IBM launches world's first Chinese continuous speech recognition system to China's computer users

(Beijing, China, September 4, 1997)

Today, at the Great Hall of the People, IBM unveiled a Chinese-language version of its best-selling speech recognition solution, ViaVoice. ViaVoice is the first continuous speech recognition system developed for the Chinese language. This system includes ViaVoice dictation software and development tools. ViaVoice, with IBM's unique continuous speech recognition and user-independent technology, is a milestone in the evolution of the Chinese information technology industry. It marks the beginning of an era of true man-machine dialogue, enabling people to use computers in a more natural way.

Over two hundred people, including Chinese Government officials, technical experts, users, PC manufacturers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) attended the announcement ceremony.

IBM is the first and only company to offer a general purpose, continuous dictation product in Chinese. Continuous speech enables a user to dictate in a natural and fluent way, thus enhancing previous speech recognition systems, where the speaker had to pause between words. ViaVoice greatly simplifies and accelerates man-machine communication, especially given the complex nature of the Chinese language .

The ViaVoice Chinese continuous speech recognition system was developed by IBM's China Research Laboratory, and addresses the complexity of the Chinese language, such as numerous characters sharing the same pronunciation, complex intonation, multiple meaning, a constant stream of newly coined words, etc. It can recognize free-style sentences, with an average input rate of 150 Chinese characters per minute and an average recognition rate of 95% after some use. The system has a built-in vocabulary of 32,000 phrases. What is more, users can add another 28,000 technical and special terms of their choice.

Moreover, ViaVoice is user-independent, meaning that it can recognize the voice of different people, even those with slight foreign or regional accents. This means that with ViaVoice installed, right out of the box, a PC can "understand" the messages conveyed in normal, continuous speech flow.

Mr Henry Chow, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM Greater China Group, said, "IBM is dedicated to the development of IT in China, as well as bringing to China the most advanced solutions that meet the unique requirements of Chinese users. The announcement of the ViaVoice Chinese speech recognition system is yet another example of our long-term commitment."

At present, IBM has signed agreements with PC manufacturers including Tontru, Great Wall and HYB to preload ViaVoice on their PCs. At the same time, companies such as Legend, Hanwang, Richen, CS&S are developing application software with ViaVoice technology. Beta versions of these products were demonstrated at the announcement ceremony. In addition, IBM is negotiating with other vendors in cooperative opportunities.

W.S. (Ozzie) Osborne, General Manager of IBM Speech Systems commented, "We plan to bundle ViaVoice with as many PCs as possible in China, so users here can enjoy the benefits of this breakthrough in man-machine communication. Partnering with PC manufacturers is the best way to achieve this objective. Applying speech technology in various applications that address the needs of Chinese computer users, we are also collaborating with different partners to develop solutions on the ViaVoice platform. Developing this technology for the Chinese market will help make computers more accessible to a broader audience.""

IBM has been engaged in the field of speech recognition for nearly three decades. In the speech recognition field, IBM has acquired over 60 patents and has become the leader and best-selling provider of speech recognition software.

The Chinese language product is IBM's newest language system, in a family of offerings that includes US and UK English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Teller Tang Ms. Tracy Zhang
IBM China Company Ltd. Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations
Tel: (010)64376677 - 3072

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