RadiSys Introduces New Media Processing Blade for Convedia CMS-9000 Media Server

RadiSys Corporation announced today a new media processing blade for the Convedia(R) CMS-9000 Media Server. The new Media Processing Card IV (MPC-IV) delivers capacity and performance improvements for processing-intensive applications such as conferencing, video and low bitrate codec. With the new MPC-IV blade, Convedia CMS-9000 Media Servers offer the industry's highest port capacity with lower price per port for the most demanding media processing applications.

The new MPC-IV card adds additional Digital Signal Processor (DSP) resources to the original Media Processing Card III (MPC-III) hardware design, providing up to 24,000 ports of media processing power on the CMS-9000 platform, representing a 30 percent capacity improvement compared to the media processing cards in RadiSys' first generation CMS-6000 Media Server systems. The new MPC-IV card continues to offer the improved CPU power for CPU-bound applications like VoiceXML IVR processing, while adding the additional DSP resources for improved conference mixing, video, low bitrate codec and transcoding capacity. [click heading for more]

Voice recognition for VW financial

Volkswagen Financial Services AG (VWFS) has successfully transitioned to new automated self-service voice portal technology, achieving over 90 per cent customer satisfaction rates. Previously, all VWFS customers needing to conduct business over the phone and get answers to simple queries were directed to a single contact number served by call centre agents. [click heading for more]

Thomas Cook Offers its Customers an Automated Speech Recognition Service to Pay Outstanding Holiday Balances

Fluency Voice Technology, (www.fluencyvoice.com) the packaged speech recognition company, today announced that Thomas Cook has deployed the Fluency VSA™ speech recognition application suite to provide an automated service that enables its holiday customers to pay the outstanding balances on their holiday at any time of the day.

Tomorrow's Monster Stocks (?)

Voice-recognition leader Nuance Communications has seen a fairly dramatic rise in its stock as it has pursued a growth-by-acquisition strategy. Seemingly seeking to roll up the entire category under its broadening umbrella, Nuance has become something of a difficult investment to evaluate, as those acquisitions can often lead to indigestion. Moreover, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has entered the market, complicating the competitive situation, and Microsoft remains an ever-present threat. [click heading for more]

As Speech Recognition Software Morphs Into Thought Recognition

Since 1999, Eric Ramsay has been paralyzed and only able to move his eyes. Otherwise he's completely conscious. But a new computer/ brain interface reads his brain signals as he thinks about vocal sounds, translating them in real time. The goal is conversation, by making it possible for him to literally think out loud. This pioneering development has interesting implications for texting, search engines and much more. [click heading for more]

SpinVox Teams Up with Social Networking Sites to Enable Speech-to-Text Blogging

SpinVox has brought speech-to-text to a new level with its new Voice-to-Screen speech-to-text messaging client. With this service, you can dictate a message to be sent to friends or colleagues via Web chat or SMS or email and send it off with just a click. The real news is the company has announced deals with social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and Jaiku which enable users to post messages on their pages simply by talking into their mobile devices. This will be of particular interest to bloggers who wish to blog while “on the road”. The company claims presidential hopeful John Edwards has been using Twitter to communicate with his staff whilst on the campaign trail using its voice to screen technology. [click heading for more]

Nuance Communications Narrows 4Q Loss

Nuance Communications Inc., which makes speech recognition and digital imaging software, posted a smaller fiscal fourth-quarter loss Thursday, fueled by strong demand across its speech markets as well as acquisitions.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company posted a net loss of $3.4 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with a loss of $7.2 million, or 4 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier. [click heading for more]

Philips and Elsevier Integrate Speech Recognition to Provide Radiologists With Better Decision Support

Royal Philips Electronics and Elsevier announced today that Philips speech recognition platform SpeechMagic(TM) will be integrated to provide interoperability with Elsevier's new RadConsult radiology diagnostic reference system. This will allow customers and the partners of both parties to use industrial grade speech recognition with access to world-class radiological information to assist them in increasing productivity and reducing medical errors during review and diagnosis of patient cases. [click heading for more]

At Bell, Your Voice Is Your Password

Bell Canada initiated steps late last year to reconcile call center efficiency with customer privacy and security. The carrier recently implemented the Voice Identification Service, powered by PerSay’s VocalPassword technology and Nuance Communications’ automatic speech recognition technologies. This implementation, which offers voice security across Bell’s landline, wireless, Internet, TV, and VoIP customer base, is said to be the largest text-dependent voice biometrics deployment in the world. [click heading for more]

Nuance to Acquire Viecore, Expand Services Capabilities for Enterprise Speech Solutions for Key Vertical Markets

Nuance Communications, Inc. has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Viecore, Inc., a consulting and systems integration firm specializing in the deployment of contact center solutions for large enterprises.
Viecore expands Nuance’s professional services capabilities and complements its existing partnerships, allowing the Company to deliver end-to-end speech solutions and system integration for speech-enabled customer care in key vertical markets including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, utilities and government. [click heading for more]