News Release: W3C Issues New Standards for Voice-driven Web Applications

W3C announces the completion of two standards for Voice-driven Web  
applications.  VoiceXML 2.1 standardizes industry practices that aid  
in VoiceXML interoperability, and gives developers clarity in  
developing new features. Semantic Interpretation for Speech  
Recognition (SISR) 1.0 improves the voice to markup conversion, for  
better performance in voice recognition systems. For more  
information, please contact Janet Daly, W3C Global Communications  
Officer, at +1 617 253 5884 <janet@w3.org> or the W3C Communications  
Team representative in your region.

New Standards Confirmed for Voice-driven Web Applications
W3C Standardizes New Features for VoiceXML, Smarter Speech Recognition

Web Resources

	This press release
		In English: http://www.w3.org/2007/06/voice-pressrelease.html.en
		In French: http://www.w3.org/2007/06/voice-pressrelease.html.fr
		In Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2007/06/voice-pressrelease.html.ja
		In other languages: http://www.w3.org/Press/Overview.html#x2007-voice

	Testimonials from Aspect Software, Genesys Telecommunications  
Laboratories,
		Inc., Loquendo, Nuance Communications, VoiceXML Forum, Voxeo
		Corporation, and Voxpilot Ltd.
		http://www.w3.org/2007/06/voice-testimonial.html

http://www.w3.org/ -- 19 June 2007 --W3C published standards today  
that enhance the capabilities and interoperability of voice browsers  
and speech recognition systems. The W3C Voice Browser Working Group  
has completed work on both VoiceXML 2.1 and Semantic Interpretation  
for Speech Recognition (SISR) 1.0, two critical pieces of W3C's  
Speech Interface Framework. Testimonials from companies and  
organizations demonstrate strong support for the new standards.

Voice XML 2.1 Standarizes Industry Interoperability Practices

VoiceXML 2.1 extends the widely used VoiceXML 2.0 dialog language to  
include commonly implemented features. These features include dynamic  
references to grammars and scripts, detecting when during a prompt  
the user barges-in, and processing multiple sets of data from the  
server in a single access. All VoiceXML 2.0 applications will work  
under VoiceXML 2.1 without modification, allowing for significant  
interoperability.

SISR Improves Voice to Mark-up Conversion

Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition (SISR 1.0) enables  
developers to extract and translate textual representations of words  
recognized by a speech recognition system and structure the results  
into a format convenient for processing by the speech application.  
For example, with SISR, one could specify the instructions for  
converting the spoken sentence "I want to fly from Los Angeles to  
Seattle." to a data structure containing "departure: LAX" and  
"destination: SEA" .
Speech Interface Framework Built by International Leaders in Research  
and Industry

W3C's Voice Browser Working Group includes leaders in telephony and  
Web applications development, including Aspect Communications;  
Chinese Academy of Sciences; Comverse Technology; Deutsche Telecom  
AG; France Telecom; Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories; HP; IBM;  
iFLYTEK; IWA-HWG; Intervoice; Korea Association of Information and  
Telecommunication; Loquendo S.p.A.; Matsushita Electric Industrial  
Co., Ltd.; MITRE Corporation; Nuance Communications; Openwave Systems  
Inc.; SandCherry, Inc.; Toshiba Corporation; Voxeo Corporation; and  
Voxpilot Ltd.

The W3C Speech Interface Framework includes the completed standards  
VoiceXML 2.1, SISR 1.0, Speech Recognition Grammar Specification  
(SRGS 1.0), and Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML 1.0). W3C  
anticipates that the next pieces of the Speech Interface Framework to  
become W3C Recommendations are CCXML, Pronunciation Lexicon  
Specification (PLS 1.0) and SSML 1.1. The Voice Browser Working Group  
is also developing State Chart XML (SCXML) and VoiceXML 3.0.

Testimonials for VoiceXML 2.1 and SISR 1.0 Recommendations

These testimonials are in support of W3C issuance of VoiceXML 2.1 and  
SISR 1.0 as W3C Recommendations.

Aspect Software | Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. |  
Loquendo | Nuance Communications | VoiceXML Forum | Voxeo Corporation  
| Voxpilot Ltd.

