation has named Robert Aiudi to the position of vice president of sales and business development.

Intervoice Signs Agreement to Integrate Datria Field Service

DALLAS and ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Intervoice will offer the Datria Ticket Management™ 2.0 application as part of its Omvia® Voice Express Packaged Applications suite.

Empirix and Audium Partner to Help Enterprises Develop and Deploy VoiceXML Applications

NEW YORK - Empirix® Inc. and Audium have partnered to help enterprises develop and deploy VoiceXML IVR applications.

NetByTel Signs Patent License Agreement from Voice2Form

Voice2Form and NetByTel have signed a multi-year patent license agreement to use Voice2Form's voice and speech recognition technology process for completing paper and electronic forms.

The International Bank of Miami, N.A. Selects Diaphonics for Biometric Voice Verification

HALIFAX, Canada - The International Bank of Miami, N.A. (TIBOM) has selected Diaphonics' Spike Server for voice verification.

CallMiner Adds Web-Based Reporting and Analysis Capability to Its Speech Analytics Suite

FORT MYERS, Fla. - CallMiner Inc. released CallMiner Reportal, a Web-based reporting and analysis tool enabling the creation of ad-hoc and automated reports from within TrendMiner™ ™ and Tireless Supervisor™.

Envox 6 Awarded VoiceXML 2.0 Industry Certification

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. - Envox 6, Envox Worldwide's open, standards-based communications development platform, has achieved VoiceXML 2.0 Certification through the VoiceXML Forum's Platform Certification Program.

Australia-based HiTech Telecom Deploys MERA's Softswitch for Ready Interconnection with iBasis

TORONTO, Canada - HiTech Telecom, an Australian VoIP wholesaler, has deployed MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch (MVTS) for transit switching of VoIP calls going though its international VoIP network.

Genesys Releases IP-Enabled Genesys Voice Platform for the Enterprise Market

SAN FRANCISCO - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. released an IP-enabled version of the Genesys Voice Platform (GVP) to serve enterprise customers of all sizes.

Avaya Selects IBM WebSphere Voice Server and WebSphere Application Server to Support Voice Portal; and IBM's Partners Donate Reusable Dialog Components to the Apache Software Foundation

NEW YORK - Avaya has selected IBM WebSphere Voice Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server as the initial speech and middleware platforms for Avaya Voice Portal. Also, three IBM partners, Audium, Fluency, and Openstream have donated RDCs to the Apache Software Foundation.

Loquendo and New Bridges Partner to Deliver Speech-Enabled Solutions

TURIN, Italy and DORDRECHT, The Netherlands - Loquendo has entered into a partnership with New Bridges, Voice Processing Engineers.