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Integrated Wave Technologies, Inc. (IWT), is a high technology company that focuses exclusively on sound analysis-related R&D, marketing and production. The company is based in Fremont, California, and it has additional research facilities in St. Petersburg, Russia. It has acquired highly advanced sound analysis technology from sources in the former Soviet Union and has adapted and advanced this technology in its own research facilities. These facilities are capable of software development, prototype development, and custom-designed chip fabrication.
The company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is John H. Hall. Hall has over 30 years of advanced electronics research experience and has made significant contributions to advancements in the state-of-the-art both in basic semiconductor technology and in chip-based applications of this technology. Among his innovations are the first low-voltage CMOS chip, a design that Seiko purchased and mass produced beginning in 1970. Hall has continued to make advancements in CMOS and other electronics technology in both commercial and classified defense programs.
Hall has significant experience in managing start-up high-technology companies. He was co-founder of Intersil with Fairchild Eight member Jean Hoerni in 1968, heading its research and development, with work that included a breakthrough in coating silicon oxide gates with phosphorous glass and creating the first practical metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) processes. Intersil also developed the first N Channel memory chip, which was later adopted as an industry standard.
Hall founded Micro Power Systems in 1971 with work that included low-power CMOS integrated circuit designs that he used in the first computerized programmable heart pacemaker and the first electronic camera shutter, the first low-cost ICs highly resistant to nuclear radiation, stationary phased array radar systems, frequency synthesizers, handheld digital voltmeters, portable LCD calculators, molybdenum gate MOS process used for cellular phone construction, and the first one-chip analog-to-digital converters. While he was president of MPS from 1971 to 1986, the company grew at an average rate of 25 percent a year with no external debt or equity funding. From 1986 to the present, Hall has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Linear Integrated Systems, Inc., specializing in bipolar linear and high-speed CMOS digital circuits.
IWT has developed several new voice-related technologies that are uniquely effective for certain highly demanding applications. The first technology is a voice recognition algorithm and related implementation technology. The second is a biometric technology that allows for the precise identification of individuals. The third technology is a speech compression technology that allows for voice recordings to be contained in vastly smaller digital files.
These technologies are not merely superior to those of other companies. They cross performance thresholds that will allow them to be the basis of new products and new markets. In addition to securing ownership of the algorithms, IWT has pursued an aggressive strategy of developing essential implementation technologies. The Company is in the process of completing patent application documentation for these technologies and believes that the resulting patents will prevent competitors from developing similarly capable products.
These technologies also can be combined with existing innovations such as the Universal Serial Bus standard and emerging ones such as the Bluetooth radio frequency interface standard to become important integrated parts of the next generation of computing systems.
Several new market opportunities are based upon IWT's ability to build very compact, low-cost devices that recognize all languages, dialects and impairments in speech in environments with loud and unpredictable background noise. The core technology was developed in the former Soviet Union in a atmosphere where expensive and complicated resources were limited. Russian scientists were forced to use inferior (by Western standards) computing machinery. To get results, they had to rely on elegant, yet parsimonious, algorithms to achieve comparable results being accomplished in the West with more powerful computers. IWT acquired the applicable rights to this technology in 1994 and continues to fund related research.
There are two characteristics that differentiate this voice recognition technology from those available in the United States. First, the Soviet technology uses sound analysis to recognize commands. Western systems use phonemes -- parcels of speech -- to recognize words through approximate comparisons and probability analysis. Each vowel or consonant or blend sound heard by the computer is matched to a template of phonemes. These phonemes are assembled and matched to possible words. But the phoneme-based systems have a high error-substitution rate and are highly susceptible to interference from background noise.
IWT's system analyzes the frequency and energy characteristics of the sounds rather than the phonemes. This allows IWT to match sounds directly and precisely to templates of voice commands and also to distinguish the voice command sounds from all types of background noise, even other human speech.
