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Tag: Nuance

  • Mergers and Acquisitions Set New Record in 2021, Led by Cloud Companies

    Mergers and Acquisitions Set New Record in 2021, Led by Cloud Companies

    Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will set a new record in 2021, thanks in no small part to Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon.

    According to The Street, the previous record for M&A was set in 2018, coming in at $1.55 trillion. Thanks to massive acquisitions this year, 2021 is set to blow past that, reaching $2.4 trillion.

    Cloud companies helped contribute a large portion of that total. 

    Amazon agreed to purchase MGM Studios for $8.45 billion in May. The deal is seen as a way for Amazon to beef up its Prime Video platform even more, enabling it to better compete with Netflix, Hulu, and others.

    Microsoft announced in April that it was purchasing Nuance, its second-largest acquisition. Nuance specializes in conversational AI for the healthcare market, an increasingly important industry for cloud providers.

    The latest major cloud acquisition was Oracle’s announced plans to acquire medical records giant Cerner for a whopping $28 billion, the largest acquisition in its history.

    Regulators have become increasingly wary of consolidation in the tech industry, especially with Big Tech buying up rivals. Despite the additional scrutiny, it doesn’t seem to have hurt the M&A market in 2021.

  • Microsoft Acquiring AI Firm Nuance

    Microsoft Acquiring AI Firm Nuance

    Microsoft is acquiring Nuance in a deal worth some $19.7 billion, Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition, in a bid for the healthcare cloud market.

    Microsoft has been working for some time to provide industry-specific cloud options. Healthcare is a one of the big industries the companies is focusing on, with its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare that was introduced last year.

    Nuance is a company specializing in “conversational AI and cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence for healthcare providers.” The company’s PowerScribe One and Dragon line of software is used by a majority of US hospitals, doctors and radiologists.

    “Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “AI is technology’s most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application. Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections, as we accelerate growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance.”

    “Over the past three years, Nuance has streamlined its portfolio to focus on the healthcare and enterprise AI segments, where there has been accelerated demand for advanced conversational AI and ambient solutions,” said Mark Benjamin, CEO, Nuance. “To seize this opportunity, we need the right platform to bring focus and global scale to our customers and partners to enable more personal, affordable and effective connections to people and care. The path forward is clearly with Microsoft — who brings intelligent cloud-based services at scale and who shares our passion for the ways technology can make a difference. At the same time, this combination offers a critical opportunity to deliver meaningful and certain value to our shareholders who have driven and supported us on this journey.”

    The acquisition is an all-cash deal, has been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards and is expected to close by the end of the year.

  • CES 2012: Dragon TV Changes The Way You Watch TV

    Voice recognition has moved beyond a fad and is becoming more mainstream. Next stop is your TV.

    Naunce, developers of the Dragon voice recognition software for the PC, are debuting at CES their new Dragon TV service. It allows users to navigate their televisions using only their voice.

    Nuance estimates that 1.6 billion TVs will be connected to the internet by 2014 and they want a piece of the pie. They want to make it easier to find what’s on as they find current remote controls to be too hard to navigate with. Dragon TV offers a new technology that allows consumers to easily find what they are looking for while maybe even finding something new.

    A few examples that they offer include, “Go to PBS,” or “Find comedies with Vince Vaughn.” While I question their choice in comedies, it’s an impressive technology that would revolutionize the way we watch TV.

    Smart TVs offer more than just television by incorporating social media and messaging systems into the package. Nuance isn’t missing a beat by incorporating Dragon TV into this aspect as well by allowing consumers to use the service for hands free control. The provided example is “Call John via Skype.” Once again, removing the remote control out of the picture and letting your voice do the talking is an extremely inviting proposal.

    Dragon TV is flexible enough to be integrated into pretty much all connected TVs and devices. It’s also robust enough to take advantage of all the current features of smart TVs and similar devices.

    Dragon TV main feature suite is all about taking advantage of current smart TV standards like application control and internet messaging. The best feature is definitely the software’s ability to pick out the user’s voice out of all the potential other noise in the room. This would make it easy to control the TV even during a viewing party.

    “Traditional search on televisions is tedious and amazingly outdated,” Mike Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of Nuance Mobile, said. “Dragon TV brings an amazing voice experience, similar to what people do everyday on their phones and in their cars, directly to the living room.”

    Amazingly enough, Dragon TV is available now and supports all major TVs, set-top boxes and application platforms including Linux, Android and iOS.