E-mail for vocal masses

Irish e-mail users - and, if all goes according to plan, those in many other countries as well - will be able to listen to rather than read their e-mail, following the release of a new voice-recognition e-mail product by Dublin company Red Circle.

Called eVoice, the product allows users to access their e-mail using voice commands over a phone and to listen to the messages. Esat Fusion said this week that it will offer the service to users of its Ireland OnLine and Oceanfree.net Internet access services.

"Certain things have aligned themselves, which make [voice recognition services] possible: the ubiquity of mobiles, the cheapness of telephone calls and the power of computers today," said Mr Eugene O'Mara, Red Circle chief operating officer.

Effective voice applications have been one of the holy grails of computing since the 1960s, when major research laboratories such as those run by thentelephone giant Bell and computer company IBM, began to spend millions on the problem. Mr O'Mara and Red Circle chief executive Mr Ger Dowling see voice applications as an obvious "next wave" after the ongoing convergence of mobiles, PCs and the Internet.

With eVoice, people can use their telephone or mobile to access the content now that nextgeneration telephony networks are supposed to be made available in the future, according to Red Circle.

EVoice is voice-command driven, enabling users to browse their e-mail inbox and then listen, reply, forward, create or delete e-mails by giving oneword commands such as "reply" or "delete". E-mails are sent as .WAV sound files and the core engine of the program is voice XML, an Internet protocol that enables files to be recognised and utilised by various computers and programs on the Internet.

The eVoice program also has an in-built biometric security system, using a voice profile from the user to verify his or her identity before opening the inbox. The program "takes a sample and generates an algorithm [a complex mathematical formula] from your voice tones, which is unique to you. Even if you have a cold or the flu, it can recognise that your voice does match your algorithm," said Mr Dowling.

"The program can also randomly check that you're who you say you are."

A "voiceprint" is created during the sign-up procedure for the service, when the program asks the user a number of questions. The algorithm is generated from sound samples taken from the responses.

Mr Dowling and Mr O'Mara believe voice services will bring Internet access to millions more people than those who currently purchase PCs and other relatively costly access devices.

Red Circle is also developing a range of other voice-recognition products, and has completed a deal that will enable users to access share price quotes and financial information through a voice portal.

Red Circle, which is based in Dun Laoghaire and has been entirely financed by the founders, family, friends and board members, has operated under that name for a year. However, the company was actually founded three years ago as Call2, which specialised in voice software used with touch-tone phone systems. Mr Dowling says Call2 began to use a powerful voice recognition engine called Nuance, which the company realised could be used for more complex products. The shift in focus inspired a new name, which Mr O'Mara and Mr Dowling like because it implies a circular timelessness of the use of voice, and was "the easiest to remember" of all the proposed new names.

Red Circle faces some large competitors in the US market, including TellMe, the inspiration of one of Netscape's founders, and BeVocal. Most European countries also have voice contenders, said Mr O'Mara. US telecommunications companies Qwest and Sprint enable voice access to emails. But Red Circle is convinced it has unique products and is the European leader in its field.

Mr O'Mara and Mr Dowling will seek funding for a rollout of eVoice across Europe but also acknowledge they have had enquiries from US companies. For now, however, they are focusing on building further products.

"There's a big world out there still. There's a lot to do," said Mr Dowling.

Previously, Mr Dowling held a number of senior technology positions with McGraw Hill, then became vice-president of Europe for WOMEX, and briefly headed up a Dermot Desmond subsidiary in Dublin.

Mr O'Mara was director of the communications practice in the Irish office of computer services and consultancy company EDS before joining Red Circle in the past year.