Speech Technology eWeekly - December 01, 2002

Features

Improving Customer Service May Be More Cost Effective Than Investing In More Brand Loyalty Advertising

Vocal Laboratories unveiled new data proving the value of a quality customer service experience.

Q & A

Dan Roth, CEO, Voice Signal Technologies

Dan Roth is the CEO of Voice Signal Technologies, a developer of embedded speech technology products. On the topic of the future, Roth states, "I guarantee that next year will bring even more progress on several fronts." In a Q&A with the editors of NewsBlast, Roth discusses his view of the future for Voice Signal, as well as the speech technology industry in general.

Mike Sajor, Vice President of Business development, Kirusa

Michael Sajor is the vice president of business development at Kirusa, a multimodal infrastructure company. Michael has stated, "European operators are increasingly recognizing the revenue value of multimodality, and interest is peaking across the continent." In a Q&A with the editors of NewsBlast, Michael explains Kirusa's efforts in Europe as well as their aspirations for the US. He also gives us his look into the future of this developing technology.

Nik Philpot, Chief Operating Officer, Eckoh Technologies; and Andy Hill, Head of V-Commerce, British Telecom

Recently Eckoh Technologies announced the formation of an exclusive alliance to provide BT's customers with advanced speech recognition technology. In a Q&A with the editors of NewsBlast, Nik Philpot, COO, Eckoh Technologies and Andy Hill, Head of V-Commerce, British Telecom, allow us to take a closer look at this alliance and tell us what this brings to BT customers.

Speech Technology News

Rhetorical Opens Boston Office and Names New Sales Manager

BOSTON, MA - The expansion comes on the heels of increasing sales by Rhetorical's U.S. arm, Rhetorical Inc., and adds to its existing U.S. offices in Florida and Texas.

Rhetorical's rVoice To Be Used on New Zealand's MetPhone Service.

EDINBURGH, UNITED KINGDOM - Rhetorical has won a contract which will see its technology deployed on New Zealand's dial up weather forecast service, MetPhone.

SRI International Unveils EduSpeak 2.0

SRI International announced the release of EduSpeak 2.0, a speech recognition toolkit designed for use in educational software by developers of applications for language learning, reading development, assessment and corporate training.

Aspect Announces Aspect IP Contact Suite-Enterprise

SAN JOSE, CA - Aspect Communications Corporation announced Aspect IP Contact Suite—Enterprise, the customer contact suite that integrates to the enterprise through PSTN and IP telephony products and simplifies CTI with Web services.

Babel Releases BrightSpeech

Babel Technologies has announced BrightSpeech, its next-generation Text-to-Speech solution.

Wizzard Announces 15 New Customers in 4th Quarter

PITTSBURGH, PA - Wizzard Software announced that is has signed up more than 15 new customers in the 4th quarter including the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Missouri, the California State University and GE Medical Systems.

KY Transportation Cabinet Launches 511 Traveler Information Number

FRANKFORT, KY - Just in time for holiday travel, a new service to assist Kentucky's travelers was launched by Gov. Paul Patton. By dialing three digits, 5-1-1, callers can now get traffic, travel and road weather information 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Eloquant Deploys New Voice Services from Elan Speech

TOULOUSE, FRANCE - Eloquant is deploying new voice services for public and professional use on the Elodia platform with Elan Speech.

Loquendo's VoxNauta Platform Powers InternetQ's New Dating Service

TORINO, ITALY - InternetQ - the Greek ISP - has adopted Loquendo's voice platform VoxNauta to power the new version of its popular matchmaking service.

Genesys Adds CTO and SVP to Executive Team

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Alcatel announced that Paul Segre has been appointed to senior vice president and chief technology officer at its Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.

HeyAnita to Offer Carriers In-Network Voice Solutions with HP

LOS ANGELES, CA - Under the agreement, HP intends to provide systems integration services around HeyAnita's voice software offerings.

Speech Cube Version 4.2 Supports TTS Standard

TOULOUSE, FRANCE - Scheduled for December 15th, the release of Speech Cube Version 4.2 now supports SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language defined by W3C consortium) for quicker integration within VoiceXML based applications.

Rhetorical Enters German Market with Text-to-Speech Solutions

BOSTON, MA and SCOTLAND - Rhetorical is expanding its operation into Germany following last month's launch of rVoice4 with its German voice module.

Genesys Wins Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. announced that it has signed a national agreement with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA).

Pronexus and Mitel Networks Announce Distribution Agreement

Mitel Networks will distribute Pronexus VBVoice, a development environment for business-critical computer telephony applications.

