SYSTRAN - Leading developer of Translation Software

SYSTRAN, founded in 1968, develops and markets the leading Translation Software (MT) technology, and provides a full range of automatic translation software products and services to millions of users.

SYSTRAN develops and markets the world's most scalable translation architecture designed for Internet, corporate and individual use. SYSTRAN's core technology features products for the Internet infrastructure that contribute towards promoting communication in more than 30 language combinations and 20 specialized domains. SYSTRAN has been a leader in machine translation technology and applications for more than 30 years, developing products for the U.S. intelligence community, the European Union and Fortune 500 companies.

SYSTRAN's technical expertise is rivaled only by its tenacity to break into unchartered territory to apply translation technology to new channels.
The prime example of this took place in late 1997 when together with AltaVista, we launched BABELFISH, the world's first-ever online translation service. Offering all Internet users free real-time translations, BABELFISH mainstreamed MT and propelled it to the forefront of the ever-growing, global Internet community.

Note these extraordinary facts:

SYSTRAN's technology translates more than 4 million web pages per day

More than 300,000 sites translate their content with our technology

More than 300,000 people subscribe to our SYSTRANET service

More than 100,000 companies subscribe to our SYSTRANLinks service

Elite administrations and multinational groups use SYSTRAN's technology

Systran Machine Translation evolved
The idea of decoding natural languages through mathematical techniques became a reality after World War II.  During the 1950's, research on Automatic Translation, known today as Machine Translation ("MT"), took form in the sense of literal translation, more commonly known as word-for-word translations, without the use of any linguistic rules.

SYSTRAN considered the pioneer of MT  
Peter Toma, Ph.D., a linguist researcher for MT, began his work in 1957 at the California Institute of Technology. A few years later, Dr. Toma became involved in the initial work of developing Russian->English MT at Georgetown University, the largest MT project in the US of that time. In 1968, Dr. Toma established a company in San Diego, California, USA, with a product called SYSTRAN, an acronym for System Translation.
Soon after, the company was contracted to develop Russian->English MT for the US Air Force.  The first SYSTRAN MT system was tested in early 1969 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, USA.  Since 1970, the system has continued to provide translations for the US Air Force's Foreign Technology Division.

SYSTRAN's Past to Present
The idea of decoding natural languages through mathematical techniques became a reality after World War II. During the 1950's, research on Automatic Translation, known today as Machine Translation began. Most of the early attempts at developing MT systems used closet-sized computers for word-for-word translations, without the use of any linguistic rules. And the development was not quick, easy nor cheap. In fact, these early efforts resulted in laughable translations and an ultimate end to government-sponsored research. But despite the enormous challenges, research persisted.