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IBM AND GMGC
by: joodi2 6/22/00 7:18 am
Msg: 158326 of 158327
IBM Simplifying Voice-Enabled App Development
Jun 21, 2000 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- IBM is making it easier for
enterprises to add voice-recognition capabilities to call centers by embedding
Web standards in its latest product releases.
The Armonk, N.Y., company announced Thursday that it has integrated Voice XML,
an extension of the Worldwide Web Consortium's XML standard, and Java into its
platform for voice-enabled applications.
Among the new products is the WebSphere Voice Server, which will ship in the
fall on Windows NT with a starting price of $15,000. A Voice Server software
development kit is available now on IBM's (stock: IBM) Web site.
Steve McClure, analyst for International Data, Framingham, Mass., said IBM's
strategy of using standards like VXML -- developed by AT&T (stock: T), Lucent
(stock: LU), and Motorola (stock: MOT) -- and Java simplifies development.
Voice-recognition software is often written for proprietary environments using
more complex languages.
Also, VXML allows developers to build applications separate from the underlying
infrastructure.
"What [VXML and Java] allow is the development of these speech-enabled
applications in a way that's familiar to a very broad range of developers
currently working with application servers and Web applications," McClure said.
"It's simplifying the creation of these applications."
McClure said speech-recognition software focused on a very limited vocabulary,
such as 'yes,' 'no,' or numerical responses, are very reliable. The technology
is advancing quickly to reliably recognize more complex responses.
The new WebSphere Voice Server would sit behind an enterprise call center,
drawing information from backend data sources and delivering it as a voice
response. A customer's voice request would be converted into text on the server
using IBM's ViaVoice technology, company officials said.
The server would convert the text to VXML, sending the request to the database.
The returning VXML would be converted back into text and then into a voice
response delivered to the customer.
At the end of the month, IBM is releasing three new components of its DirectTalk
product line: DirectTalk Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech, both for AIX;
and DirectTalk Beans for Java.Within a call center, DirectTalk acts like a
traffic officer, routing incoming calls to operators or applications for
automated responses. The technology also performs load balancing.
IBM has added ViaVoice to DirectTalk and the ability to encapsulate business
logic in JavaBeans, enabling automated voice interaction between the call center
and the customer. The ability to build voice-enabled Java applications adds more
flexibility then systems dependent on pre-recorded messages, company officials
said.
IBM also said it would integrate General Magic's (stock: GMGC) magicTalk in
DirectTalk and WebSphere Voice Server. MagicTalk is a VXML-based platform for
building voice applications that would leverage the WebSphere and DirectTalk
infrastructure.
Pricing for the new DirectTalk products will depend on size of implementation.
DirectTalk Beans for Java is available at no extra cost.
In related news, IBM said it had extended its partnership with Siebel Systems
(stock: SEBL) by integrating IBM CallPath Enterprise Foundation V6.3 into
Siebel's customer relationship management applications. CallPath ensures that
records accompany customers passed between customer service representatives,
avoiding the need to repeatedly ask the callers for account numbers.
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