Speech Technology eWeekly - July 01, 2004

Editor's Letter

Analyzing the Verticals

Voice Value

Voice over IP is becoming mainstream.

Speech Technology News

IBM Looks to Improve Web Usage for Visually Impaired

PC World Australia - IBM develops aDesigner, a java-based developer tool, that simulates low-vision and blind modes for testing web page capabilities tailored to the visually impaired and blind.

Virgin Atlantic Flying High with New Voice-Based Flight Information Service from Nuance

LONDON & MENLO PARK, CA - Nuance Software Provides Domestic and International Travelers with Anytime, Anywhere Access to Flight Information

SandCherry Resells Apptera's Packaged Speech Applications To Financial Services Market

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - The partnership will allow SandCherry to tailor solutions to customer needs and give Apptera another outlet for providing applications to a broader customer base.

VoiceMatch and Smart Commerce Sign Agreement to Deliver Secure Voice Authentication Solutions

SAN FRANCICSCO, Calif. & NEW YORK, NY - VoiceMatch partners up with Smart Commerce to develop distribute a version VoiceMatch's voice identification and validation (VIV) solutions suite that runs on a smart card.

PS Technology, Syntellect Partner on Workforce Management System for Transportation Industry

PS Technology selected Vista voice application platform for deploying its software-based scheduling system.

Powered Up: Voice Automation Shines in the Utility Industry

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Utility companies reap benefits of speech-powered applications, increasing customer satisfaction and company savings.

New Female Voice to Reinforce Loquendo's Presence in the French Market

Turin, Italy - Loquendo adds another voice to it's family of French personas. Her name is Juliette.

CNIB Library of Toronto selects Loquendo

The CNIB Library of Toronto chooses Loquendo's text-to-speech software for digital talking books.

Hear All about Kari, the New Norwegian TTS Voice

Acapela extends its text-to-speech coverage with its new voice - Kari.

Audium Completes Interoperability Testing with Cisco

NEW YORK, NY - Audium 3 met the Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice and Video Integrated Data) Partner Program test criteria for interoperability with the Cisco Internet Service Node (ISN), version 2.1.

Wizzard Software Awarded FSS Contract for Talking Pill Bottle

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that medication errors and/or adverse drug events kill an estimated 100,000 persons annually with the inability to read and understand medication instructions being a significant contributing factor.

VoxSurf Signs Agreement with Comverse to Deliver Next Generation Communications

LONDON - VoxSurf and Comverse sign agreement to integrate VxOneT into Comverse's Total Communication systems.

Frost & Sullivan Honors Phonetic Systems with the 2004 Speech Technology Differentiation Award

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Phonetic Systems recognized with the 2004 Speech Technology Differentiation Award.

Verizon's New 411 System: Is It a Live Operator, or Is It 'Darby'?

NEW YORK, NY - Verizon updates New York's 411 directory assistance with one of the largest Internet applications on the telephone network. Darby Bailey is the new voice of Verizon 411.

Integration of TeleVantage with ArtiSpeech Delivers Hands-free Solution

CAMBRIDGE, Mass and SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Artisoft and LumenVox unite to promote the availability of Artisoft's IP-PBX, ArtiSpeech. ArtiSpeech integrates with TeleVantage to speech enable a company's name directory, allowing all internal and external callers to have hands-free interactions with an organization.

W3C Published Style Sheet for Rendering HTML & XML Documents as Speech

The W3C has published a new working draft of a cascading Style Sheet specification that renders (X)HTML as voice using speech synthesis.

VocaLabs Seeks Beta Testers for New Service

VocaLabs is running beta-testing on a new system and is looking for participants.

Frost & Sullivan Reviews North American Speech Market

Vendors Attempt to Woo Customers with Mix of Packaged and Custom Speech Solutions.

Aspect Communications Backs Aculab Technology

MILTON KEYNES, UK - Via a long-term alliance, Aspect has utilized Aculab's technology to deliver mission-critical, E1 telephony based self-service solutions to customers around the world.

