03/02-03   -   Pressmeddelande

PipeBeach and SVOX offer mixed-lingual telephony services

PipeBeach AB and SVOX AG today announced an alliance with the aim to provide mixed-lingual synthesized voices with the PipeBeach speechWeb system for telephony services. The mixed-lingual text-to-speech technology enables end-users to listen to correctly pronounced content provided as text in more than one language. The alliance gives direct improvements to widely used voice applications, such as email/SMS-reading, directory assistance and news briefs.

When using telephony voice services, including a text-to-speech voice, end-users often have difficulties understanding the synthesized voice when text includes words in another language than the text-to-speech engine was developed for. For example an email in German containing English words, would be pronounced incorrectly by a standard German TTS engine. SVOX mixed-lingual TTS solves this problem with its highly sophisticated software architecture. This improvement of email reading over the phone offered by PipeBeach AB and SVOX AG is especially important for global corporations and organisations.

Under the partnership, the SVOX text-to-speech engine has been integrated into the PipeBeach speechWeb VoiceXML platform. The combined offering is available for operators, service providers and enterprises for instant deployment.

In a directory assistant application, company names, persons, streets etc. often have both native and international names, for example "Bühler Technologies, Francesco Alagia, World Trade Center, Av. De Gratta-Paille 2, Lausanne". The mixed-lingual text-to-speech architecture from SVOX solves the pronunciation problem when reading a native language including foreign words using the same voice in one single sentence.

Additionally, application developers and service providers can save significant costs and time by using the PipeBeach speechWeb VoiceXML platform and SVOX multi-lingual text-to-speech software. No manual tuning and adjustment are required for correct pronunciation of mixed languages.


"PipeBeach´s speechWeb VoiceXML platform unique features in combination with SVOX´s mixed-lingual and natural sounding Text-to-Speech is a perfect solution for Telecommunication companies and global corporations interested in implementing voice solutions", says Alexander Fries, Chief Marketing Officer at SVOX.


"We provide our customers with cost-efficient implementation of voice solutions in a wide range of languages. SVOX´s innovative technology and exciting roadmap is an excellent fit with PipeBeach applications and speechWeb platform. We foresee the creation of a range of new revenue generating and cost saving services enabled by our combined offering", says Christer Granberg, CEO and co-founder of PipeBeach.


About PipeBeach
PipeBeach is a leading provider of voice platforms, applications and services that enable mobile users easy access to messaging, information and entertainment. PipeBeach has pioneered the integration of mobile communications, speech and Internet technologies using open standards. With the carrier-class speechWeb platform PipeBeach gives mobile network operators, service providers and enterprises a robust foundation to fully benefit from the VoiceXML standard for web based voice applications. PipeBeach is one of the leading contributors to the W3C (World Wide Web Consortia) VoiceXML standardization and its CTO Scott McGlashan is chairman of the W3C Voice Browser working group.

About speechWeb
speechWeb is a carrier class VoiceXML platform that allows applications and services written in VoiceXML, located on standard web servers, to be accessed over the phone. speechWeb converts VoiceXML documents into interactive dialogs using advanced Internet and multi-lingual speech technologies. Today speechWeb has the widest language support in the industry and supports more than 35 languages for both automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis. For more information about speechWeb and PipeBeach, please visit www.pipebeach.com


About SVOX AG
SVOX AG was founded in April 2000 as a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). Its core product is text-to-speech software. The multiple award-winning SVOX technology is used in fields such as telecommunications, call centers, multimedia/Internet and embedded systems. Despite being a recently founded business, SVOX already belongs to an elite group of global technology leaders. SVOX differentiates itself by offering customized text-to-speech. With SVOX´s software architecture customers are offered a text-to-speech engine adaptable to their technical and market needs. Alongside clients such as Swisscom and D-Link, SVOX also collaborates closely with partners such as PipeBeach, VoiceGenie, Telisma, Siemens, Ericsson, Voice Robots and A.R.T.

SVOX is a Swiss based company, with representation in Germany, Austria and USA. Next to European markets, SVOX is also active in US and Asian markets. For more information about SVOX please visit www.svox.com


For further information, contact:

PipeBeach AB
Christer Granberg, CEO
+46 8 545 909 90
christer.granberg@pipebeach.com


SVOX AG
Alexander Fries
Chief Marketing Officer
+41 43 544 06 23
fries@svox.com