Speech Technology eWeekly - August 01, 2004

Features

Datamonitor: 3,000 American Call Centers to Be Extinct by 2008

Datamonitor expects call center numbers and agent positions in the United States are to take a tumble.

Q & A

Ken Waln, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Edify

Ken Waln, CTO and co-founder of Edify, shares his thoughts on industry advancements.

Bernie Hannon, founder, Speech Technology Associates

Speech Technology Associates steps on the scene as a new applications development and systems integration company and we hear from Bernie Hannon about its inception.

John Hibel of Vocalocity

John Hibel of Vocalocity discusses the company's direction with OpenVXI.

Roxann Swanson of Nortel Networks

Roxann Swanson of Nortel Networks shares her experiences with the implementation of speech solutions for Nortel customers. Roxann will be participating in the Industry Vision (Track 1) panel discussion at SpeechTEK 2004 on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Igor Jablokov, Program Director, Speech & Multimodal Technologies, IBM Pervasive Computing

Q&A with Igor Jablokov, program director, Speech and Multimodal Technologies, IBM Pervasive Computing. Igor discusses the project in which he supervised a team of IBM Extreme Blue interns who worked on a multimodal application aimed at service providers and enterprises.

Dan Miller, senior analyst, Opus Research

Dan Miller from Opus Research discusses Hosted Speech Apps and what they can mean for your organization. He also previews the content for VOX: Voice in the Clouds being held in conjunction with SpeechTEK 2004 on Monday, September 13th.

Speech Technology News

ScanSoft Names Bob Wise as Vice President, Professional Services

PEABODY, Mass. - ScanSoft, Inc. announced that it has appointed Robert N. Wise as vice president, professional services.

Clarity Technologies Moves to New World Headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Clarity doubles size of facilities to increase testing and integration capabilities for automotive customers.

VoiceObjects Establishes Subsidiary in the US; TeleSoft Partners Takes a Four-million-euro Stake in VoiceObjects AG

COLOGNE, Germany and BOSTON, Mass. - VoiceObjects launched its US presence by opening their first office within the Boston area. VoiceObjects AG announces a new investor.

CFB Trenton Announces Deployment of StarCaster VOLMET Automated Weather Broadcast System by STR

VICTORIA, BC, Canada - The Trenton VOLMET is used by the military to automatically broadcast aviation weather to military aircraft across Canada and several European sites.

GFT Group Debuts Petrana Voice Commands for DVD 1.0

The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD 1.0 are now available from GFT Group

Hansen Gray Acquires Voicetel Systems

Hansen Gray & Co .announced the acquisition of VoiceTel Systems

Provident Funding Automates Customer Calls with Vocomo's Turnkey IVR Platform

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Provident Funding lets their customers retrieve account information using their own voices. Vocomo's standards-based Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform makes it possible for Provident Funding to extend automated phone services to their existing Web services.

Nortel Networks Named Recipient of 2004 Speech Solutions Competitive Strategy Award

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Nortel Networks recognized for leadership of the North American IVR market by Frost & Sullivan.

China Telecom Is Provided 168 Services by InfoTalk and Guangzhou Suntek

InfoTalk collaborated with Guangzhou Suntek to further promote the use of voice services in China, continuing to develop 168 Voice Services for China Telecom.

Great Eastern Launches Voice Automated Attendant 'Lee Lee' Using IVR Solutions from Nortel Networks

SINGAPORE - Great Eastern launches 'Lee Lee,' which is powered by Nortel Networks' Periphonics Voice Processing Series Information Server (VPS/is) and the OSCAR speech recognition server with the OpenSpeech(TM) Recognizer speech recognition engine from ScanSoft, Inc.

MacSpeech Releases ScriptPak for Keynote

SALEM, N.H. - ScriptPak released by MacSpeech works with Apple's presentation program and iListen software.

INCITS Announces the Approval of Five Biometric Data Interchange Format Standards

WASHINGTON, DC - New standards will support implementation of open-based biometrics solutions for Homeland Security and other government and commercial authentication applications.

