Briefs: Autonomy secures big contract; new CSR chip supports Bluetooth speech recognition
Autonomy Corporation plc, speciliasts in infrastructure software for the enterprise, said it has won a multi-million dollar deal with a customer in the investment banking sector for the provision of compliance software. The deal, the first part of which has been entered into and for which Autonomy has been selected for subsequent parts, is expected to be one of the most significant contracts Autonomy has won. The revenues from this contract will be recognised over a two year period.
CEO Mike Lynch said: "The change in the business and regulatory environment has firmly established unstructured information, risk and compliance issues at the top of major financial institutions' agendas. These issues have been driving the largest deals in Autonomy's history."
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CSR plc said its BlueCore5-Multimedia platform now supports integrated speech synthesis, also known as text-to-speech (TTS), and speech recognition (SR) functionality. Developed through its third party eXtension Partner Programme with NowSpeak and Rubidium Ltd, CSR can now offer headset and hands-free car kit users a true hands-free experience when using Bluetooth accessories.
CSR's industry leading BlueCore5-Multimedia platform is the only Bluetooth device on the market with an integrated DSP and on-chip memory, allowing it to host third party software to offer end users an unprecedented level of audio quality and functionality when using Bluetooth.
By combining speech synthesis and SR technologies CSR provides users with ultimate control when communicating via either a Bluetooth headset or embedded car kit. When a call is received on the user's mobile phone, the speech synthesis engine announces the name or number of the caller, allowing the user to decide whether to accept the call, and use SR to answer it without the need to press a button. Speech synthesis can be used as a connection and pairing status guide and can inform the user of the title of a music track played over Bluetooth. Furthermore, SR allows users to easily and safely control an array of functions through voice commands, including call acceptance and rejection, voice dialling, and music control and selection. Speech synthesis and SR together provide users of a CSR BlueCore5-Multimedia based product with the ultimate hands free experience.
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Domainex Ltd, a biopharma spin-out from University College London, said it has raised £1m from Longbow Capital LLP, which specializes in healthcare and technology investments, and The Capital Fund, the £50m regional venture capital fund for London. Longbow invested £790,000, bringing their total invested in the Company to £1.15m, and The Capital Fund invested £250,000.
Headquartered in London with labs on the Cambridge Science Park, Domainex is a contract research company specialising in the provision of structural biology and chemistry services to major pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. The Company is also developing a pipeline of pre-clinical drugs and targets.
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The success of its custom solutions division will help Grant Instruments, a Cambridge-HQed manufacturer and supplier of scientific, life sciences and data acquisition products, to hit its sales target of £10m by the end of 2010, the company said.
Since the launch of its custom design and manufacturing business in 2006, Grant has forged partnerships with firms across a range of industries including Asynt, Asymptote, Universal Sensors and Vistec Lithography. Grant said it is establishing itself as the outsourcing partner of choice for early stage companies in the life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic markets.
24 April 2008
