News Release: World Wide Web Consortium Issues VoiceXML 2.0 as a W3C Candidate Recommendation

W3C today issues VoiceXML 2.0 as a Candidate Recommendation, a component 
of the W3C Speech Interface framework. VoiceXML 2.0 brings the 
advantages of Web-based development and content delivery to interactive 
voice response applications. A test suite of over 300 individual tests, 
made available by the W3C Voice Browser Working Group, helps developers 
to build applications that conform and have improved interoperability.

To learn more about VoiceXML, please contact Janet Daly, W3C Head of 
Communications, at +1 617 253 5884 or janet@w3.org.

World Wide Web Consortium Issues VoiceXML 2.0 as a W3C Candidate 
Recommendation

Cornerstone to the W3C Speech Interface Framework is Ready for Implementors

Web Resources

VoiceXML 2.0 Candidate Recommendation
http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/CR-voicexml20-20030128/

This press release
   in English: http://www.w3.org/2003/01/voicexml2-pressrelease.html.en
   in French: http://www.w3.org/2003/01/voicexml2-pressrelease.html.fr
   in Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2003/01/voicexml2-pressrelease.html.ja

Testimonials from BeVocal Inc., Comverse Technology, Genesys 
Telecommunications Laboratories, Alcatel, HeyAnita Inc., IBM, MTA 
SZTAKI, NMS Communications, Nuance, PipeBeach, Public Voice, ScanSoft, 
SnowShore Networks, SpeechWorks International, Unisys Corporation, 
Tellme Networks, VoiceXML Forum, Voxpilot Ltd:

   http://www.w3.org/2003/01/voicexml2-testimonial


http://www.w3.org/ -- 28 January 2003 -- Giving voice to the Web, the 
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published VoiceXML 2.0 as a W3C 
Candidate Recommendation. Advancement of a technical report to Candidate 
Recommendation is an explicit, public call for implementation. The goal 
of VoiceXML 2.0 is to bring the advantages of Web-based development and 
content delivery to interactive voice response applications.

Giving Voice to the Web: W3C's Speech Interface Framework

Since 1999, W3C has been working on its Speech Interface Framework to 
expand access to the Web to allow people to interact via key pads, 
spoken commands, listening to prerecorded speech, synthetic speech and 
music. With the number of telephone lines and mobile phones exceeding 
one billion units worldwide, the specifications of W3C's Speech 
Interface Framework will allow an unprecedented number of people to use 
any telephone to access appropriately designed Web-based services.

VoiceXML 2.0 Delivers Voice and Interactivity to the Speech Interface 
Framework

VoiceXML 2.0 allows developers to create audio dialogs that feature 
synthesized speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken and DTMF 
(touch-tone) key input, recording of spoken input, telephony, and 
mixed-initiative conversations.

"VoiceXML 2.0 has the power to change the way phone-based information 
and customer services are developed. No longer will we have to press 
'one' for this or 'two' for that. Instead, we will be able to make 
selections and provide information by speech," explained Dave Raggett, 
W3C Voice Browser Activity Lead. "In addition, VoiceXML 2.0 creates 
opportunities for people with visual impairments or those needing Web 
access while keeping their hands and eyes free for other things, such as 
getting directions while driving."

In the W3C Speech Interface Framework, VoiceXML controls how the 
application interacts with the user, while the Speech Synthesis Markup 
Language (SSML) is used for spoken prompts and the Speech Recognition 
Grammar Specification (SRGS) for guiding the speech recognizers via 
grammars that describe the expected user responses. Other specifications 
in the Framework include Voice Browser Call Control (CCXML), which 
provides telephony call control support for VoiceXML or other dialog 
systems, and Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition, which 
defines the syntax and semantics of the contents of tags in SRGS.

Adoption Rate to Increase with Availability of Test Suites

There is also an extensive set of test suites publically available with 
the VoiceXML 2.0 Candidate Recommendation. While the initial version 
contains over 300 tests, the final version is expected to have more than 
500 tests. Updates to the test suite will be announced on the Voice 
Browser's public mailing list.

This complements the test suite provided with the Speech Recognition 
Grammar Specification, which became a W3C Candidate Recommendation in 
June 2002. Test suites for the remaining specifications in the W3C 
Speech Interface Framework, including the Speech Synthesis Markup 
Language, which enters its Last Call phase today, are under development 
by the W3C Voice Browser Working Group and will be published over the 
next few months.

