Sign of small biz success
Brooklyn Company's software helps deaf people communicate with speaking world
From: Abilities Buzz - 12/2007

Lore Croghan reports in the December 3 issue of The New York Daily News that
in a small office cubicle in a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, factory, a startup
sells a product with big potential for deaf people. It's software that works
in real time, turning spoken English into text and sign language that a deaf
person can view on a computer screen. 

The interpreter doing the signing appears on video that looks like a live
feed of a translator at work. In fact, it's a series of video clips the
patented software strings together. For two-way communication, the deaf
person types responses and a computer-generated voice speaks the typed words. 

Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin wept during an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition" she hosted last year when she was shown how the device made by
iCommunicator would enable a blind father and his deaf son to converse
without an interpreter. "Technology will bring the family closer together,"
the deaf actress said on the show - a big boost for iCommunicator's sales. 

The company has just one full-time employee. But it's not the typical under
funded business venture. "There's no scrounging for working capital," said
Steve Bruner, 40, the vice president of sales and marketing. 

It belongs to 71-year-old former chiropractor turned serial entrepreneur
Leonard Feldman, his son Daniel, and their partners Robert Notine and Larry
Brown. They own five businesses, all housed in a cluster of industrial
buildings on the Sunset Park waterfront. The biggest one is 20-year-old
ProFoot, which competes profitably against foot care giant Dr. Scholl's with
products like orthotics and toe bandages. Annual revenues are $30 million to
$40 million.  

"Our combined companies have made money every year," Daniel Feldman, 37,
said. They bought iCommunicator in 2005 for an undisclosed sum from
Teltronics, a Sarasota, Fla., maker of telephone switching systems.  

They were introduced to iCommunicator by Jeff Klare, their partner in
consulting business Hire Disability Solutions. A client of Klare's, the city
Department of Small Business Services, had a sign-language interpreter who
didn't show up and asked for a reliable alternative. Klare discovered
iCommunicator, and the city agency ordered five kits.  

"ICommunicator is unique," said Dan Hubbell of Microsoft's Assistive
Technology Vendor Program, in which iCommunicator participates. "It's the
only company we work with that does computerized sign-language translation."  

Michael Takemura, who created Hewlett-Packard's Assistive Technology Vendor
Program, often includes iCommunicator in his company's booth at trade shows
and conferences. He also hands out case studies about iCommunicator. Schools
and colleges, government agencies and businesses are more likely buyers than
individuals because iCommunicator kits, which include a wireless microphone
and keyboard, are $6,499. Annual product-support agreements are an additional
$495. 

The software was originally developed for use in classroom settings at the
urging of Bradenton, FL mom Virginia Greene and her son Morgan, who is deaf.
Virginia Greene is the interpreter who appears in iCommunicator's signing
videos. Bruner declined to give sales figures, but said iCommunicator is
making progress and is going to break even this year for the first time since
its product launch in 2000. 

"We're pretty confident we're on to something," Leonard Feldman said. "We
started slow but we're picking up speed. And that's all we care about."  

Links:
Company's software helps deaf people communicate with speaking world
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2007/12/03/2007-12-03_companys_software_helps_deaf_people_comm.html?ref=rss

iCommunicator
http://www.icommunicator.com/productinfo/

