Fonix Speech, an operating division of Fonix Corp., an integrated communications carrier providing telecommunications services and value-added speech technologies, has signed a contract with AI Corp. (AIC), a Tokyo-based high-tech solutions vendor. AIC provides marketing, product and application development and engineering services focused on the engineering of software for embedded systems, communications and networks.

According to the agreement, AIC will market and sell Fonix automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) solutions to manufacturers in the Asian market, primarily in Japan, with plans to expand to other countries. Additionally, AIC will provide customer support and additional platform porting. The companies will work together to develop speech-based applications for customers and customize Fonix technology for Asian markets and development platforms, including the microITRON operating system, which runs on mobile phones, digital cameras, CD players and numerous other electronic devices. The agreement also allows AIC and Fonix to leverage combined engineering know-how with technologies such as Bluetooth and create a broad customer base.