VoiceXML 2.0, Speech Interface Framework to Evolve, Resolve Patent Issues

The W3C Voice Browser Working Group is among the largest and most active 
in W3C. Its participants include BeVocal Inc., Canon, Comverse, France 
Telecom, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, HP, HeyAnita, Hitachi, 
IBM, Intel, Loquendo, Microsoft, MITRE, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, 
Nortel Networks, Nuance, Philips, PipeBeach, SAP, ScanSoft, SnowShore 
Networks, SpeechWorks, Sun, Syntellect, Tellme Networks, Unisys, 
Verascape, VoiceGenie, Voxeo, and VoxPilot. Support for the continued 
work and commitments to product implementations are strong, as evidenced 
by the range of testimonials.

As the Working Group moves forward in its technical work across the 
range of voice-related specifications, patent issues arising from 
inconsistencies with the Voice Browser Working Group's Royalty-Free 
Licensing Mode are to be addressed by a Patent Advisory Group within the 
W3C, per the W3C's Current Patent Practice. With the vast majority of 
the W3C Voice Browser Working Group committed to the production of an 
open specification, the Voice Browser Patent Advisory Group will work 
towards resolving the remaining issues.



Testimonials for VoiceXML 2.0
These testimonials are in support of the VoiceXML 2.0 Candidate 
Recommendation Press Release.

BeVocal Inc., Comverse Technology, Genesys Telecommunications 
Laboratories, Alcatel, HeyAnita Inc., IBM, MTA SZTAKI, NMS 
Communications, Nuance, PipeBeach, Public Voice, ScanSoft, SnowShore 
Networks, SpeechWorks International, Unisys Corporation, Tellme 
Networks, VoiceXML Forum, Voxpilot Ltd.

BeVocal views VoiceXML 2.0 as the standard that provides a complete 
solution for developing sophisticated voice applications. The W3C 
Candidate Release of VoiceXML 2.0 is a significant milestone which is 
the culmination of actual implementations from W3C member companies and 
public input. VoiceXML 2.0 is ready for prime-time and widespread 
adoption. Our developers on BeVocal Café and our hosted customers have 
seen the benefits of the rapid web-based development and deployment of 
their voice applications. The simultaneous release of the W3C test suite 
gives consumers the confidence that VoiceXML 2.0 solutions will have 
compatibility into the future.

-- Ralf I. Pfeiffer, Manager, VoiceXML Technology Group, BeVocal, Inc.

Comverse is pleased that the VoiceXML 2.0 specification has been 
approved for Candidate Recommendation by the W3C's Voice Browser Working 
Group. As carriers move to next generation networks and deploy enhanced 
services on open platforms, we believe a standards-based infrastructure 
becomes even more important. VoiceXML 2.0 has the potential to offer 
carriers a high degree of flexibility in creating and packaging services 
quickly for select target markets. As an active participant in the Voice 
Browser Working Group and other working groups in the W3C, Comverse is 
committed to furthering standards development and to enhancing the 
end-user experience by offering an open environment for total 
communication and infotainment services that will help carriers generate 
revenues and extend user loyalty.

-- Christopher Cyr, General Manager, Comverse Voice Solutions

Genesys is delighted that the VoiceXML 2.0 specification has attained 
Candidate Recommendation status. This milestone provides a solid 
foundation for the widespread adoption of the standard and meets the 
needs of customers and developers, enabling the creation of value-added 
voice services both for enterprises and service providers. As a leader 
in open standards based next-generation voice processing platforms, 
Genesys is pleased to support the standard and its evolution and fuel 
the adoption by developers, customers and service providers.

-- Mukesh Sundaram, VP of Engineering, Voice Portals, Genesys 
Telecommunications Laboratories (A subsidiary of Alcatel)

VoiceXML 2.0 provides an open standard for writing speech gateways and 
applications in a truly ubiquitous manner. It also promotes speech as 
the viable access mechanism for web-based content. HeyAnita’s FreeSpeech 
Platform Version 4.0 allows companies to develop voice applications in 
the programming language of their choice while taking advantage of the 
VoiceXML 2.0 standard to achieve interoperability with leading gateway 
servers.