University of Mississippi Selects PhoneticOperator

CHICAGO, Ill. - Phonetic Systems and Envox Worldwide Deliver Voice Automated Operator Services to University of Mississippi Faculty and Students

Honda and IBM Deploy Advanced Embedded Speech Technology in Cars

Judith Markowitz sits down with IBM executives to discuss the launch of advanced embedded speech technology in Honda cars.

Dunkin' Donuts Mid-Atlantic Distribution Center Implements Voicelogistics

PRINCETON, N.J. - Dunkin' Donuts Mid-Atlantic Distribution Center has deployed Voxware's VoiceLogisticsR solution.

NSC Announces a Speech Recognition Board for Small-Scale Speech Driven Applications

NSC introduces a new board that will allow telephony application developers to provide speech driven services to the small enterprise market (SMEs).

Wizzard Expands Target Market With Wizzscribe Server-based Speech Recognition

PITTSBURGH - Wizzard expands portfolio of offerings powered by IBM speech technology.

ZyDoc Joins RSNA Bronze Circle in Support of the RSNA Research and Education Foundation

HAUPPAUGE, NY - ZyDoc.com Corporation announced its support for the RSNA Research and Education Foundation as a Bronze Circle Member.

Cadre Technologies to OEM GlobeRanger Technology for Voice-Activated RFID Supply Chain Solutions

Cadre is leveraging GlobeRanger's iMotion platform to develop and extend its existing suite of supply chain offerings to take advantage of emerging RFID technologies.

Siemens VDO Selects Acoustic Technologies' SoundClear* Full-Duplex Software for Bluetooth Car Kits

MESA, Ariz. - Siemens VDO Trading GmbH announced that it will use Acoustic Technologies' SoundClear* ATS5500 software in its VDO Dayton CIX 3000 Blue Bluetooth hands-free automotive installation kit for retrofitting.

GN Netcom Introduced Incoming Digital Noise Reduction

NASHUA, N.H. - GN Netcom announced the availability of their digital headset amplifier, the GN 8210.

ScanSoft Ships Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK Server Edition

PEABODY, Mass. - Server-based toolkit incorporates speech recognition into existing clinical documentation systems.

Samsung Selects VoiceSignal's Voice Recognition for Its MM-A700 Wireless Phone

Samsung selects VoiceSignal's one-step voice commands to allow users to operate cell phones with a single utterance.

IMS Releases T IMS CharacterGenerator StudioTM MX Product for Macromedia Director MX and MX 2004

Interactive Multimedia Solutions announced the availability of version 2.1 the IMS CharacterGenerator StudioTM MX animation tool-Xtra product.

Motorola Signs New Licensing Agreement to Integrate Acoustic Technologies' SoundClearO Software

MESA, Ariz. - Motorola to incorporate SoundClear software in select 3G mobile handsets.

Misys Healthcare Systems Selects ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical

Misys Healthcare Systems selected ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical for its CoPathPlus and joined the ScanSoft Healthcare Partner Program.

B.J. Rone Joins the Alliance Team as EVP and CFO

B.J. Rone appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer at Alliance.

Convergys Expands E-Learning Services with Customer Training For-Profit Solution

Convergys introduced its Customer Training For-Profit Solution, which is a suite of learning services designed for organizations that provide training services to clients on the intricacies and "how to's" of the organization's products and services. Speech technology services are available with the suite, but are not included.

VoiceSignal's Latest Speech Recognition Software Ships on the Sendo X Multimedia Smartphone

WOBURN, Mass. - VoiceSignal has begun shipping the latest speaker-independent speech recognition solution on the Sendo X multimedia smartphone.

Edify introduces Edify Voice Interaction Platform (EVIP) 9.0.

EVIP 9.0 Allows New Speech Applications to Benefit from VoIP Infrastructures and an Open and Extensible Architecture

BCE Elix Wins Two Awards for Most Innovative Web-Based Voice Technology Solution

MONTREAL, Que. - BCE Elix received two awards for its 'Talk to Santa' project at the RMA's Flèche d'or Gala.

TuVox Sees Market Embracing Enterprise Speech Software

LOS ALTOS, Calif. - TuVox announced its fifth consecutive quarter of record sales and customer growth.

