San Jose, USA: Cisco has announced its intent to acquire BabbleLabs – a specialist in noise cancellation and speech enhancement technology.
With Cisco to acquire BabbleLab, the company aims to leverage capabilities of BabbleLabs and strengthen its Collaboration portfolio including WebEx platform.
The Campbell, California – based BabbleLabs uses advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) techniques to distinguish human speech from unwanted noise, enhancing the quality of communications and conferencing applications.
BabbleLabs goes beyond existing noise suppression technology solutions by:
- Distinguishing speech from background noise;
- Removing background noise in real-time; and
- Enhancing the voice to elevate communication, regardless of language.
According to a Cisco global survey focused on the future of work, 98 percent of workers say they experience frustration from distractions during video meetings when working from home. Two of the top 5 frustrations called out are about background noise—either from other participants or their own side of the call.
With the addition of BabbleLabs, Cisco will bring native noise removal capability to its entire Collaboration portfolio.
Initially, Cisco will focus on integrating BabbleLabs to deliver a best-in-class audio experience to Webex Meetings users. It aims to offer the best user experience irrespective of their location and how they connect via the Webex application (whether via a conference room or mobile device).
A great user experience is also a secure user experience. BabbleLabs complements Cisco’s focus on secure and private collaboration by processing noise removal 100 percent at the source where the noise happens (on the client side).
In doing so, BabbleLabs aligns to strict data policies that underpin Cisco’s culture of security by design.
“A great meeting experience starts with great audio,” said Jeetu Patel, SVP and GM – Cisco Security and Applications Business Unit.
“We’re thrilled to welcome BabbleLabs’ team of highly skilled engineers. Their technology is going to provide our customers with yet another important innovation – automatically removing unwanted noise – to continue enabling exceptional Webex meeting experiences,” added Patel.
“BabbleLabs is excited to become part of Cisco and the Collaboration Group,” said Chris Rowen, CEO and co-founder of BabbleLabs.
“The Cisco team shares our passion about speech as the core of collaboration and communication. Cisco’s Collaboration platform will enable us to quickly scale our exceptional speech enhancement technology for the hundreds of millions of Webex users,” added Rowen.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco’s FY21, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.