Speech Technology eWeekly - November 01, 2003

Q & A

Peter Leppik, CEO, VocaLabs

During the Speech Solutions CHALLENGE at SpeechTEK 2003, VocaLabs was one of two Certified Speech Application Testers. Peter Leppik of VocaLabs says given the severe six hour time limits, he was surprised how well all seven teams did in building their speech applications. See what else Leppik had to say about this one-of-a-kind speech technology demonstration.

Steve Gerrard, Vice President of Marketing, Voxware

The warehouse environment has become a popular arena for deploying speech technology. Recently Voxware partnered with RedPrairie, a provider of performance measurement solutions for warehouse, transportation and productivity management, to resell and deliver its VoiceLogistics®. Voxware's Steve Gerrard visits with STM NewsBlast to discuss this and other trends with speech technology.

John Moffly, Voice Architects

During the Speech Solutions CHALLENGE at SpeechTEK 2003, Voice Architects was one of two Certified Speech Application Testers. John Moffly of Voice Architects says the CHALLENGE showed that using today's tools, you can actually build a fully featured speech application prototype in a matter of hours.

Judy Davis, Director of Product & Industry Marketing, Convergys

Two months ago Monster Government Solutions selected Convergys to provide the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to its federal jobs Web site. The USAJOBS site averages 17,000 federal vacancy announcements per day and under this agreement Convergys is hosting automated access and query capabilities using text-to-speech output of job postings and fax-back services for associated documents. Judy Davis, director of product and industry marketing for Convergys discusses the significance of such a deployment.

Voice Value

Examining Perceptions

Robin Springer, president of Computer Talk, asks "Do people with disabilities see themselves as disabled or do they see themselves as people who have difficulty doing some things, just like everyone else in the world?"

Speech Technology News

Rhetorical Selected by the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB)

EDINBURGH, ENGLAND - RNIB to use rVoice to deliver current affairs and time-sensitive information in an audible format designed to be fully accessible by England's 2 million blind and partially sighted people.

Tellme's Voice Application Network Servicing 1-800-FLY-SONG

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and ATLANTA, GA - Song, an airline operated by Delta Air Lines, will provide callers with a way to find flights and book tickets using their voice.

Voice Signal Technologies Software Shipping with Samsung Smartphone

WOBURN, MA - Voice Activated Phonebook software and application launching feature is available on Smartphone through Verizon Wireless.

Emerging Technologies Solution Utilized by Etisalat

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMERATES - E-Mail Reader service available to individual subscribers to manage accounts using voice commands.

Datria and Edify Partner on Field Services Applications

SANTA CLARA, CA and ENGLEWOOD, CO - Companies combine Edify's open-standards platform and Datria's field services solutions in an effort to help improve their customers' productivity.

Jackson, Fournival Appointed Senior VPs at Edify

SANTA CLARA, CA - Sales and marketing executives' focus will be to drive Edify's vision and product market adoption.

Personica Intelligence Launches Multimodal Interface Platform

MARLBOROUGH, MA and SAN JOSE, CA - Personica Intelligence (PI) blends natural speech and visual interactions with applications awareness.

Epson Partners with Fonix for Speech Interface Technologies

SALT LAKE CITY, UT and TOKYO, JAPAN - Combined software and chip speech solution tailored for multimedia camera-phones powered by speech.

Kirusa Launches Multimodality Trial with mobilkom austria

EDISON, NJ - mobilkom austria will evaluate several multimodal applications based on Kirusa's platform, including SMS sequential multimodal applications.

NCR and ScanSoft Enter into Global Agreement

DAYTON, OH - NCR to embed ScanSoft's text-to-speech (TTS) engine within NCR's self-service software in order to provide visually impaired access to automated teller machines (ATMs).

Loquendo and Phonologies sign OEM Agreement

TURIN, ITALY - Loquendo's automatic speech recognition and speaker verification technology is being integrated within Phonologies' platform solution.

iVoice Files Four Additional Patent Applications

MATAWAN, NJ - Patent requests are in conjunction with the voice activated, voice responsive "Hear I Am" voice item locator.

Clarity adds Doney, Houy to Commercial Delivery Team

TROY, MI - Doney named senior directory of sales and Houy appointed vice president of marketing.

Newport Networks and Convedia Partner

VANCOUVER, CANADA and CHEPSTOW, UK - Companies team to create session controller solutions for carrier-class IP-based voice and multimedia networks.

MultiVision Communications Releases Contact Center Solution

MARKHAM, CANADA - Speechezy is designed to assist contact center operators deliver desired information proactively to customers over any communications channel.

BTSLogic Announces Speech-Enabled Directory Assistance Service

COLLEGE PARK, MD - SEDA, updated by LSSi directory data, to provide automated directory assistance.

Third Party Verification Adds Mandarin Language

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL - Martina® Speech Enabled Verification Platform is now trilingual as Mandarin joins English and Spanish offerings.

Speechforms and Intellisist Merge

SEATTLE, WA - Telecom based speech companies combine enterprise voice access solutions and call center technologies.

ScanSoft Technology Selected by Vivendi Universal Games

PEABODY, MA - SWAT: Global Strike Team (GST) incorporates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) 1600 speech recognition software to provide speech-enabled command and control.