American Savings Bank Deployed Speech-enabled Banking Application from Intervoice

DALLAS, Tex. - American Savings Bank deployed speech-enabled banking application from Intervoice to provide customers with additional self-service options.

Sensory's RSC-4x Voice IC's Now Support Asian and European Languages

Sensory increases the language abilities of speech recognition chips with support from its RSC-4X line.

Knowles Acoustics Expands SMD Product Line - Releases "Zero-Height" SMD Microphone

ITASCA, Ill. - Knowles Acoustics releases the "Zero-Height" SiSonic° silicon microphone, based on semiconductor technology, for general commercial purchase.

Pelephone Launches Phonetic Systems' Speech Driven Personal Phonebook Service to Cellular Customers

BILLERICA, Mass. and TEL AVIV, Israel - Pelephone Communications Ltd has launched a new speech driven personal phonebook service that delivers speech-driven dialing and improves driver safety.

Brooktrout Integrates TR1000 Product Line with Envox 6 to Provide Customers with VoiceXML Capabilities

NEEDHAM, Mass. - Brooktrout Technology, Inc. announced that it has integrated its family of TR1000™ speech processing boards with the Envox 6 Communications Development Platform. Phonetic Systems leverages this integration to develop a speech enabled auto attendant.

Acoustic Technologies Extends Availability of SoundClear Full-Duplex Speakerphone Software to StarCore Processor Cores

MESA, Ariz. - Acoustic Technologies Joins StarCore Alliance Program

Clique Communications Signs Licensing Agreement for GIPS VoiceEngine

SAN FRANCISCO - Clique Communications LLC announced that it has selected Global IP Sound (GIPS) VoiceEngine(TM) to provide the voice quality offered by its products.

Clarity Technologies Awarded Fourth Patent for Multiple Microphone Architectures

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Auto and Wireless Handset Manufacturers Turn to Multiple Microphone Solutions for Improved Voice Communications.

CustomerSat Enterprise 7 Extends Multi-Channel Support

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - CustomerSat, Inc. announced the availability of the CustomerSat Enterprise 7 survey and analytics system.

ScanSoft Selects Vocalocity to Advance Adoption of Open Source VoiceXML Interpreter

ATLANTA, Ga. - Vocalocity aquires OpenVXI™ from ScanSoft.

CINEWORLD Implements Telephonetics' MovieLINER

CINEWORLD places $11 million order with Telephonetics for a film information and booking line system driven by voice.

SIVOX Announces RealCall 4.0 Contact Center Training Suite

LOMBARD, Ill. - Sivox releases RealCall 4.0 Enterprise with remote training access, enterprise application suite support and more flexible corporate pricing options.

The Washington Times Deploys VoicePort and ScanSoft

The Washington Times selected the CircPort solution for enhanced service in its customer care center

Loquendo Launches Phonetic Learning Technology

Loquendo launches new ASR technology: the Loquendo Phonetic Operator.

Tell-Eureka Launches Two New Products for Phone-Based Self-Service for Cable and Broadband Providers

NEW YORK - LevelOne Video Agent and LevelOne Broadband Agent interact with callers to troubleshoot technical support problems.

GFT Group Selects Sony Microphone and Transmitter/Receiver for Petrana Product

GFT Group has selected a combination of the Sony wireless WCS-999 transmitter/receiver and the unidirectional Sony ECM-DM5P microphone as a Lavalier microphone for use with its Petrana speech recognition product, designed to eliminate the need to wear a headset.

Virtual-Agent Services and Voxify Partner to Offer Clients Mix of Live and Automated Agents

Virtual-Agent Services (VAS) and Voxify partner to offer their clients a mix of live and Automated Agents in a single pool of talent.

IBM Makes New Embedded Speech Tools Available on alphaWorks

SOMERS, N.Y. - IBM announced the technology preview of an Embedded Voice Toolkit for smartphones, handhelds and automobiles.

VocaLabs' One Hour Assessment

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - VocaLabs' One Hour Assessment provides insight into how live callers experience your call center or self-service system.

Telecom Egypt Awards Contract to LogicTree

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Telecom Egypt announced a contract with LogicTree Corporation for their voice automation platform to be used in Telecom Egypt's national directory assistance (DA) and automated DA services in Cairo and Alexandria.