Norcom Teams Up With IBM, Intel And Mobile Device Manufacturers To Establish Voice Technology Standards

TRUMBULL, CT--April 13, 1999-- Norcom Electronics Corporation, of Trumbull, CT, IBM & Intel jointly announced today the formation of the Voice Technology Initiative for Mobile Enterprise Solutions (VoiceTIMES). VoiceTIMES goal is to coordinate the technical requirements needed for companies to build and deploy solutions using voice technologies and handheld mobile devices. Inaugural VoiceTIMES alliance members include e.Digital, IBM, Intel, Norcom Electronics, Olympus, Philips and Dictaphone.

With the explosive growth of mobile devices and the increasing demand for network access, the VoiceTIMES initiative was formed to define specifications for how voice commands and information are transmitted and received by existing and future mobile devices. Currently, there are no standards in place for mobile speech-enabled devices. The VoiceTIMES alliance plans to deliver the specifications and industry cooperation to build interoperable, cost-effective mobile solutions with voice technology.

"Norcom has been developing mobile solutions for physicians in the Medical Industry for years," said Bruce Hansen, CEO of Norcom Electronics Corporation. "VoiceTIMES will enable us to develop better medical solutions and expand our voiceprinting capability to other industries."

Today, companies wanting to use speech recognition, speaker identification and speech synthesis with mobile devices are faced with high development costs and proprietary, incomplete products. Members of the VoiceTIMES alliance plan to solve many of the technical issues in both hardware and software that arise while incorporating voice technology in mobile enterprise solutions. As additional technical specifications are created, they will be submitted to the industry standards bodies for consideration as open standards solutions.

"In today's world of pervasive computing, users want simple, fast and hassle free mobile computing devices to connect and communicate," said W.S. "Ozzie" Osborne, General Manager of IBM Speech Systems. "Through joint collaboration, the VoiceTIMES alliance aims to eliminate complexities for the consumer and solutions integrator, while providing future generations of standard compliant speech-enabled mobile products."

One of the initial joint efforts of the VoiceTIMES alliance will be to conduct highly targeted research studies to identify enterprise solutions where mobile devices will significantly enhance -- and in some cases change -- the way companies do business. Since remote, just in time access to information and computer resources is viewed by professionals as a major competitive advantage, mobile Internet/intranet access will be a primary focus for the alliance.

"The human voice will become the user interface for the next generation of productivity tools. As computing technologies become increasingly embedded in a range of products, speech is the one convenient, consistent and natural way people can effectively interact with systems," said Chris Shipley, Editor of DemoLetter and Executive Producer of the Demo Mobile 99 conference. "A move toward standards that support speech technology as a consistent user interface and that facilitate the user's access to information is fundamental to making this vision a reality."

VoiceTIMES Members Represent Key Elements of Mobile Computing

• IBM -- expertise in speech recognition technology and mobile computing, toolkits for customization, evaluation and testing for mobile devices, transcription extensions, file formats and client/server protocols.

• e.Digital -- expertise in the design and development of digital mobile devices interfacing with PCs and the Internet. e.Digital is working with Intel on advanced digital voice recorders.

• Dictaphone -- expertise in the areas of digital recorder design and development and enterprise related customer environments.

• Intel -- expertise in microprocessor and system design. In addition, Intel will work closely with IBM to help identify optimal user scenarios for mobile workers to use distributed speech applications.

• Norcom Electronics -- expertise in creating and bringing to market professional dictation/speech recognition products and solutions.

• Olympus -- expertise as an innovator in the digital recorder field. Olympus has in the past worked with other recorder providers, such as Philips, to create recording standards for digital speech.

• Philips -- expertise in electronic components, speech technology and mobile productivity tools.

VoiceTIMES Alliance Complements Other Industry Efforts

VoiceTIMES will be defining the structure of voice data used in enterprise solutions including transmission over other wireless standards. The work to establish speech technology standards extends beyond mobile enterprise to all parts of the computing environment. Voice recognition, identification and verification solutions that are currently being integrated into a wide range of products and standards for integration cannot be developed fast enough by one group or alliance. As a result, other standards alliances are forming to address voice requirements in the areas of accessing information from the Internet and wireless communications networks. IBM and many of its VoiceTIMES allies are also participating in these initiatives, including VXML, Speech for Java and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and will coordinate VoiceTIMES' activities into the other alliances as standards develop.