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To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (916)	10/20/1998 11:26:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

AT&T And the Chinese Academy of Sciences Collaborate On English-Chinese Translation System -- Real-life Traveler Encounters Are First Test; Future Applications in Video Telephony and Videoconferencing Internet Services -- FLORHAM PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1998-- AT&T Labs and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing today announced a five-year research program to develop an English-Chinese speech translation prototype that is now underway. At the end of the project, English and Chinese business travelers and tourists will be able to communicate in their respective languages in commonly-encountered situations, such as taxis, retail shops and restaurants, using mobile phones. In the future, the technology will allow users to communicate with people speaking other languages in videoconference sessions and on videophones and standard telephones. The English-Chinese translation prototype will contain several thousand words. By September 2003, English- and Chinese-speaking travelers will be able to speak their requests in their native language which will be translated automatically in real-time and delivered to the recipient on his/her mobile phone. AT&T Labs and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will further develop their respective speech recognition, language translation and speech synthesis technologies by working on software algorithms that permit immediate translation from Chinese to English and vice versa. Both parties have agreed to use AT&T's interoperating protocol for translation systems which is designed to work on top of emerging IP standards for Internet telephony and multimedia communications. ''We are moving aggressively to collaborate with world-class partners to make speech translation services a reality,'' said Dave Nagel, chief technology office of AT&T and president of AT&T Labs. ''It is our goal to break down the last great barrier of communication between people, namely the barrier of language.'' ''In conjunction with AT&T Labs, we believe we will be able to produce the world's most precise translation system for English and Chinese,'' said Dr. Lu Yongxiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. AT&T Labs, the research and development unit of AT&T, is working to create the information services and communications network of the twenty-first century. AT&T Labs is a leader in the development of technologies and standards for audio, speech, video and image processing; electronic commerce and digital copyright management; search and directory services; network architecture, design, engineering and operations; and other technology areas critical to the advancement of new and existing telecommunications and Internet services. CAS' acoustics, speech and digital signal processing is backed mainly by the research and development capabilities of CAS Institute of Acoustics, which is working to create the acoustic information technology and communication applications of tomorrow and is a leader in China in the areas of speech processing and speech interactive information technology; consumer electronics; underwater acoustics and engineering; ultrasonics; and sound and vibration.

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (916)	10/20/1998 11:39:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

AT&T chief touts Internet telephony--CBS Market Watch NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong declared Thursday that Ma Bell's recent investments position the company to be a global leader in technology that "is erasing the boundaries between televisions, telephones and personal computers." Armstrong cited AT&T's (T) incursion into Internet-protocol technology, which enables the transmission of various kinds of data over the Net, its pending multi-billion purchase of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA) and its venture that's in the works with British Telecom. "Internet protocol technology gives the telecommunications industry freedom that didn't exist a few years ago," Armstrong said, outlining the company's vision for growth via Internet telephony in a keynote address at the fall Internet World trade show in New York. AT&T plans to exploit that convergence and remove the obstacles to high-speed access, he said. Armstrong said AT&T is the first company to act as a "global clearing house" for telephony services. It will offer its services in 140 countries, he said. Before concluding his remarks, Armstrong saved time for finger-pointing, calling rival local telephone companies a threat to the burgeoning growth of telephony. Local monopolies, he said, levy more than $10 billion a year in local access charges Separately, AT&T said it signed agreements with two Internet companies and cut prices for its interactive communications services it will market through those ventures. The company cut its AT&T Click2Dial Conferencing, which lets users set up and manage a conference call on the Web, by 33 percent. The service now costs 10 cents a minute per person. AT&T also reduced the cost and waived a 50-cent setup fee for its Chat 'N Talk service, which allows chat room participants to make a phone call to other chatters while retaining anonymity. It now costs 15 cents a minute, a 10-cent cut. AT&T cut by 5 cents the price of its Click2Dial Directories service, which allows web users to locate someone in AT&T's AnyWho directory and then auto-dial a call to that person. The service is now 10 cents a minute. AT&T said it signed agreements with ChatSpace, Inc. and Yack!, Inc., to make the services available at those chat sites. AT&T said the new relationships expand its distribution channel through its relationships with portal sites Excite (XCIT), Infoseek (SEEK), and Lycos (LCOS). Shares of AT&T, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed up 1/8 at 58 1/2, reversing earlier declines, as other big-name tech-oriented shares tumbled in afternoon trading. See Silicon Stocks.