[2048] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
PR: IBM and Eloquent Technology Inc. Text-to-Speech Technology Alliance
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (tsipple@us1.ibm.com)
Mon Nov 4 00:57:59 1996
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: 3 Nov 1996 20:57:21 GMT
From: tsipple@us1.ibm.com
Reply-To: tsipple@us1.ibm.com
Reply-to: tsipple@us1.ibm.com
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IBM To License Rights to ETI's Advanced Text-to-Speech System
SOMERS, N.Y., Oct. 22, 1996 ... IBM and Eloquent Technology Inc. (ETI) today
announced that IBM has acquired certain exclusive rights to Eloquent's
powerful text-to-speech technology system. As part of the agreement, IBM and
Eloquent will work closely to integrate text-to-speech functions into future
IBM products and applications that are part of the IBM VoiceType family. ETI
will continue to license and support its toolkit product under the
ETI-Eloquence trademark, but now co-operatively with IBM.
"Eloquent's technology is a welcome addition to IBM's leading portfolio of
speech technology products," said Jan Winston, worldwide manager, IBM Speech
Systems. "Today's announcement is right in line with our goal to make it
easier for developers to create speech-enabled applications and to enhance the
consumer's experience by extending speech technology to applications, products
and appliances of all shapes and sizes."
ETI-Eloquence is a flexible text-to-speech system that produces high-quality
speech with natural sounding intonation. The ETI-Eloquence system provides
nine built-in voices, including those of adults and children, both male and
female. Developers and end-users can easily create additional voices by
controlling such parameters as gender, breathiness, roughness, pitch
fluctuation and speaking rate. The linguistic models and specialized
development tools underlying Eloquence make it highly extensible and c
customizable. In addition, the technology provides a robust development
platform that both IBM and ETI plan to exploit as the market for high quality
text-to-speech solutions continues to develop.
"We are very pleased that IBM recognized the potential of our technology,"
said Sue Hertz, Ph.D., president of Eloquent Technology, Inc. "This agreement
will make it easier for developers to create a broad variety of speech-enabled
products, and will provide users with access to many interactive applications
that take advantage of a combined speech-to-text/text-to-speech product and
toolkit."
Eloquent Technology, Inc.
ETI, located in Ithaca, N.Y., was founded in 1983 by Sue Hertz, Ph.D.,
explicitly for the purpose of developing and marketing text-to-speech
software. ETI has been the recipient of numerous government grants and
contracts for text-to-speech research and development. The first version of
Eloquence was released in early 1995. ETI-Eloquence is suitable for a wide
range of applications, which include reading and speaking aids, CD-ROM
edutainment products, telephony and integrated voice response applications,
Internet talking pages, information and warning systems, and many others. For
more information on ETI or its products, call 607-266-7025. Internet users can
access the ETI home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.eloq.com.
IBM Speech Systems
IBM, with a family of VoiceType products and more than twenty years of
research, has built a team of speech recognition specialists worldwide,
dedicated to the development, support, marketing and sale of IBM speech
solutions in many languages. The VoiceType family of products includes
VoiceType 3.0 for Windows 95, VoiceType for OS/2* Warp, VoiceType Dictation
1.32 for Windows 3.x and Windows 95, VoiceType Control 3.0 and the VoiceType
Developers Toolkit Version 3.0 for Windows 95. In addition, IBM offers
MedSpeak/Radiology* for Windows NT, the industry leading solution for
radiologists who need the productivity of continuous speech and integration
with hospital or radiology information systems. For more information on
VoiceType products, users can call 1-800-TALK-2-ME in the United States and
1-800-IBM-CALL in Canada.
###
* Product and service names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corp. or their respective owners.
For Internet users, IBM offers complete information about the company, its
products, services and technology on the World Wide Web. The IBM VoiceType
home page is at http://www.software.ibm.com/workgroup/voicetyp . The IBM home
page is at http://www.ibm.com . The fastest, easiest way to get information
about IBM software is to go to the IBM Software home page at
http://www.software.ibm.com .
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