Re: voice processing.....
Intel/L&H hooking up
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Thursday May 6 12:47 AM ET
Intel Invests In Belgian Speech Technology Firm
By Michael Fitzpatrick
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Top computer chipmaker Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) has formed a venture with a Belgian speech software company to develop easy-to-use voice technology for electronic commerce and telecommunications in various languages.
The technology would allow customers to order merchandise over the Internet by voice, provide computers with voices that sound much more lifelike than currently -- and give Intel a bigger piece of the rapidly growing e-commerce market.
In its latest foray outside its main chip business, Intel also will invest $30 million in Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, whose software allows for speech recognition, translation of documents, e-mail and Web Sites from English into languages such as German, Spanish, Italian and French.
''We are setting up a joint venture to ... make applications for e-commerce, so you can order by voice,'' L&H spokeswoman Ellen Spooren said. ''You need to have language technology so you can give very natural commands -- almost what you think is what you can say.''
L&H's latest text-to-speech technology, called RealSpeak, is more life-like than the standard robot-like voice typical in voice recognition systems and is due out this year.
''The combined technologies of L&H and Intel can make e-commerce and other applications more attractive by supporting natural speech commands, human-sounding synthesized speech, accurate machine translation and faster, simpler data query and retrieval,'' said Jo Lernout, co-founder of L&H.
The deal comes as the development of extremely rapid microprocessors is opening up opportunities for complex speech software for such uses as telephone information services, car navigation systems and hand-held devices.
For its part, Intel has been seeking to expand beyond its microprocessors business by becoming ''a building block supplier for the Internet economy,'' as one executive said recently.
''A voice interface presents a natural, intuitive method for people to get the information they need -- via PCs, connected smart devices and the telephone,'' said Ron Whittier, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Content Group.
The venture will combine Intel's expertise in computer systems with L&H's speech and language software, such as its natural language technology that allows people to speak to computers in more natural way, machine translation and speech synthesis, that gives machine voices a more human sound.
The venture, which will be owned 51 percent by Intel and 49 percent by L&H, will be based in L&H's facility in Ieper, Belgium and in Intel's home town of Santa Clara, California.
The investment will give Intel a 3 percent to 4 percent stake in L&H, Spooren said. Microsoft Corp. has invested a total of $60 million in L&H and has about a 7 stake.
''For us as a company, it's a huge endorsement,'' she said of the Intel investment.
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