Kolvox and KAI Form Speech Alliance

Much like the pen computing industry, speech recognition has its share of skeptics and detractors. Not surprisingly then, speech technology vendors are busy working to create solutions to real-world problems in specific, vertical industries.

Among these companies is North York, Ontario-based Kolvox Communications which recently announced a broad strategic alliance with Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (KAI). Kolvox develops and markets speech recognition software for the legal and accessibility/disability marketplaces.

In particular, Kolvox is shipping a version of its LawTALK software with a speech recognition interface to WESTLAW, a computer-assisted legal research service from West Publishing. Together, LawTALK and WESTLAW permit legal professionals to perform much of their computer work in plain English.

Using the system, legal researchers can use speech to perform online search and information retrieval on any of WESTLAW’s more than 5,000 databases without having to use a computer keyboard. Using voice macros, people are freed from having to remember command keystrokes or other database identifiers.

As part of Kolvox’s alliance with KAI, the company plans to port its LawTALK – West Publishing Edition, OfficeTALK, and Voice Companion products to Kurzweil VOICE for Windows before the end of the year. Kurzweil, in turn, will license a special version of Voice Companion to include with its flagship product, Kurzweil VOICE for Windows.

Kolvox Communications
Kurt Lynn
4100 Yonge Street, Suite 607
North York, Ontario
Canada M2P 2B5
(416) 221-2400
(416) 218-3110 (fax)