Isreal Discount Bank Announces New Service to Customers

BILLERICA, Mass. and TEL AVIV, Israel - Isreal Discount Bank deploys a speech recognition service to their customers.

Wizzard Promotes Gene Franz to General Manager of Solutions and Channels

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The immediate focus of the Solutions and Channels group will be the recently acquired MedivoxRx Technologies, Inc. subsidiary and its Talking Pill Bottle solution.

Philips Releases Hungarian Speech Recognition Software for Radiologists

VIENNA, Austria - Royal Philips Electronics releases speech recognition software for Hungarian radiology departments.

LumenVox Named Winner in The Sixth Annual Users Choice Awards

SAN DIEGO, CA - Lumenvox's Speech Driven Information System (SDIS) was entered in the category of Speech Solutions for CRM.

Loquendo Releases Loquendo ASR 6.3 Technology

TURIN, Italy - Loquendo ASR 6.3 includes application development enhancements and it is available in two new languages: Mexican and Portuguese.

ISx Supports Launch of Sensis(R) 1234 Initiative with Latest in Information and Search Technologies

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - ISx FlexiQ platform enables Sensis to combine yellow pages(R) and white pages(R) systems to enable new services.

Clarity Technologies Awarded Additional Patents

TROY, MI - Clarity Technologies Inc. has received its third patent in the area of improving the quality and performance of voice communications.

Brooktrout, Bludis and VoiceGenie Partner to Deliver Integrated Solutions for Advanced Speech-Enabled Applications in Italy

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The partnership will allow Bludis to offer developers a platform that combines Brooktrout's TR1000™ speech platform and NeXusPoint, VoiceGenie's VoiceXML-based platform, to build speech-enabled applications such as voice self-help systems, advanced message delivery services, virtual assistants and automated business finder and operator services.

Knowles Acoustics Opens Second Production Facility for MEMS Based Silicon Microphones in Suzhou, China

ITASCA, Ill. - Knowles Acoustics opens a second production facility in Suzhou, China. The plant has started production and shipments of MEMS based Surface Mount Microphones.

Nuance Appoints Senior Vice President of Sales and Professional Services

Nuance named Glenn Cross, a 25-year technology industry veteran, to the position of senior vice president of sales and professional services.

Capita Resourcing Adopts SRC Speech Recognition Service For Recruitment Campaign Handling

LONDON, UK - Capita Resourcing has signed a two-year contract with SRC to use the SRC ContactCapture(tm) speech recognition system for its telephone recruitment services.

Siemens Announces Version 2.0 of HiPath OpenScape Presence Collaboration Portal

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The OpenScape solution, a real-time enterprise communication tool, is helping Siemens customers to lower overall collaboration costs, simplify workflows and streamline interaction-intensive business processes.

Fluency Voice Technology Acquires SRC Telecom

LONDON - Fluency announced the acquisition of SRC Telecom from Voice Recognition Holdings. SRC Telecom will continue to operate under the name SRC Dictation Solutions.

AT&T Extends and Expands Wizzard Agreement for World Wide TTS Distribution Rights

PITTSBURGH, Penn. - Wizzard Software and AT&T add distribution rights for the telephony server version of AT&T's Natural Voices text-to-speech engine to their agreement.

EurekaSoft and Voxpilot Complete Merger

PARIS, France - Company will trade under the brand name "Voxpilot" and merger accompanied by investment of EUR 2.5 Million.

Pelephone Launches Zoom *10, A New Voice-Based Customer Content Portal from Phonetic Systems

BILLERICA, Mass. and PETAH-TIKVA, ISRAEL - The speech recognition system will offer news, sports updates, dating services, downloading ringtones, sending greeting cards, listening to and sending jokes, downloading voice mail, economic reports, stock exchange, foreign currency reports and many other services.

Speech Technology Associates Announces Participation in Nuance Partner Alliance

WESTFORD, Mass. - Speech Technology Associates joined with Nuance Communication and has become a member of the Nuance Partner Alliance.