Angel.com and Voice Partners Form Partnership

MCLEAN, VA - Angel.com also included among "The 100 Best Resources for Small Business."

NMS Communications Hardware Chosen by Computer Talk Technology (CCT)

FRAMINGHAM, MA - CCT will base its iceCube solution on NMS' platform.

Nuance Adds Canadian French to TTS Offering

MENLO PARK, CA - New voice and other product enhancements made to Nuance Vocalizer 3.0 text-to-speech software are now available.

ART Advanced Recognition Technologies Software Chosen by BenQ

ATLANTA, GA - smARTwriter to enable BenQ to produce its new P30 smartphone in three versions for European and Asian market.

Fonix Speech Interfaces Implemented on Renesas Platform

Speech interfaces have been implemented and are shipping on Renesas Technology's Biscayne development platform for vehicle telematics systems.

Vocollect Introduces Talkman T2 Battery Analyzer

Accessory provides battery management capability and ability to plan for battery rotation and replacement.

Genesys Software Verified by CT Labs

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Testing shows Genesys Outbound Contact software dialer version 6.5.1 meet selected criteria in the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule amendments.

Apptera Names Joe Farrell VP of Sales

SAN BRUNO, CA - John Luongo appointed board member to complete Apptera's management team and board of directors.

Sensory Partners on Technical Innovation Award Winning Solution

LONDON, ENGLAND - VISTA project wins the Royal Television Society Technical Innovation Award for advanced engineering techniques, including speech recognition.

Comverse Sells Services to Telfort

WOODBURY, NY - With this partnership Comverse becomes Telfort supplier of Total Communication Services portfolio.

Sakrament TTS Selected by Russian Television Network

MINSK, BELARUS - TNT TV Network to use Sakrament TTS Engine for a reality television show.

Fonix Solution Deployed by Utah Law Firm

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - ConnectMe™ system in place to route after-hours calls to attorneys of Durham Jones & Pinegar.

Dollar Rent A Car Receives ScanSoft's Milestone Achievement Award

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft recognises car rental company for reaching a critical customer service milestone with their speech solution having served eight million customers through its automated customer service personalities.

NSC's Engine Expands to Support Arabic

RISHON LEZION, ISRAEL - With the addition of Arabic language to speech recognition products, NSC can offer services to emerging markets in the Middle East.

MacSpeech Releases Panther Update for iListen

SALEM, NH - Registered iListen users need to install this update before they can use iListen with the new version of Mac OS X.

iVoice Platform Deployed by New Knoxville Telephone

MATAWAN, NJ - Speech Enabled Unified Communications Platform selected to provide local services to New Knoxville Telephone subscribers and its subsidiaries.

Audible and Freedom Scientific Form Integrated Marketing Alliance

WAYNE, NJ and ST. PETERSBURG, FL - Users of Freedom Scientific technology products will be eligible for a free trial membership to Audible's 34,000 hours of valuable spoken word audio.

Bridge Dialog and South49 Solutions Form Partnership

OVERLAND PARK, KS and RESTON, VA - South49 speech solutions will integrate with Bridge Dialog hosted platform BridgeCare.

Syntellect System Selected by Telewest Broadband

PHOENIX, AZ - VistaPayment chosen to streamline Telewest Broadband's collections strategy.

Metaphor Selected by Orion Telecommunications

WELLESLEY, MA - Metaphor will provide automated speech IVR applications for Orion's call center.

IBM alphaWorks Releases Voice Toolkit Preview

Voice Toolkit supports open standards of VXML and CCXML, allowing call flow builders to create files without assistance from a voice developer.

iVoice Deploying Speech System for On Course Information Services

MATAWAN, NJ - Speech Enabled Unified Communications Platform will be used at On Course's headquarters to streamline information from voice mail, fax and e-mail.

Microsoft Xbox Games Utilize Fonix Speech

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six(TM) 3 and SWAT(R): Global Strike Team feature voice-commands based upon Fonix technology available in Microsoft's Xbox developer's kit (XDK).

Fonix/Epson Speech Solution Selected by TopGrade

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Speech interface solution now available on educational electronic dictionary for Chinese speakers.

ScanSoft Releases Japanese Voice Kyoko

PEABODY, MA - Japanese voice introduced for embedded and network-based text-to-speech applications.

Elan Speech Given Technology Toll Excellence Award

TOULOUSE, FRANCE - Eliott, the voice of SANEF's automated traffic information, broadcasts real-time traffic information.

Voxware Selected by CooperVision

PRINCETON, NJ - VoiceLogistics software chosen to voice-direct picking operations in CooperVision's distribution center.

NeoSpeech TTS Selected By Cima Systems

FREMONT, CA - Using VoiceText™, Cima combines data mining with voice and e-mail messaging to automate communication with customers via phone and the Web.

Intervoice System Reduces Calls for Michigan Department of Treasury

DALLAS, TX - Speech-Enabled system reduced the calls handled by live agents by 30 percent during the 2003 tax season.

Personica Intelligence Unveils Intelligent Assistant Platform

SAN JOSE, CA - Toolkit can be used by consumer electronics companies and broadband service providers to offer voice activated control throughout the home.