Sakhr provides Arabic software developers with its technologies

Local & regional IT developers & programmers obtain a free copy of Sakhr's automatic speech engine & speech recognition technologies upon attending Sakhr's training seminar for speech application programming that addresses the needs of Arab markets


Cairo: 17 March 2004
 
Sakhr Software Co., www.skahr.com, the pioneering Arab IT company, recently announced that it has just concluded the training courses the company offered at the Microsoft Developers Conference, MDC 2004. The aim of the training was to qualify programmers & developers of many companies on using Sakhr’s advanced technologies in developing exceptional applications that harmonizes with the modern direction of using automatic speech as part of Arabic language solutions & software.
 
The first day of training included an presentation introducing automatic speech technologies and Arabic linguistics. The second day included lectures on the tools necessary for the development of ASR SDK Speech Recognition applications. Whereas the lectures on the third revolved around the tools necessary for developing TTS SDK Text to Speech applications, the fourth day involved Intel CTADE training, and the fifth and final day provided training for integration speech in the computer Telephony system.
 
“The goal of these training sessions was to qualify local companies & introduce them to Sakhr technologies which may be utilized the in solution & application development covering various sectors such as banking, oil industry, customer services, insurance companies, e-Governments, to name but a few, in all Arab markets,” commented Salah Malaeb, General Manager, Sakhr Software Co.
 
Sakhr is the software company which developed Text to Speech TTS & Automatic Speech Recognition ASR technologies. Text to Speech TTS engines transform any electronically written Arabic text into speech, while the task of Automatic Speech Recognition ASR is to recognize words & instructions delivered in Arabic, in a variety of voices & dialects, and transforming them into commands.
 
“Our efforts are aimed at developing Arab Markets towards a new era of adopting modern automatic speech technologies,” said Jihad Salman, Speech Products Manager, Sakhr. He added, “these companies will have our technical support for a full year. We will also be seeking feedback from the companies whose developers have taken part in Sakhr’s training, and we will be following their steps towards building & developing applications using these technologies. Our doors are always open to companies that may, in the foreseeable future, take the initiative of entering the era of automatic speech.”
 
The sessions aimed at training developers to use Sakhr’s technologies was welcomed by many local & regional companies. These companies nominated dozens of developers to partake in these sessions, out of which ten candidates, representing ten companies, were chosen. The intensive training sessions lasted five consecutive days, for a period of seven hours each day, and were hosted by Sakhr at its offices located at the Freezone, Al Nasr city, in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
 
ATSI, www.atsint.com, the international telephone services company, was a keen participant of Sakhr’s training sessions. ATSI specializes in IP Telephony and is the general agent for Dialogic, www.dialogic.com, one of Intel’s units specializing in speech.
 
“Excellent training! Thank you! Our engineer received not only Sakhr Software ASR and TTS product training but also was guided through pertinent examples on how the technology should/could be deployed in real life. The training provided all the information required to allow ATSI to confidently integrate and deploy Sakhr TTS & ASR within our product range of automated service technology (IVR and Contact Centres). Our IVR and Contact Centre products are completely Arabized so the addition of Sakhr’s advanced Arabic speech technology gives us significant commercial advantages in our target market,” stated Gary Bowen, General Manager, ATSI.
 
“Sakhr’s speech technologies have matured in a way which meets international standards, thanks to the efforts of our developers, and the support of our partners at Intel who have participated in gauging these technologies to ensure ideal performance on Intel platforms,” said Michael Ghali, Manager, Speech Department Manager, Sakhr. He added, “our expectation is that these trainees will become Sakhr’s extended limb, helping to form the foundation for future cooperation with their respective companies, and we are always ready to provide every support they need.”
 
The trainees were presented with participation certificates upon completion of Sakhr’s technologies training, as well as a free copy of software developing tools for Automatic Speech Recognition ASR SDK applications & software developing tools necessary of Text to Speech engine TTS SDK applications complete with Sakhr’s full technical support for one whole year.
 
It is worth mentioning that Sakhr Software Co. was a sponsor of Microsoft Developers Conference Middle East held during January 2004. During the conference Sakhr held a special seminar on the Arabic speech technologies the company developed. The seminar included a presentation of Sakhr’s technologies as well as a demo of the various application modules which can be developed based on these technologies.
 
-Ends-
 
About Sakhr:
Sakhr Software Company was founded in Kuwait in 1982, and was relocated in Cairo in 1990.

A leading Arabic software Co., Sakhr develops software specifically tailored to the needs of the Arabic market and Arabic language users. It has developed cutting-edge technologies that have had a strong impact on the Arabic IT industry. The company has also pioneered a new generation of Arabic Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies.

Sakhr opened its branch in the UAAE in 2001, at the Dubai Internet City.

Sakhr’s list of clients includes giant IT companies such as Intel, Oracle, LG, Tejari.com & other major international & regional companies, governments, ministries & central banks.

For more information on Sakhr Software, visit the website http://www.sakhr.com
Media Department
media@sakhr.ae
Tel: +971 4 391 1555
Fax : +9714 390 4430

© Press Release 2004