Intel Corp is building on its acquisition of Dialogic Corp in June and its intention to become a major force in the burgeoning computer telephony applications market. The San Jose-based chipmaker has bought Parity Software Development Corp and made investments in MediaSoft Telecom Inc and Prima Inc, through its communications venture fund. Intel also plans to acquire the rights to Artisoft Inc’s Visual Voice tool for building CT applications.
Intel is attempting to make Dialogic’s CT Media the standard platform for computer telephony applications, which essentially add computer-like functions – such as speech recognition – to telephone networks. It’s all about getting the industry to rally round a common standard to build applications, said Tom Beerman, an Intel spokesperson.
To that end, Intel has spent an undisclosed amount buying up Parity for its object orientated CT development tool, which has ready-made chunks of code to aid developers building CT infrastructure applications. While the Artisoft tool will help developers building call center applications.
The investments in the two Canadian firms – MediaSoft and Prima – will see them port their existing apps to a CT Media framework and continue writing new applications with the Dialogic platform at their heart. Beerman would disclose the stake that Intel took in each of the companies, but it is likely to be less than $10m each.
Several of the major players in the Wintel world are looking to broaden their horizons in CT field. Last month, Microsoft Corp bought Entropic Inc, chiefly for the firm’s expertise in developing speech-enabled CT applications. And before Intel snapped up Dialogic in June, Microsoft took a 5% stake in the company.
