For the engineers here. I'm curious about VXML and how it could work with NDS. I guess we are not too far away from voice activated directories..
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AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Motorola Create VXML Forum;
Companies Seek Open Standard to Promote Voice Access to Web
Services
Basking Ridge and Murray Hill, NJ, and Chicago, IL (March 2, 1999)
AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Motorola announced today the formation of the
Voice eXtensible Markup Language Forum (VXML Forum) to make the resources
of the World Wide Web accessible by telephone. The Forum aims to drive the
market for voice- and phone-enabled Internet access by promoting a standard
specification for VXML, a computer language used to create Web content and
services that can be accessed by phone.
AT&T, Lucent and Motorola will contribute their markup language technologies to
the development of the open VXML specification. Seventeen other leading
companies from the speech, Internet and communications markets have agreed
to support the VXML Forum and play an active role in reviewing or contributing to
the VXML specification. Industry supporters include 3Com Corporation, Blue
Diamond, British Telecommunications plc, Dragon Systems, General Magic,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lernout & Hauspie, Nortel Networks, Nuance
Communications, Online Anywhere, Philips, Registry Magic, SpeechWorks,
Unisys, Vocalis and Vogo. The initial specification will be available for public
comment and contribution next month, with the goal of submitting a final
proposed specification for standardization to the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) later this year.
The VXML Forum seeks to promote a broadly supported standard that creates
an open, platform-independent environment and enables equipment and
infrastructure providers, speech technology providers, speech application
developers and content providers, and communications service providers to
participate in the growth of this market. In addition to giving users the option of
voice-enabled Internet and intranet access, expected benefits include new
business opportunities for content developers, greater ease of application
development - and thus an expanded developer base - for the speech
community, and more rapid creation of differentiated services for carriers.
"Just as standardization of HTML [Hypertext Markup Language] drove the
adoption of traditional Web applications, standardization of VXML will drive the
adoption of voice- enabled applications," said Maria Martinez, vice president and
general manager, Internet and Connectivity Solutions Division (ICSD), Motorola,
Inc. "The VXML Forum's efforts will not only help to provide a crucial mobile
component to Internet access, but will also offer Internet access to the 58
percent of people who own a telephone but don't own or have access to a
computer."
One example of a voice-enabled application is a salesperson dialing into a
corporate intranet from any phone and using conversational interaction to receive
real-time order status information. Similarly, users could access Web-based
weather or traffic information, banking transaction services, and other electronic
commerce applications without touching a computer keyboard.
"When people can interact with a Web application or an IP [Internet
Protocol]-based service this way, the ordinary touch-tone phone literally
becomes the ubiquitous Internet access device," said Larry Rabiner, vice
president of Research for AT&T Labs. "This technology makes it possible to
launch a variety of Internet information and communications applications from
anywhere - you only need access to a telephone."
A markup language is a high-level programming language that simplifies content
development. To place an image on a Web page, for example, a programmer
writes a simple instruction in HTML calling for retrieval of a particular image file.
Similarly, a content developer could use VXML to program a particular audio
prompt to play over the telephone.
"VXML will have profound impacts," said Lucent Speech Solutions President Dan
Furman, "changing the way we use the phone - and perhaps the design of
phones themselves - as well as changing the nature and evolution of the Web.
By making it easier to program Web applications for voice access, VXML can
bring high efficiency to call center and intranet development. And enhanced
availability will increase the value of personalized Web applications, such as
pages customized to deliver an individual's selection of stock quotes, news, or
other information."
Other companies interested in seeing access to Internet information and content
become voice- and phone-enabled may join as supporters, contributors or
adopters. The initial VXML specification will be based on AT&T's and Lucent
Technologies' phone markup languages and Motorola's VoxML™ language,
which have common roots but have been developed independently in the three
companies. The aim of the VXML specification is to leverage the best of the
companies' approaches for the benefit of the entire industry.
For additional information on the progress of the VXML specification, go to the
VXML Forum web site at: www.vxmlforum.org.
AT&T is the world's premier provider of voice and data communications, with
more than 80 million customers, including businesses, government and
consumers. AT&T runs the world's largest, most powerful long-distance network
and the largest wireless network in North America. The company is a leading
supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and the nation's largest
direct Internet service provider to consumers. AT&T also provides local telephone
service to a growing number of businesses.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered at Murray Hill, NJ, designs, builds, and
delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems
and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems, and
microelectronics components. Bell Labs is the company's research and
development arm.
Motorola is a global leader in advanced electronic systems and services. It
liberates the power of technology by creating software-enhanced products that
provide integrated customer solutions and Internet access via wireless and
satellite communications, as well as computing, networking, and automotive
electronics. Motorola also provides essential digital building blocks in the form of
embedded semiconductors, controls and systems. Sales in 1998 were $29.4
billion. |
