Nuance Communications

Nuance Communications, Inc.
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Software technology
Founded	1992
Headquarters	Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
Key people	Mark Benjamin (CEO)
Products	Artificial intelligence, speech recognition solutions, virtual assistants, accessibility technologies, Power PDF software, managed print services, transcription services
Parent	Microsoft

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a global software technology firm based in Burlington, Massachusetts, specializing in artificial intelligence and speech recognition solutions.

In October 2005, Nuance combined forces with rival ScanSoft. Originally spun off from Xerox and purchased by Visioneer in 1999, ScanSoft retained its name following the merger. The company’s lineage traces back to Kurzweil Computer Products.

Microsoft announced in April 2021 that it would acquire Nuance for $19.7 billion in cash, including debt, at $56 per share. This transaction was finalized in March 2022.

History

Nuance began as a spin-off from SRI International’s Speech Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory in 1994 and went public on Nasdaq the following year. The company’s speech recognition capabilities were built upon STAR Lab’s pioneering work in audio processing and speech analytics.

In 1995, SRI introduced the SRI Language Modeling Toolkit (SRILM), which supported the development of statistical language models used in speech recognition and machine translation.

One of Nuance’s initial commercial achievements was deploying natural language speech recognition for Charles Schwab & Co. in 1996, allowing clients to retrieve stock information via phone with accent-insensitive recognition.

By 1997, Nuance had developed the first extensive commercial dialog system for United Parcel Services (UPS), efficiently handling large volumes of package status inquiries.

Visioneer, established in 1992, acquired ScanSoft from Xerox in 1999 and adopted the ScanSoft name. In September 2005, ScanSoft merged with Nuance Communications and took on the Nuance brand. Prior to merging, both companies had been competitors in the large-scale commercial speech application market for over ten years.

Data breach

Between 2014 and 2017, Nuance experienced a security incident that compromised more than 45,000 patient records.

Solutions

Virtual assistants for customer service
Speech recognition tailored for individuals
Business-focused speech recognition
Speech recognition solutions for healthcare professionals
Accessibility technologies
Power PDF software
Managed Print Services
Transcription services

ScanSoft origins

In 1974, Raymond Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc. to create the first omni-font optical character recognition system capable of reading text in any font. Xerox acquired this company in 1980 and renamed it Xerox Imaging Systems (XIS), later known as ScanSoft.

Founded in March 1992, Visioneer, Inc. developed scanner hardware such as the PaperMax sheetfed scanner along with document management software like PaperPort. Visioneer divested its hardware segment to Primax Electronics in January 1999. Shortly thereafter, it purchased ScanSoft from Xerox and adopted the ScanSoft name.

Prior to 2001, ScanSoft specialized in desktop imaging software including TextBridge, PaperPort, and OmniPage. Following its acquisition of assets from Lernout & Hauspie in December 2001, ScanSoft entered the speech recognition market to compete with Nuance. Lernout & Hauspie had previously acquired Dragon Systems in June 2001 before filing for bankruptcy. In 2003, ScanSoft further expanded by acquiring speech recognition firm SpeechWorks.

Collaboration with Siri and Apple Inc.

In 2013, Nuance revealed that its natural language processing capabilities were integral to powering Apple's Siri voice assistant.

Emphasis on Healthcare

By 2019, Nuance separated its automotive segment into a new entity named Cerence, allowing it to concentrate more intensively on healthcare-related solutions.

Microsoft Acquisition

Microsoft declared on April 12, 2021, its plan to acquire Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, equating to $56 per share, representing a 22% premium over the previous closing price. Following the acquisition, Nuance's CEO Mark Benjamin continued in his leadership role. This transaction marked Microsoft's second-largest purchase after acquiring LinkedIn for $24 billion in 2016. The UK Competition and Markets Authority conducted an antitrust review of the deal, while the European Union granted approval in December 2021. The acquisition was finalized on March 4, 2022.

Subsequent to the Microsoft takeover, Nuance announced workforce reductions in May 2023.

External links

Nuance eCopy PDF Pro Office