-- Sanjeev Kuwadekar, CEO, HeyAnita

As computing extends its reach from PCs and laptops to a growing number 
of devices - from PDAs to smartphones to automobiles - voice and 
multimodal interaction will become increasingly important methods of 
accessing applications and services. VoiceXML, as the underlying speech 
standard, has been crucial in propelling the speech industry forward and 
promises to be an important part of the multimodal world. As an author 
of the initial VoiceXML specification, IBM is pleased to see the W3C's 
Voice Browser Working Group release the VoiceXML 2.0 candidate 
recommendation specification. IBM is strongly committed to the standard 
and looks forward to the continuing success of VoiceXML and its 
enhancements.

-- Dennis King, Director of Architecture, Pervasive Computing Division, IBM

MTA SZTAKI, the Computer and Automation Research Institute of the 
Hungarian Academy of Sciences is very pleased to participate in the 
launch and use of VoiceXML. As the host of W3C Hungarian Office, SMEs, 
radio stations are going to be contacted in the Central and Eastern 
European region to disseminate about this new and standardized way for 
providing exciting interactive services based on telephony. MTA SZTAKI 
is one of the developer partners of the PublicVoiceXML project of the EU 
providing a free open source implementation of a VoiceXML compliant 
Voice Browser. We are entitled to implement several examples of voice- 
based applications, and to help the PublicVoiceXML developers' 
community. We believe that VoiceXML is the best candidate to become the 
'HTML' for telephony, and provides a great momentum for the integration 
of telephony and World Wide Web technologies.

-- Dr. Laszlo Kovacs, Head of Department of Distributed Systems, MTA SZTAKI

NMS Communications has been an active participant in the W3C Voice 
Browser Working Group, continuing our tradition of open, robust, 
standards-based communications platforms. In particular, VoiceXML is a 
key part of NMS HearSay, our mobile voice and data services system that 
allows quick deployment of any number of simultaneous voice and data 
applications on any operator network. And now, with VoiceXML 2.0, NMS 
HearSay is even more application and speech agnostic, reducing 
development time and enabling service providers to get applications up 
and running much faster.

-- Brian Demers, Vice President and General Manager of Network 
Solutions, NMS Communications

As a long-term advocate of VoiceXML, Nuance is pleased to see VoiceXML 
2.0 reach the milestone of Candidate Recommendation with the W3C. The 
market has clearly indicated its interest in open standards for speech 
applications, and the advancement of VoiceXML 2.0 will encourage 
accelerated adoption of speech technologies worldwide.

-- Lynda Kate Smith, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Nuance

PipeBeach is extremely pleased with the Candidate Recommendation of 
VoiceXML 2.0 and congratulates W3C on this important landmark in the 
Speech and Web industries. Through our CTO, Dr. Scott McGlashan, 
PipeBeach leads the world-class W3C team producing the VoiceXML 
standard. We have seen that this standard is a powerful business enabler 
for the rapid and cost-efficient development of interactive speech 
services, especially innovative services for the mobile user. 
PipeBeach's speechWeb platform provides full VoiceXML support for 
carrier, enterprise and ASP environements, and we are proud to have been 
the world's first to release a carrier-grade VoiceXML 2.0 platform with 
support for a number of European languages.

-- Christer Granberg, Chief Executive Officer, PipeBeach

The European Commission's Directorate for the Information Society (DG 
INFSO) has selected seven strategic open source projects to provide 
reference implementations in strategically important technology areas. 
One of them is PublicVoiceXML (www.PublicVoiceXML.org), which aims at 
providing an open source implementation of W3C's VoiceXML 2.0 and 
providing use cases for small radio stations. We hope that our efforts 
help to disseminate best practices for VoiceXML applications and boost 
its usage at SMEs. Our challenge with PublicVoiceXML is to build 
business relations based on support and special license contracts, when 
publishing a reference implementation open source, in order to support 
the standardisation activities now and in future.

-- Dr. Roland Alton-Scheidl, PUBLIC VOICE Lab Founder and President

ScanSoft is pleased to have been an active participant in the W3C Voice 
Browser Working Group, and in the development and proliferation of 
VoiceXML 2.0 and SSML. It is clear that these developing standards are 
integral to the development of advanced technologies that change the way 
we communicate, from interactive voice response solutions to in-vehicle 
automotive applications. Businesses and consumers alike will benefit 
from the VoiceXML-based speech-enabled applications that will enhance 
productivity and enable people with disabilities such as RSI or visual 
impairments to conduct business and personal applications hands-free. We 
applaud the work of W3C and other similar organizations for the 
tremendous effort they put forth into evangelizing speech technology 
standards and technologies, and we look forward to our combined efforts 
as we look towards the future of the speech industry.