The second characteristic is the highly efficient architecture of the Soviet algorithm. Software based on this algorithm can run on relatively modest hardware -- a 286 processor compared with Pentiums require for Western voice recognition systems -- which means that IWT has been able to create systems that are vastly smaller, more power efficient and cheaper than systems relying on Western systems. The algorithm can be embedded in a single chip, which can then be integrated directly into devices where voice command is desired. Western systems were forces to rely on large, costly laptop Pentium computers that use a significant amount of power to integrate voice command into other systems.
Based upon these two characteristics, IWT has been able to create new market opportunities by meeting the stringent requirements of carefully selected applications. Currently available voice recognition systems are unable to meet the demands of these applications, and IWT's technical success can create a monopoly in these specific areas. IWT has worked closely with federal government technology managers, federal laboratory engineers, university technology application specialists, industry experts and non-profit organization experts to ensure ability of its voice recognition to meet the requirements of these market opportunities.
IWT adopted this strategy of pursuing high-end, demanding requirements unmet by current voice recognition systems after determining that the poor performance of devices put on the market by other companies had created a negative image of all voice recognition systems in the minds of many computer users. These projects both create important products and benchmark this technology as being clearly superior to all other voice recognition. IWT believes that after it demonstrates its capabilities through demanding, high-profile applications, it will be able to sell applications for general use, either through computer manufacturers or as discrete items through software and hardware retailers.
IWT has developed prototypes for five such initial applications, including two selected over all other voice recognition systems for use in federal law enforcement technology programs by high-level review panels. Though some of these applications are for small niche markets, they were chosen because the technology is transferable easily to mass-market products such as personal digital assistants/palm computers.
The first application is plug-in speech recognition for personal digital assistants such as the Handspring Visor. IWT can provide near-perfect speech recognition for command/control and data entry for these devices in a compact package interfacing easily with the handheld computer.
The second application is a "caddy" to allow portable cellular phones to be used with voice commands in vehicles. IWT's prototype is the first device to be miniaturized to fit within the existing form factor for non-voice command caddies already in use and the first to work in the high noise environment that characterizes most vehicles. The target market is the general population, with sales conducted through phone service providers, phone manufacturers and automobile electronic aftermarket retail outlets. IWT believes that the substantial expected market penetration could be boosted by pending state and federal safety legislation. This legislation would make it illegal to use cellular phones while driving a vehicle and likely would be passed with an exception for voice-command units. Fully developed prototypes have been built and production would begin six months to one year after receiving funding.
This application was selected by a National Institute of Justice peer review panel for funding with respect to providing voice-command cellular phones patrol officers in cars, on motorcycles and on bicycles. This testing effort, which for the first time provides voice command telecommunications for these high-noise environments, is ongoing.
The IWT recognition technology has an additional characteristic important for this application and others. Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has laid out soon-to-be-enforced requirements for telecommunications equipment to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities, if it readily achievable for a manufacturer to make it so. IWT's algorithm is uniquely capable of recognizing impaired speech. The United Cerebral Palsy Association has endorsed IWT's speech recognition for this application, as have Senate Small Business Committee Chair Bond and Senate Aging Committee. IWT is also working with the President's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities with respect to applications of this technology. IWT believes that these already enacted laws will provide it with a significant competitive advantage.
IWT's unique cellular voice command capability would have significance in the event that concerns over electromagnetic radiation bioeffects prove to have merit. Studies have indicated correlation between the 0.5 to 2 watt electromagnetic transmissions from hand-held cellular phones and brain cancer, though these studies are disputed by the cellular phone industry and others. At a distance of one meter or more from the transmission antenna, however, the signals fall to a level that all parties agree is safe. Use of voice command would allow for cellphone use that would allay concerns over electromagnetic safety.
The third application is a belt-mounted, voice command language translation device, the first such technology ever produced. The translator plays pre-recorded translations of selected foreign language phrases when commanded by a police officer's voice. This translator is being tested by the Oakland Police Department in a program funded by the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice Science and Technology Office. The test device has over 500 phrases, each in three foreign languages. This device's target market is the 600,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the U.S. Other markets to be targeted initially include emergency medical technicians, U.S. military personnel and foreign police and armed forces. The translator is ready for mass production.
