IBM today announced a broad range of new customers, partners and products in its comprehensive strategy to provide voice recognition software for mobile e-business.
New customers and partners span three continents and key targets of IBM’s voice business: the automobile industry for telematics, the growing market segment for products and services that deliver wireless voice and data information to vehicles; manufacturers of personal digital assistants and other mobile devices; telephone call centers; and e-businesses of all sizes.
They include major automotive supplier Johnson Controls, which has chosen IBM’s Embedded ViaVoice as the speech software for its telematics offerings ? including an innovative, voice-enabled communications system that will be deployed by the Chrysler Group. Others include Intel Corporation and Hitachi, as well as leading Chinese computer maker Legend, and employee-incentives services firm Maritz Limited.
Worldwide spending and revenues from voice applications will reach $41 billion by 2005, says The Kelsey Group, a Princeton, NJ-based market research firm. In addition, it predicts that U.S. and European spending on telematics will exceed $6.4 billion by 2006.
IBM today also announced WebSphere Voice Server 2.0, software that resides on a Web server and lets people access the Web and corporate databases simply by speaking commands into a phone and listening to a computerized voice. New features include “concatenative” speech synthesis that sounds closer to a real person, and support for more languages ? Mandarin (Simplified and Traditional), Italian, Japanese and Spanish (European, U.S. and Latin American) ? in addition to existing support for English (U.S., U.K. and Canadian), French and German.
Also, IBM introduced WebSphere Voice Response with Direct Talk Technology ? the latest version of its widely used Interactive Voice Response (IVR) software that accepts both voice and touchtone keypad response. With roots in the phone system rather than the Internet, IVR systems automate a range of services, such as banking-by-phone and order entry. Formerly known as DirectTalk, the product can now handle higher call loads and has been brought under WebSphere ? IBM’s flagship e-business infrastructure software ? to reflect the growing ties between telephones and the Internet.
IBM’s voice recognition software relies on open, non-proprietary standards such as VoiceXML and Java™, which make it easy to create software for people to access information by voice over the phone and helps businesses integrate disparate systems.
“This set of announcements defines a clear leadership position in terms of end-to-end ‘whole product’ solutions for the voice ecosystem,” said Mark Plakias, Senior VP of Voice & Commerce at The Kelsey Group. “There is no other company with such a comprehensive portfolio of speech-related technologies.”
The Kelsey Group recently issued an analysis of the telematics market that shows a $10 billion revenue stream for voice-enabled services by 2005. “The wins in the automotive space for both embedded and server solutions is remarkable for its breadth, and rich scope of partners,” added Plakias.
IBM’s new customers and partners in telematics:
? Plymouth, Mich.-based automaker Johnson Controls has selected IBM as its speech software provider for all of its upcoming telematics offerings to the auto industry. Its first implementation is a voice-enabled mobile communications system for the Chrysler Group. An industry first, the system requires only the push of a button to make a call ? all other functions are engaged via voice commands. It consists of a receiver module behind the dashboard, an embedded microphone in the rear-view mirror, and the driver’s own mobile phone. The phone will synchronize with the receiver module to create a wireless connection via Bluetooth technology with the car’s audio system. When a call is placed, audio is suspended, and the call comes through the speakers. IBM’s software will allow drivers to use spoken commands (in English, French or Spanish) to place calls or access the system’s audio address book, customizable by the owner. The system will be available in an aftermarket version in spring 2002 and factory installed in 2003.
? Intel is working with IBM’s Embedded ViaVoice to support its strategy to deliver a non-proprietary, standards-based in-car platform based on Intel® StrongARM and upcoming Intel® XScale processors. Designed for ultra-low power and high performance, the Intel XScale microarchitecture is an ideal microprocessor solution for telematics.
? Hitachi, a worldwide provider of car infotainment systems, is supporting IBM’s Embedded Via Voice recognition on Hitachi SH-4-based platforms (HARP) for automotive applications. The hardware platforms are designed to run with all major operating systems.
? QNX, a provider of operating systems for automobile electronics, has partnered with IBM for voice recognition. The QNX operating system will support the Embedded ViaVoice product for telematics. Embedded ViaVoice runs on both an operating system and a hardware platform to ensure the two interoperate. Voice-enabled telematics applications developed on the QNX operating system are designed to run on major automotive telematics platforms such as Intel, Hitachi and Motorola.
In the handheld computer market:
? Legend Computers, the largest computer company in China, has chosen IBM’s Embedded ViaVoice Mobility Suite in simplified Chinese to voice-enable its new handheld computers to be available in Q1 2002. The IBM software will give users a natural alternative to the stylus or keyboard in operating the devices, and the added convenience of being able to listen to rather than read information and messages.
? On Oct. 4, Compaq announced it is using IBM’s Embedded ViaVoice Mobility Suite to voice-enable its new iPAQ H3800 Pocket PC Series, one of the world’s first commercially available handheld computers to let users access and receive information with human speech.
IBM’s server-based voice software particularly helps call centers, allowing them to automate common phone interactions and devote customer service representatives to more complex tasks. Customers enjoy a lack of hold time and, thanks to more accurate voice recognition, the ability to speak more naturally.
New customers and partners:
? Using WebSphere Voice Server, the UK branch of Maritz Limited, a St. Louis-Mo.-based marketing company that runs employee incentive programs, will implement a system allowing participants to redeem points and rewards from corporate incentive schemes over the phone by speaking to an automated attendant. The system was built by UK’s Digital Union, an IBM Business Partner.
? Xora, a Mountain View, CA-based software company, has partnered with IBM to integrate the Xora Wireless, Web and Voice Platform with IBM’s Voice Server V2.0. Xora’s application provides the infrastructure for voice-enabling enterprise applications such as Siebel, i2, Oracle, SAP and Clarify, and groupware such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange.
New products and offerings announced today:
? WebSphere Voice Server 2.0, besides the additional language support and improved speech output, includes a toolkit and building-blocks to help mainstream developers build voice applications faster. WebSphere Voice Server now supports Intel’s popular telephony platform. The planned general availability for the product is November 2001 and it will cost $15,000 per processor plus $3,000 per language.
? WebSphere Voice Response with DirectTalk Technology supports VoiceXML and the common Internet programming language Java as a standard platform. This product works with WebSphere Voice Server for speech recognition, or by itself to automate a range of call-center related services. Customers such as Plaza Associates, a New York debt collection agency, rely on the product because Java offers higher developer productivity and access to easy-to-find skills.
“Voice technology is rapidly increasing its presence in the business and consumer mainstream,” said W.S. Ozzie Osborne, General Manager, IBM Voice Systems. “Customers announced today are using IBM’s software in a range of applications ? from cars to consumer electronics to telecommunications. Demand is increasing dramatically as businesses realize the value that this technology can add.”
About IBM
With more than 40 years of delivering voice solutions and over 150 voice technology patents, IBM is the global leader in providing access to data through end-to-end voice integrated solutions. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/software/voice.
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