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Nuance Communications

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"Visioneer" redirects here. For the film Visioneers, see Visioneers.
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Company typePublic (NASDAQ: NUAN)
IndustryProductivity applications
Founded1992 as Visioneer
HeadquartersBurlington, Massachusetts, USA
Key people
Chairman & CEO: Paul Ricci
ProductsOCR, speech synthesis, speech recognition, PDF
Revenue$613 million (FY2007)
Number of employees
3500 (35 offices worldwide)
Websitewww.nuance.com

Nuance Communications is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA, that provides speech and imaging applications. Current business products focus on server & embedded speech recognition, telephone call steering systems, automated telephone directory services, medical transcription software & systems, optical character recognition software, and desktop imaging software. The company also maintains a small division which does software and system development for military and government agencies.

As of 2008, the company is a result of organic growth, mergers, and acquisitions. Most notable was the "merger" of ScanSoft and Nuance in October 2005. Before the merger, the two companies competed in the commercial large scale speech application business. The officially-termed "merger" was a de facto acquisition of Nuance by ScanSoft, though the combined company changed its name to Nuance following the transaction. Before 1999, ScanSoft was known as Visioneer, a hardware and software scanner company. In 1999, Visioneer bought ScanSoft — a Xerox spin-off — and adopted ScanSoft as the company name. The original ScanSoft had its roots in Kurzweil Computer Products, a software company that developed the first omni-font character recognition system.

Company history

In September 2005, ScanSoft Inc. acquired and merged with Nuance Communications, and the resulting company adopted the Nuance name. For a decade prior to that, the two companies competed in the commercial large-scale speech application business.

ScanSoft history (origins)

In 1974, Raymond Kurzweil founded the Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc. to develop the first omni-font optical character recognition system — a computer program capable of recognizing text written in any normal font.[1] In 1980, Kurzweil sold his company to Xerox.[2] The company became known as Xerox Imaging Systems (XIS), and later ScanSoft.

In March 1992, a new company called Visioneer, Inc was founded to develop scanner hardware & software products, such as PaperPort. Visioneer eventually sold its hardware division to Primax Electronics, Ltd. in January 1999. Two months later, in March, Visioneer acquired ScanSoft from Xerox to form a new public company with ScanSoft as the company name.

  • 1974 — Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc founded to develop the first omni-font optical character recognition system
  • 1980 — Xerox buys Kurzweil Computer Products and runs it as Xerox Imaging Systems (XIS), and later ScanSoft.
  • Mar. 1992 — Visioneer, Inc founded to develop scanner hardware & software products.
  • Jan. 1999 — Visioneer sold its hardware division to Primax Electronics, Ltd.
  • Mar. 1999 — Visioneer acquired ScanSoft from Xerox and adopts ScanSoft as new company-wide name.

Prior to 2001, ScanSoft focused primarily on desktop imaging software such as TextBridge[1], PaperPort and OmniPage. Beginning with the December 2001 acquisition of Lernout & Hauspie, the company moved into the speech recognition business and began to compete with Nuance.

Nuance history prior to the 2005 merger with ScanSoft

Nuance was founded in 1994 as a spinoff of SRI International's Speech Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory. Based in Menlo Park, California, Nuance deployed their first commercial large-scale speech application in 1996. Nuance's products were computer telephony applications, Voice XML (VXML), SIP services, and automated call steering. Deployed in call centers and the like, Nuance applications ran on WindowsNT-based and Solaris operating systems, and commonly relied on Dialogic boards for the telephony hardware.

  • 1994 — Nuance spun off from SRI's STAR Lab
  • 1996 — Nuance deployed its first commercial speech application
  • 2000 April 13 — Nuance files initial public offering on the Nasdaq under the symbol NUAN
  • 2000 November 15 — Nuance acquires SpeechFront voice instant messaging company for $10.5MM in cash and stock.
  • (Description/chronology of Nuance's actual speech product offerings needed!)

Acquisitions

Prior to the 2005 merger, ScanSoft acquired other companies to expand its business. Unlike ScanSoft, Nuance did not actively acquire companies prior to their merger. After the merge, the company continued to grow through acquisition.

ScanSoft acquisitions prior to the merger

This acquisition occurred following Lernout & Hauspie's bankruptcy proceedings. Previously, Lernout & Hauspie had acquired these speech technology companies: BBS, Berkeley Speech Technologies (1996), Centigram Communications Corporation, Dragon Systems (2000), FDC, and Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (1998).
  • January 30, 2003 — Royal Philips Electronics Speech Processing Telephony and Voice Control, Dialogue Systems — $35.4 million
Philips had previously acquired Voice Control Systems, which had in turn had acquired Pure Speech, Scott Instruments and VPC.
SpeechWorks' major products were speech recognition and synthesis systems, which were later merged with Nuance's speech product line. It had previously acquired Eloquent Technologies, Inc., of Ithaca, New York in 2000 for $17 million and T-Netix.

ScanSoft merges with Nuance; changes company-wide name to Nuance

  • September 15, 2005 — ScanSoft acquired and merged with Nuance Communications, of Menlo Park, California — $221 million

Nuance acquisitions after merger

Consumer products

Business Products & Services

  • Medical Transcription
  • Speech Recognition Engine
  • Call Steering [8]
  • Automated Directory Assistance
  • Caller Authentication [9]
  • SmartListener [10]
  • Employee Productivity Suite - Automated Password Reset, Auto Attendant, Emergency Event Notification, Employee Internal Dialer [11]
  • Outbound Care Solutions [12]
  • Enterprise Services for Call Centers [13]
  • Embedded Speech Recognition
  • Healthcare Solutions - Dragon Medical, Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System, eScription and more. [14]
  • Text to Speech
  • Voice Authentication
  • Embedded Text Input (T9 and XT9)
  • Embedded Text-based Mobile Search (T9 Nav)

Competitors

References

  1. ^ "KURZWEIL COMPUTER PRODUCTS, INC." Smithsonian Speech Synthesis History Project (SSSHP) 1986 - 2002
  2. ^ "KURZWEIL COMPUTER PRODUCTS, INC." Smithsonian Speech Synthesis History Project (SSSHP) 1986 - 2002
  3. ^ Nuance to acquire SNAPin
  4. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123202456169485393.html
  5. ^ http://www.zicorp.com/prs/ZiAcquisitionpr.pdf

See also

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