ScanSoft, Nuance Shareholders Approve Merger
ScanSoft, Inc. and Nuance Communications, Inc. have announced that their respective shareholders have voted in favor of the proposed merger of Nuance with ScanSoft, and all other proposals, at their respective special meetings. Of the outstanding ScanSoft shares voted, approximately 98 percent were voted in favor of the transaction; and of the outstanding Nuance shares voted, approximately 99 percent were voted in favor of the transaction. Upon closing the transaction, Nuance shareholders will receive 0.77 shares of ScanSoft common stock, and $2.20 of cash, for each share of Nuance common stock that they own. The transaction closed in September. The ScanSoft and Nuance merger was forged to bring together what the company calls 'the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of speech applications, technologies and expertise, which will enable customers to effectively deploy innovative speech-based solutions.' The combined organization is expected to have the technical resources and intellectual property required to develop new and innovative speech solutions to deliver enhanced value to customers. The company stated that, 'With leading technology, a premier partner network and an organization dedicated to speech, the company will be able to compete more effectively in new and expanding markets and provide value for its most important stakeholders ' its customers, partners, investors and employees.'
www.nuance.com/www.scansoft.com

SpeechSwitch Receives Patent For Name Dialer
SpeechSwitch, Inc., a provider of speech recognition technology, recently announced that United States Patent 6,940,951 was issued on September 6, 2005, for a patent for a Speech-Enabled Automatic Telephone Dialer Name Dialer utilizing a Telephone Application Programming Interface (TAPI). SpeechSwitch previously was a wholly owned subsidiary of iVoice, Inc. prior to the spinoff from iVoice. The spinoff was completed in August 2005 as a special stock dividend distribution to iVoice shareholders. This patent seeks to protect the use of the Name Dialer utilizing a Telephone Application Programming Interface (TAPI). The use of TAPI allows SpeechSwitch to integrate into different telephone PBX systems, eliminating the need for additional external hardware. Each phone system hardware provider provides a specific software driver that interfaces directly with the SpeechSwitch Name Dialer. SpeechSwitch CEO Bruce Knef said, 'This will be our third speech recognition patent award. These patents are centrally important to SpeechSwitch, not only to preserve our technology, but also to influence knowledge in the marketplace. This patent approval marks a substantial achievement in product development for our technical staff.' The Name Dialer is an automatic phone dialing system that imports the necessary contact information for dialing (names and phone numbers) from almost any PIM or contact manager, including Microsoft Outlook, ACT! and Goldmine. The user simply speaks the name of the person listed in their contact list and through a TAPI, the Name Dialer sends a signal to the PBX to initiate dialing automatically.
www.ivoice.com

Definition Du Jour
Voice Portal
A 'window' into Web-based content that allows users to search for information by speaking the commands via natural language. Voice portals allow the telephone to be used as a means of accessing the Internet or intranets, rather than just the PC.

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