Datria Systems and Nuance to Deliver Workforce Management Applications to TELUS

MENLO PARK, CA and ENGLEWOOD, CO - Datria Systems and Nuance announced that TELUS has selected the companies to provide a series of voice-enabled workforce applications for use by their field technicians.

HSS and Jasomi Demonstrate Interoperability

SAN JOSE, CA & NEW DELHI, INDIA - Hughes Software Systems Ltd. and Jasomi Networks Inc. have demonstrated full interoperability between HSS' call control platform (the HSS SIP Server) and Jasomi's far-end NAT traversal solution, PeerPoint Centrex Edition.

Vocent Announces Voice Secure - Password Reset 2.0

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Voice Secure - Password Reset 2.0 is an enterprise softwaresolution that uses speaker verification and speech recognition toauthenticate user identity claims by voice.

Group Voyagers Looks to PhoenixCTI for Call Center and CRM Solution

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - PhoenixCTI Inc. announced it was selected by Group Voyagers Inc. to implement a major call center and customer relationship management initiative.

Voice Architects Launches Service to Improve Speech Application Performance

PORTLAND, OREGON - Voice Architects, a voice user interface firm, announced the launch of an independent application assessment and repair service.

IBM Builds Pervasive Momentum with New Voice Tools

IBM announced new software products and tools that help developers to build and manage voice portals - as well as extend enterprise applications, such as mobile databases, to new devices.

Genesys and Siebel Systems Form Cooperative Alliance

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. and Siebel Systems Inc. announced a global cooperative technical support alliance designed to provide fast and efficient resolution of technical support issues for joint customers.

Nortel Networks and ScanSoft Expand Relationship

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft Inc. announced an agreement with Nortel Networks to offer ScanSoft RealSpeak TTS software for Nortel Networks customer deployments.

Dobson Communications Selects Versera for GSM/GPRS Network

ATLANTA, GA - Glenayre Technologies Inc. announcedthat Dobson Cellular Systems Inc. has selected Glenayre's Versera Messagingplatform, Unified Communications and Versera Voice Services solutions forits new GSM/GPRS network.

Vocal Laboratories Announces Strategies To Turn Customer Service Into A Competitive Weapon

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN - Recent surveys show that over 90% of customers form their image of a company based on call center experiences.

Nuance Launches Speech Certification Program

MENLO PARK, CA - To meet the ever-growing demand for professionals who can develop and deploy successful speech solutions, Nuance announced the Nuance Certified Consultant Program.

TTPCom Chooses ART's smARTspeak XG

ATLANTA, GA and CAMBRIDGE, UK - ART Advanced Recognition Technologies Inc. and TTPCom Ltd. announced that TTPCom will be porting ART's smARTspeak XG speech recognition technology onto TTPCom's GPRS platform.

Loquendo TTS Powers Gradiente's Mediz service

TURINO, ITALY - Loquendo's text-to-speech engine has been chosen by Gradiente in Brazil to power Mediz, Brazil's mobile voice portal, which Gradiente is providing to its users throughout the country.

Loquendo Technologies Automate Targasys bConnect Contact Center

TURINO, ITALY - Fiat Group company Targasys has chosen Loquendo technology to automate its bConnect service contact center.

Dexem, Eureka Soft, JD-Labtech, MAP Telecom and Telisma join forces to promote VoiceXML

PARIS, FRANCE - Dexem, Eureka Soft, JD-Labtech, MAP Telecom and Telisma announce the creation of an informal study group whose mission is to promote the VoiceXML standard.

Voice-Insight Selects ScanSoft to Provide Solutions for Accessing Data

PEABODY, MA & GENT, BELGIUM - ScanSoft Inc. announced that Voice-Insight SA NV has selected ScanSoft solutions to deliver speech-enabled database products.

Updated Study Shows Higher Risk of Fatality from Cell Phones While Driving

A new evaluation by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) estimates that the use of cell phones by drivers may result in approximately 2,600 deaths, 330,000 moderate to critical injuries, 240,000 minor injuries, and 1.5 million instances of property damage in America per year.

SPIRIT Announces Speaker Verification Software

RUSSIA - SPIRIT announces a speaker verification software solution designed for PC-based systems.

NMS Communications to Offer RealSpeak with NMS HearSay

FRAMINGHAM & PEABODY, MA - NMS Communications and ScanSoft Inc. have integrated ScanSoft's RealSpeak text-to-speech (TTS) engine with NMS HearSay, furthering a commitment to offer a variety of applications and technologies on one complete multimodal voice and data services system.

Rhetorical Breaks into German Market

EDINBURGH, UNITED KINGDOM - Rhetorical is expanding its operation into Germany following last month's launch of rVoice4 with its German voice module.