BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that it has acquired SVOX, a provider of voice solutions for in-car systems and consumer electronics. The combination of Nuance and SVOX’s innovations will advance the proliferation of voice in the automotive market, and accelerate the development of new voice capabilities that enable natural, conversational interactions between consumers and their connected cars, mobile phones, and other consumer devices.
The mobile industry is experiencing increased consumer demand to not only command and control in-car systems and devices through voice, but also to quickly and easily access mobile Web content, find local businesses, get directions, and create and listen to messages. Combined, Nuance and SVOX will further empower the world’s leading car makers, automotive suppliers, device manufacturers and third-party developers to meet these demands head on, while customizing and differentiating their offerings with state-of-the-art voice innovations that result in the best mobile experience the industry has to offer.
“The automotive and consumer electronics markets are experiencing a surge in demand for voice capabilities,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. “By combining portfolios and expertise, we can ignite innovations that enable seamless, natural conversations between man and machine across an amazing portfolio of voices and languages.”
The combined organization will deliver:
- Advanced Voice Solutions for New and Emerging Markets – Nuance and SVOX’s combined technologies will advance groundbreaking voice capabilities through robust text-to-speech and voice recognition offerings, as well as powerful hybrid cloud-embedded voice platforms. This resulting portfolio will enable incredibly natural and intuitive interactions never before thought possible with connected cars, a wide array of consumer devices and services, and the digital living room.
- Strong Global Customer and Partner Relationships – The acquisition provides Nuance’s and SVOX’s customers and partners access to the industry’s largest and most experienced mobile voice technology teams, delivering the broadest voice capabilities that enrich the automotive and mobile consumer experience. SVOX’s technical expertise and talent combined with Nuance’s global resources and market strength will enable technology platforms that are state-of-the-art today, while offering the assurance of technological leadership through a robust product and services roadmap.
“Manufacturers, suppliers, developers and consumers are all driving an unprecedented demand for fully voice-enabled experiences that require both embedded and cloud-based technology to work hand-in-hand. By combining our technology and talent with Nuance’s robust voice capabilities and market strength, we’ll be better positioned to meet that demand,” said Martin Reber, CEO, SVOX.
SVOX’s portfolio also supplements Nuance’s advanced signal enhancement technologies, including echo cancellation and beamforming that enable increased voice recognition accuracy in automotive, mobile and digital home environments. Additionally, OEMs and developers will have access to a portfolio of plug-and-play application modules that enable them to fully voice-enable their innovations that feature the best of Nuance and SVOX’s trusted voice recognition and text-to-speech capabilities.
About SVOX AG
SVOX, a privately held company with significant shareholdings represented by smac partners/Germany, is a leading supplier of speech solutions, with a reputation for quality and customer focus. SVOX drives adoption of speech user interfaces in the automotive, mobile device and consumer electronics industries. The company offers an application development framework, as well as separate components including Speech Recognition, Speech Output and complete Speech Dialog solutions. For more information, please visit www.SVOX.com.
About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit: nuance.com.
Nuance, and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Statements in this press release regarding the proliferation of voice in the automotive market, increased customer demand in the mobile market, future product offerings by the combined company, and any other statements about Nuance managements’ future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements, including the ability of Nuance to integrate the product offerings of the combined companies and other the factors described in Nuance's Annual Report on Form 10 K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nuance disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.