ScanSoft Releases ASR-3200

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), the supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, unveiled the ASR-3200, a scalable speech recognition engine for adding voice control capabilities to automotive, mobile and PC applications. The ASR-3200 is backed by the ASR Embedded Development System, a new development environment that reduces the time needed to integrate automatic speech recognition (ASR) into applications targeting Microsoft Windows 2000/XP, Windows CE and Windows CE for Automotive, as well as embedded Linux and QNX operating systems. The ScanSoft ASR-3200 is a new speaker-independent recognition engine that meets the size and accuracy requirements for embedded automotive and navigation systems, yet can scale up to add voice-control capabilities to any Intel-based Pocket PC, PC and Tablet PC application. The ASR-3200 is a companion to the ScanSoft ASR-1600, the SAPI-5 reference solution shipped by Microsoft with Windows CE for Automotive. Enhancements in the ASR-3200 include improved accuracy, a scalable grammar capability, and expanded natural language understanding capabilities. ScanSoft has created the ASR Embedded Development System v1.0, a suite of programming tools that speed the process of adding speech recognition to applications. Using the system, both expert and non-expert developers can add accurate voice control capabilities to navigation, climate control and multimedia systems in cars, or speech-enable PC office applications, games and educational titles. "Early reactions to the new ScanSoft ASR-3200 indicate that software designers think in different terms about their speech applications, creating new opportunities for products and services in automotive and mobile applications," said Frank Verbist, product development manager, ACUNIA. "By delivering integrated rapid development tools for speech, ScanSoft has perfectly anticipated the need to empower more developers with the ability to add effective voice control to those applications." The ASR-3200 and ASR Embedded Development System are new members of ScanSoft's family of speech solutions, which meet the demanding requirements of customers throughout the world, including ACUNIA, Citroen, Clarion, Eclipse, Microsoft, Panasonic and Pioneer. "The release of the ASR-3200 and Embedded Development System is timely," said Judith Markowitz, principal of J. Markowitz Consultants. "ScanSoft has leveraged its experience developing speech recognition for automotive environments into a product that can be applied to a broad spectrum of mobile systems, including PDA and Tablet PC devices. That rapidly-growing market shares many of the attributes that make the automobile a challenge for speech recognition." "Speech is quickly becoming the standard way to interact with a wide range of devices and applications, and the ASR Embedded Family provides developers with a range of solutions that enable fast deployment and rich capabilities," said Robert J. Weideman, chief marketing officer, ScanSoft. "This release raises the bar for speech recognition accuracy and deployment, the most critical components to lucrative markets such as automotive and mobile applications, providing the best, most complete speech solution available on the market today."