Intermec finds its voice with Vocollect

Mobile computing and AIDC systems vendor Intermec (NYSE:IN) has agreed to buy Vocollect, a provider of voice solutions for mobile workers.
The $190m all-cash deal will bring Vocollect’s speech recognition software and a community of more than 2,000 supply chain reseller and channel partner experts into Intermec’s portfolio. Vocollect has around 1500 global customers including Ford, Burberry and Tesco that use its VoiceWorld Suite alongside WMS and ERP systems with integration provided by channel partners.
“This acquisition is a major step for Intermec in building a software-centric solutions business in the warehouse, the largest AIDC deployment environment,” says Patrick Byrne, Intermec’s president and CEO. “The adoption of voice in the warehouse is developing rapidly and we expect this technology to provide significant long-term growth opportunities for Intermec.”
The deal could potentially help Intermec’s community of around 150 ISV partners better integrate voice into existing and new ADIC applications.
Indeed, speech could offer potential growth for partners who have found it difficult to sell new solutions into a fiscally-cautious marketplace. According to a recent report by Global Industry Analysts, the global speech technology market is predicted to grow to US$20.9bn by 2015.
According to firm, the recession has catalysed the popularity of new forms of e-commerce, such as voice commerce where companies are seeking to leverage the low-cost natural interface offered by automated speech-recognition, text-to-speech and voice-identification technologies, to electronic channels of commerce.
The report also believes that the market for speech recognition systems and equipment will therefore witness continued unfazed developments with players in the space striving to take the technology to higher grounds by improving the ability of these systems to accurately recognise and respond to natural human speech.