It is important to note that the Justice Department listed voice command translation as one of the top priorities for law enforcement technology development after years of extensive surveys of local police departments. The Department awarded IWT grants totally approximately $950,000 to develop this application based on its conclusion that the IWT system would provide a unique, effective solution to a critical law enforcement problem.
The fourth application involves plug-in voice-command interfaces for desktop/laptop/palm computers. These devices would provide highly capable voice command-and-control capability that interfaces with computers through their Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports in the case of desktops and laptops, and through the serial interface of palm computers.
This approach has several significant advantages over running the voice recognition on these computers. First, by creating plug-in stand-alone hardware/software packages, users don't need to load the software onto their computer. Second, this approach allows IWT to bypass the computer's sound card and control aspects of sound process. Most sound cards are unsuited for the delicate task of speech recognition, and this approach allows for unprecedented accuracy. Third, this approach allows users to use their voice control device on various computers at work and home. While this is important for all persons, it is especially so for disabled persons and will allow for this application to be promoted by the Section 508 provisions. Fourth, this allows IWT to prevent unauthorized use, piracy, of its software.
This application involves assistive technology for disabled persons with impaired speech. Two years of demonstrations and tests with a physical therapy center for such persons has shown that IWT's voice recognition technology has a unique capability to recognize impaired speech accurately. Devices developed to the prototype stage are units to convert impaired speech voice commands into recognizable English and command-and-control units for use with televisions, telephones and computers. This would allow speech-impaired disabled persons to lead more productive work lives and more independent home lives. The target market is the approximately 10 million persons who suffer varying degrees of disabilities and speech impairs as the result of conditions such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Acquired Brain Injury, strokes, epilepsy and Alzheimer's.
IWT is testing new prototypes with the Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater St. Louis. The national United Cerebral Palsy Association has evaluated this technology also and has promised to market devices produced through the 160 member associations and also through its Internet catalog of assistive devices. IWT is confident that once produced, this technology will become a standard for "reasonable accommodation" under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and will be required for use in workplaces and schools for disabled persons with and without impaired speech.
IWT anticipates the market for services and high-technology hardware for disabled persons to be a significant business area. Some 52 million non-institutionalized Americans experience some form of disability that impairs their performance of daily activities. While many of these disabilities are relatively minor, approximately 26 million Americans are "severely" disabled.
According to marketing date taken from recent studies by FIND/SVP, a 25-year-old worldwide research and consulting firm, this market is now estimated to be $796 billion and will top $1 trillion in the next five years. Functional limitations affect 36 million persons, and work disabilities affect 17 million.
The adoption of IWT's voice command capability as a reasonable workplace accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act will add to this market size. The majority of people with disabilities are of working age, but only one-third of disabled persons are employed and most of these are in blue-collar occupations. Employed people with disabilities earn less than their peers. Voice command will open new areas of employment in high-tech, computer-based jobs. This will offer new opportunities for many large groups. For example, visual impairments affect more than 10 million, and more than two million have impaired speech.
The fifth application is for portable and desk-mounted voice command assistance for computer programming and application modification. IWT's near-100% accuracy rate allows it to be used to insert pre-packaged parcels of computer code during programming. This allows programmers to increase their productivity significantly and to an extent far greater than if "hot keys" are used for code parcel insertion (12 hot keys versus an unlimited number of voice commands that would probably be set at 1,000). An ongoing demonstration project being conducted by IWT in conjunction with a computer network maintenance company has shown that the time needed for a typical network software upgrade was reduced from six hours to one-and-a-half hours. The target market would be companies that perform computer programming and application modification. This capability would have to be sold on a case-by-case basis for many users, and IWT is seeking to form a partnership with a larger company that focuses on providing computer service.
IWT's selection of highly credible partners and/or advisors in each of the application areas means that its ability to serve these markets has been validated by credible experts. This will assist any potential investor greatly with respect to due diligence evaluations and in the eventual marketing and sales of these products.
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