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Dragon succumbs to $600m bid from L&H

By Felicity Ussher

Published: 28 March 2000 17:39 BST

Dragon Systems, one of the top three voice recognition software suppliers, is to be bought by rival developer, Lernout & Hauspie (L&H).

L&H has offered $600m for Dragon, whose list of multinational clients includes Boeing, Citibank and Deutsche Bank. Massachusetts-based Dragon employs 170 research scientists around the world.

L&H said that by combining resources - and the Dragon NaturallySpeaking and L&H Voice Xpress product ranges - it will be able to enter new markets. The automotive, data mining and handheld device markets have been targetted.

The software is used as an alternative to a keyboard or mouse.

The proposed merger between the companies leaves IBM's ViaVoice - the third leading speech recognition product - on its own, although it is typically packaged with desktop productivity software from IBM subsidiary Lotus.

Microsoft owns a major stake in L&H and the deal also polarises competition between Microsoft Office and Lotus SmartSuite as the speech recognition package of choice.

L&H also recently acquired Dictaphone, which supplies speech services to the healthcare and legal markets.

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