IBM today announced that it is the first and only company to offer speech recognition tools and technologies to the Linux operating environment. Available today, IBM ViaVoice Software Developers Kit (SDK) and Run Time Kits for Linux are the first in a series of planned Linux solutions from IBM that will make it easier for developers to incorporate speech recognition technology into their next generation of… applications.

Benefits to Linux Community

IBM believes speech technology will be the next user interface for computing in any operating platform. By providing ViaVoice to the Linux community, developers will have the tools to create next generation conversational user interfaces based on open standards, significantly improving human interaction with networked computing devices and e-business applications.

Because speech technology significantly improves an application's ease-of-use, speech-enabled Linux applications will help to accelerate the acceptance of Linux by the general public. IBM's support of the speech-enabled Linux applications underscores the company's commitment to support Linux with a broad range of hardware, software and service solutions.

How it Works

ViaVoice enables the creation of Linux applications that allow for voice command and control capabilities, as well as text-to-speech translation. IBM ViaVoice for Linux technologies include:

• ViaVoice SDK and Run Times (Command & Control) — Allows developers to build voice commands into their applications (e.g., Linux Calculator — an open source application on the web at www.software.ibm.com/linux).
  
• ViaVoice OutLoud SDK and Run Times (TTS — Text to Speech) — Allows developers to create applications which will allow “voice out.” In other words, the application will interact with the end user by voice (e.g., reading back e-mail messages or asking questions of the user. Similar to a help function, it determines what the user wants to do).
  
• Beta Run Time for Dictation — Allows developers to implement continuous dictation capability into Linux applications, providing end users with the ability to dictate directly into an application (e.g., creating e-mail by voice).

Lineo is the leading developer of embedded Linux system software, offering developers a complete tool set to build Linux applications for embedded devices (e.g., phones, set top boxes, games, etc.). Lineo will be integrating IBM ViaVoice technology into the EmbeddixTM SDK giving developers the ability to create voice-enabled embedded applications.

Availability and Pricing

IBM currently offers speech recognition technology for the Linux operating system for Red Hat, SUSE and Caldera when available. The ViaVoice SDK is free to customers and available for download today. The ViaVoice Run Time is free to personal and educational users. Pricing is based volume commitment, and competitive with our other supported Operating Systems.

IBM's ViaVoice technology is available today through download at www.ibm.com/software/speech.

About ViaVoice

Based on 30 years of speech recognition research and development, IBM Voice Systems is focused on supporting open standards that help accelerate the creation of content, servers and browsers that allow speech recognition technology to be easily integrated into voice, data and applications infrastructures.

Speech recognition is becoming the next interface for future computing platforms. IBM is driving the market by providing technology and tools that enable developers to create next generation, conversational-based user interfaces based on open standard platforms.

 
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