INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Nuance Communications unveiled Nuance
Verifier, a speaker verification system that can be used with
on-line corporate booking systems.
Speaker verification systems create a voiceprint based upon the
speaker's voice so the Nuance system can verify a business
traveler's voice at the same time the booking is made.
"Companies can offer customers automated access to high-value
information and transactions in a secure way," said Ron Croen,
president and chief executive officer of the locally based Nuance
Communications. Nuance is working with American Express Travel
Services to bring its technology to the industry.
The system, code-named Paris, is designed to bring real-time
access and reservation capability through the AXI corporate booking
system. The Paris system is due out by the end of the first
quarter.
The program will prompt the user for speech samples until
identity confirmation is reached. Testing has turned out accuracy
rates of 99%, Croen said.
Voice recognition systems have been popping up all over
corporate travel circles the past 12 months and have been called
the "new frontier for the travel industry" by Elmer Baldwin,
president and chief executive officer of Via World Network, the
Minneapolis-based developer of Via Voice speech recognition
system.
Travis Tanner, Carlson Wagonlit Travel president and chief
executive officer, recently predicted that by the year 2000 75
percent of routine business travel will be booked through
voice-recognition systems or personal computers.
Other phone-booking works in progress are E-Travel's reservation
system and Sabre BTS, both of which are teaming with Cambridge,
Mass.-based Pure Speech to develop voice recognition programs.