[Ossf] NYTimes.com Article: Speech Code From I.B.M. to Become Open Source

[YenChen Kuo]

> Speech Code From I.B.M. to Become Open Source
>
> September 13, 2004
>  By STEVE LOHR
>
>
>
>
>
> I.B.M. plans to announce today that it will contribute some
> of its speech-recognition software to two open-source
> software groups.
>
> The move is a tactical step by International Business
> Machines to accelerate the development of speech
> applications and to outmaneuver rivals, especially
> Microsoft, in a market that is expected to grow rapidly in
> the next few years with increased use in customer-service
> call centers, cars and elsewhere. To do this, I.B.M. is
> again using the strategy of placing some of its proprietary
> software in open-source projects, making it available for
> other programmers to improve.
>
> "We're trying to spur the industry around open standards to
> get more and more speech application development," said
> Steven A. Mills, the senior vice president in charge of
> I.B.M.'s software business. "Our code contribution is about
> getting that ecosystem going. If that happens, we think it
> will bring more business opportunities to I.B.M."
>
> After decades of research and development, speech
> recognition is moving toward mainstream use. Advances in
> statistical modeling, pattern-matching algorithms and
> processing power have enabled speech recognition to
> interpret a far broader vocabulary of words and phrases
> than in the past, though glitches remain.
>
> The software for speech-recognition applications once had
> to be custom built, but now packages of reusable and
> standardized tools are becoming available. The speech
> software can now be added to a Web application so that
> programmers can use familiar tools and need little
> additional training.
>
> "This whole speech world is going in the same direction as
> the rest of the information technology industry, and that
> should drastically reduce the cost of building speech
> applications," said Mark Plakias, an analyst at Opus
> Research.
>
> I.B.M. is donating code that it estimates cost the company
> $10 million to develop. One collection of speech software
> for handling basic words for dates, time and locations,
> like cities and states, will go to the Apache Software
> Foundation. The company is also contributing speech-editing
> tools to a second open-source group, the Eclipse
> Foundation.
>
> I.B.M. has contributed code to open-source programmers in
> the past. In August, for example, the company contributed
> Cloudscape, a database written in the Java programming
> language, to the Apache Foundation. And I.B.M. is a leading
> corporate sponsor of open-source projects like the Apache
> Web server and the Linux operating system. "It's our usual
> play," Mr. Mills said.
>
> I.B.M. is also announcing an agreement with Avaya, a
> leading supplier of call-center technology, to jointly
> develop speech-enabled self-service applications for
> corporate customers. "Web self-service and speech
> self-service can be developed in tandem," said Eileen
> Rudden, vice president of Avaya's communications
> applications division. "We see this as a way to lower the
> cost of building speech applications and broaden the
> market."
>
> As part of the alliance, Avaya plans to offer its
> call-center applications on I.B.M.'s WebSphere software,
> though it is not an exclusive agreement. WebSphere is
> central to I.B.M.'s software strategy; it includes tools
> for building applications and it is a platform on which
> other software programs run.
>
> WebSphere is a layer of software above the operating
> system, but as a technology platform it competes with
> Microsoft's Windows and .Net technology.
>
> Microsoft has developed its own standardized tools for
> making speech recognition applications, and in March it
> introduced Microsoft Speech Server 2004 for running
> speech-enabled applications. More than 100,000 software
> programmers have downloaded Microsoft's free software
> developers' kit for building speech applications on its
> Windows .Net technology.
>
> Microsoft executives contend that it is less expensive and
> faster to build speech applications with its technology
> than with I.B.M.'s tools or other alternatives.
>
> "This is a case of I.B.M. following Microsoft," said James
> Mastan, director of marketing for Microsoft Speech
> Technologies. "I.B.M. has not executed in bringing this
> technology to a broad market as Microsoft has."
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/technology/13speech.html?ex=1096137930&ei=1&en=7b02478d34cd3e8b
>
>
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