-- Robert Weideman, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, ScanSoft

To successfully deliver new communication services, infrastructures and 
architectures, it is crucial to develop a compelling vision and roadmap 
to guide their evolution. W3C’s standards meet this need, providing the 
blue print and tools necessary for the development, deployment and 
management of the new applications, architectures and infrastructures, 
which will drive communications forward. Since our inception, SnowShore 
Networks has been actively engaged in standards activities with the W3C 
and standards are a key pillar of the company. VoiceXML 2.0 is a 
critical building block for a new wave of innovative enhanced multimedia 
services and serves a fundamental technology for new applications that 
can be delivered from the core of a network to the outermost end point 
device. VoiceXML 2.0 is yet another important standard that takes the 
SIP-XML approach for rapid service delivery. The 2.0 revision of 
VoiceXML enhances infrastructure interoperability and service 
portability in the network. It opens the industry to a wider array of 
new development tools, new services and ultimately new deployment 
opportunities. From carrier-class media servers to new personal 
end-point devices, VoiceXML 2.0 enables the rapid delivery of new 
voice-driven services from end-to-end in the network.

-- Eric Burger, Chief Technology Officer, SnowShore Networks

SpeechWorks congratulates the W3C Voice Browser Working Group on 
reaching the Candidate Recommendation milestone for VoiceXML 2.0. As an 
editor of the VoiceXML 2.0 specification, SpeechWorks is strongly 
committed to VoiceXML and related standards that bring the many benefits 
of open systems to high-quality speech-enabled telephony applications. 
Through our OpenSpeech (tm) product line, uniquely optimized to support 
VoiceXML 2.0, we enable our partners to deliver industry-leading 
platforms, solutions, and services that are revolutionizing the business 
of speech.

-- Steve Chambers, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Chief 
Marketing Officer, SpeechWorks International

VoiceXML 2.0, now in Candidate Recommendation, is currently in use by 
thousands of voice applications, automating millions of phone calls 
every week. The Implementation Report test suite demonstrates VoiceXML's 
maturity and its significance within the voice industry. The W3C 
standards work has made VoiceXML the most widely supported and 
implemented voice standard in the world. The continued need for 
standards-based voice technology in the enterprise will keep VoiceXML 
momentum high. Tellme is proud to be part of the W3C-led effort to 
ensure the standard can be implemented in real world scenarios. It is 
also a great privilege to meet the goals of our Fortune 500 clients by 
making VoiceXML technology a centerpiece of customer service operations.

-- Brad Porter, Platform Architect, Tellme Networks, Inc.

Unisys offers a carrier-grade platform that is installed in over 100 of 
the largest telecommunications companies across the globe. The Voice 
Services Platform includes a VoiceXML 2.0 interpreter as well as a 
variety of speech recognition and TTS engines covering over 25 
languages. Unisys believes VoiceXML is an important standard in that it 
will enable an explosion of speech and ultimately multimodal solutions.

-- Bill Scholz, Architect Director, Voice Business Mobilization 
Solutions, Unisys Corporation

Today's release of the VoiceXML 2.0 candidate recommendation 
specification by the W3C's Voice Browser Working Group is the 
culmination of hard work by the world's leading service providers and 
enterprises who deliver open-standards telephony-based applications 
every day. The VoiceXML Forum and its 350+ member companies around the 
world have fully supported the standardization and adoption of VoiceXML, 
since it first emerged more than 3 years ago. Today, millions of calls 
each day are answered by open-standards telephony platforms, and tens of 
thousands of developers around the world are building VoiceXML 
applications. We look forward to fostering the continued adoption of 
VoiceXML as the easiest and most powerful way to create and manage 
telephony services.

-- Eric Jackson, Chair, VoiceXML Forum Marketing & Communications Committee

The VoiceXML language and paradigm revolutionize development and 
deployment of traditional and next generation IVR applications. The W3C 
members have worked hard to evolve the specification into a complete and 
solid open standard. Voxpilot was one of the early adopters of VoiceXML 
and has leveraged the many benefits that W3C standardization has 
enabled, leading to the wide range of VoiceXML tools and applications 
currently supported on its platform.

-- David Burke, Chief Technical Architect, Voxpilot Ltd


Contact Americas, Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Saeko Takeuchi <saeko@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing 
common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its 
interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run 
by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the 
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) 
headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided 
by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World 
Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample 
applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, nearly 450 
organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see 
http://www.w3.org/

###

Received on Tuesday, 28 January 2003 10:10:01 UTC