     VoiceXML is a key component of the Aspect Software vision for a  
standards-based contact center. The VoiceXML 2.1 specification adds  
functionality and flexibility to the VoiceXML programming model and  
brings us closer to making a standards-based contact center a reality  
for the industry.
     -- Jim Barnett, Senior Technical Director, Aspect Software

     Genesys congratulates the W3C on releasing the VoiceXML  
2.1specification and will do our best to drive its adoption. VoiceXML  
2.1 is a significant milestone in establishing a stable and mature  
standard that enables businesses to deliver a much richer user  
experience.Genesys is committed to open, standards-based contact  
center solutions and is very pleased to contribute to the development  
of this specification. As the world leader in open standards-based  
voice platforms, Genesys fully supports the work of the W3C and the  
VoiceXMLForum and looks forward to continuing its support of future  
advances in VoiceXML.
     -- Max Ball, Director of Product Management, Genesys  
Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.

     As an active participant in W3C, Loquendo firmly believes that  
the VoiceXML 2.1 and SISR 1.0 recommendations are essential steps  
forward for advancing speech applications, allowing simple and rapid  
upgrades, increasing portability and accelerating speech technology  
take-up across the globe. VoiceXML 2.1 builds on the widely adopted  
VoiceXML 2.0, the industry telephony standard, and enables the  
creation of more powerful voice applications. SISR 1.0 completes SRGS  
1.0 speech grammars by providing a standard format for producing,  
integrating and validating ASR results. As a leading player in speech  
technology and voice platforms, Loquendo is proud to give its full  
and continued support to the promotion ofstandards' support.
     -- Daniele Sereno, Vice President Product Engineering, Loquendo

     Continuing our eight-year leadership role within W3C speech  
standards, Nuance is committed to the advancement and support of open  
standards such as VoiceXML 2.1 and SISR 1.0. We believe open speech  
standards will spur the creation of innovative and effective new  
speech applications and accelerate the adoption of speech  
technologies worldwide. These standards enable us to offer  
flexibility and choice to our customers, enabling them to migrate  
applications to different architectures much more easily and cost  
efficiently.”
     -- Peter Mahoney, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Nuance  
Communications

     We applaud the W3C’s completion of the VoiceXML 2.1 and SISR 1.0  
standards. In support of this milestone, the VoiceXML Forum is  
launching an updated platform certification program that will include  
support for VoiceXML 2.1, SISR 1.0 and other key features of the W3C  
Speech Interface Framework. We encourage all platform vendors to  
submit their platforms for certification.
     -- Ken Rehor, Chair, VoiceXML Forum Conformance Committee

     Voxeo has already fully implemented VoiceXML 2.1 and SISR 1.0  
across both our hosted services and our on-premise system offerings,  
giving enterprises the broadest possible range of standards-based  
deployment options. Along with VoiceXML 2.0 and CCXML 1.0, these new  
W3C standards are freely available to our 25,000 XML-telephony  
developers in 130 countries who are using Voxeo platforms to build  
innovative applications for the phone. This demonstrates that the  
W3C’s laudable efforts to establish open standards for phone  
applications have successfully brought a web model of innovation to  
the telecom industry.
     -- R.J. Auburn, Chief Technology Officer, Voxeo Corporation

     It is a great benefit to our industry that the VoiceXML 2.1 and  
SISR 1.0 specifications have reached W3C Recommendation status and  
Voxpilot congratulates the W3C Voice Browser Group on their excellent  
work. VoiceXML 2.1 expands interoperability and flexibility as it  
standardizes powerful capabilities that have proven indispensable in  
production deployments since VoiceXML 2.0. SISR 1.0 represents an  
essential component of this framework promoting full interoperability  
across multiple layers. Voxpilot has implemented these specifications  
as part of their Open Media Platform 3.1, an IMS-readyVoiceXML/CCXML  
platform with advanced voice and video capabilities, deployed in  
multiple networks throughout the world.
     -- Andrew Fuller, Chief Technology Officer, Voxpilot Ltd.


Contact Americas, Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East-
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium  
where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work  
together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission  
through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to  
ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are  
Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer  
Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the  
USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics  
(ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan,and has  
additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http:// 
www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 19 June 2007 13:58:56 UTC