Vocalis Group PLC - Re Partnership with Dialogic

RNS No 6958w
VOCALIS GROUP PLC
22nd October 1998

Vocalis  announces port of Advanced Speech  Recognition  to
Dialogic DM3 Telephony Architecture


Vocalis,  the Cambridge-based speech recognition  telephony
company, is joining with the Dialogic Corporation,  one  of
the  world's  leading manufacturers of components  for  the
telecommunications  industry to port it's  Advanced  Speech
Recognition  (ASR) facilities into Dialogic's DM3  computer
telephony (CT) architecture.

The incorporation of ASR, based on the Vocalis leading edge
SpeechWare   technology,  within  DM3  means  that   speech
recognition  capabilities  will be  tightly  integrated  in
users'   telecommunications  systems,  making   application
development easier and faster. Also, the fact that  ASR  is
not  'bolted  on' externally helps to increase  reliability
and enhance robustness of performance.

"At Vocalis we have used Dialogic boards for our own speech
recognition services, this development extends a link  that
already   existed   between  us,"   said   Mike   Williams,
Development   Director  for  Vocalis.  "This   new   global
dimension to our partnership will bring together two market
leaders in their respective fields".

"It  is  important  that the speech recognition  technology
incorporated    within    DM3    is    well    proven    in
telecommunications  markets, and SpeechWare  clearly  meets
that  requirement," said Dialogic's Pascal Dognaux, Product
Manager for speech products at Dialogic. "We also wanted  a
partner  that  had  extensive R&D  capabilities  in  speech
recognition, which Vocalis does. ASR technologies today are
very demanding in terms of processing power and memory, and
we are glad Vocalis see DM3 as the right platform."

Users  of  the  DM3  architecture can  develop  their  own
customised  speech  processing systems using  standardised
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These  will  be
available  on either SCO Unix or Windows NT. In  addition,
Vocalis  can  provide  customers  with  powerful  toolkits
tailored for developing SpeechWare applications,  such  as
recognition  applications. For  further  support,  Vocalis
supplies  development  tools including  Transcriba,  which
breaks   down   speech   into  components   suitable   for
recognition, and Scripta, which helps designers to  create
an  effective  structure  for interactive  voice  response
(IVR)  systems.  Users will also be able to  use  industry
standard development toolkits for application generation.

The  combination  of SpeechWare and DM3 allows  operations,
like  call centres, to rapidly develop sophisticated voice-
driven services. These services include call routing, which
means  callers can be directed automatically to departments
or  individuals, or flexible information playout, in  which
appropriates messages can be played to callers relating  to
their particular location.

Dialogic  calls  DM3  a mediastream resource  architecture.
Rather  than a specific product, DM3 consists  of  a  board
that  acts  as a hardware platform to which extra resources
can  be added to make deliverable products. Daughter  cards
can  be  added to provide extra processing power, DSPs  and
memory.  Firmware technologies like ASR are then downloaded
onto  the  DM3  hardware  to  create  the  deliverable   CT
platform.


 About Vocalis
 Vocalis   Group  plc  builds  a  range  of  voice  activated
 telephony  products for telephone network service  providers
 and  corporate clients worldwide. Vocalis has a  proprietary
 speech  recognition  technology,  SpeechWare,  available  to
 purchase  under  license, and user  interface,  SUIT,  which
 helps businesses and people stay in touch, naturally.
 
 Products  include  SPEECHtel, a family  of  voice  activated
 service  applications, such as voice dialling and  directory
 assistance,  for  fixed  and  mobile  telephone   operators.
 Vocalis'  products  also  include ENtelAgent,  which  offers
 solutions  for corporate businesses to manage  routine  call
 handling  tasks  and  SpeecHTML,  which  allows  access   to
 websites  via  the telephone using spoken commands.  Vocalis
 was  formed in 1993 and has been trading on the London Stock
 Exchange since July 1996.
 
 The Vocalis Website is at http://www.vocalis.com.
 
 Vocalis,    the   Vocalis   logo,   ENtelAgent,   SPEECHtel,
 SpeecHTML,  SpeechWare  and SUI are  trademarks  of  Vocalis
 Ltd.
 
 For further information contact: -
 
 Mike Williams/Philippa Buttle,
 Vocalis Group plc
 Tel:    [phone]
 Fax:    [phone]
 Email: [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
 
 Tom Moriarty
 Tavistock Communications Ltd
 Tel: [phone]
 Fax: [phone]
 Email: [e-mail]
 
 
About Dialogic
Dialogic  Corporation is the leading manufacturer of  high-
performance,    standards-based  CT  components.   Dialogic
products  are  used in voice, fax, data, voice recognition,
speech synthesis, call centre management, and IP  telephony
applications   in   both  the  CPE   and   public   network
environments.  The company is headquartered in  Parsippany,
New  Jersey, with regional headquarters in Tokyo,  Brussels
and Buenos Aires, and sales offices worldwide.

Editorial Contacts for Europe are:
Michael Gray/Lisi Hutcheon
Gray Associates Ltd.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: + 44 (0) 181 744 9169
e-mail: [e-mail]

Tony Duerinck
Dialogic Telecom Europe
Tel: [phone]
Fax: + 32 2 712  4300
e-mail: [e-mail]

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