The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released a working draft of VoiceXML 2.0 this week in hopes of generating some feedback and suggestions for the evolving spec. On the heels of the W3C's announcement, many vendors in the voice industry have announced their support and backing of the VoiceXML 2.0 standard specified by the W3C subgroup, including:
BeVocal
BeVocal's Foundation Platform and their Developer Program, the BeVocal Caf, both support the VoiceXML 2.0 standard. BeVocal's Foundation Platform is an in-network voice platform that lets carriers create and deliver voice activated dialing, voice portal and voice messaging applications.
The BeVocal Caf, which is powered by the Foundation Platform, is a free Web-based VoiceXML development environment that provides developers with a set of tools and resources for creating speech applications. With BeVocal Caf, developers can build speech applications using a standard Web browser and a telephone.
The BeVocal Caf is a VoiceXML 2.0 development environment that supports voiceprint verification, local and remotely loaded Java-based objects, pre-tuned grammars, professional audio and utility functions for location-based services and tools for usability testing and application debugging.
GetVocal
GetVocal just released their Power Dialer, a VoiceXML Version 2.0 auto/predictive dialer platform. The VoiceXML-powered dialer platform runs on Windows 2000 and is VoiceXML Version 2.0 compliant. Administrators can graphically set up a dial campaign and use the GetVocal SDK (their VoiceXML Version 2.0 Integrated Developer Environment) to create a VoiceXML script to be executed upon receiving a live answer.
Power Dialer is encompassed in one application and runs in a menu driven window. The Phone Line Wizard sets up the application to run on either analog lines attached to the Telco circuits or from a PBX or digital lines with different wink states and DNIS/ANI formats. The Line Monitor lets the System Administrator launch desired lines, configure the dial campaign, select VoiceXML scripts, refresh different dial results and view dialer statistics.
Pipebeach
Pipebeach supports the new VoiceXML 2.0 standard in the latest product release of their speechWeb VoiceXML platform. speechWeb is a multi-lingual VoiceXML platform for voice applications, such as email-readers, voice portals and automated call centers, designed in accordance with the VoiceXML standard, to be accessed through any telephone.
speechWeb converts VoiceXML documents into interactive dialogs using Internet and multi-lingual speech technologies. speechWeb supports close to 30 languages for both automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis.
The latest release of speechWeb is currently being used in customer pilots and supports the new VoiceXML 2.0 standard.
Christer Granberg, CEO and co-founder of PipeBeach, states: "The publication of the new VoiceXML 2.0 standard is a stepping stone for the whole voice industry. Application designers now have the freedom to create applications that not only are portable between different VoiceXML platforms, but more importantly can utilize a much more rich set of features as defined by the new standard. The voice industry is already growing significantly but with the adoption of VoiceXML 2.0, the development will be boosted even further."
VoiceGenie
VoiceGenie's VoiceXML Gateway 5.0 supports the 2.0 spec and integrates platform pooling and a number of other features, including call control via Genie Call Blending and E1 capabilities for International support.
The VoiceGenie Platform Pool Manager is an open-standards based platform that manages hierarchical clusters of VoiceGenie VoiceXML Gateways. Through the use of a Web browser, staff can monitor Voice Gateway Pool status, perform maintenance tasks, and upgrade and rollback gateway configurations and software installations.
Vice President of Engineering, Adrian Lee-Kwen, affirms that VoiceGenie has been supporting VoiceXML 2.0 and has run vigorous tests prior to the public release of the spec.
Lee-Kwen stated, "We performed extensive testing prior to general availability of the VoiceXML Gateway 5.0, with 3,500 test cases on VoiceXML 2.0 compliance alone. We are very pleased with the increased performance results and the complete support for the VoiceXML 2.0 draft specification."
