VoiceXML (VXML) is the W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It is fully analogous to HTML, and brings the same advantages of web application development and deployment to voice applications that HTML brings to visual applications. Just as HTML documents are interpreted by a visual web browser, VoiceXML documents are interpreted by a voice browser. A common architecture is to deploy banks of voice browsers attached to the public s

The new multimedia realm is allowing us to include vital physical cues in the information stream, introducing a physical reality into the world of electronic communications, goods, and services....   Read Article.

Ready for the broadband era? Start by learning the basics of telecommunication networks, and gain an understanding of how the various standards bodies have shaped their evolution....   Read Article.

In order to write effective voice prompts, you have to keep the customer in mind. Writing questions that are precise and lead the customer into only a few answer choices will keep your customers from becoming frustrated with the system. Learn helpful hints to do this effectively....   Read Article.

Get a brief history of IP telephony and then move into a definition of the media gateway controller protocol (MGCP) to help you understand the usage of protocols....   Read Article.

Feb 13, 2002 Ryan Welton, Daily Editor Recent support by 18 companies for the SALT initiative has given momentum to the possibility that a web-to-voice development tagging specification will be submitted to a standards organization by this summer. However, support for Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) doesn't foreshadow the end for VoiceXML. quot;I...   Read Article.

Sep 21, 2000 Chris Tull, Contributing Writer Let's be honest, user interfacing with mobile devices -- the method users interact with applications on their mobile devices -- is a pain. Sure, there are programs that allow users to access e-mail from their mobile phones. But trying to use a mobile phone keypad to type an email address -- let alone a simple...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In the not-too-distant future, we will begin seeing unified customer support platforms that allow companies and their customers to communicate seamlessly via the Web, telephone, and wireless devices. In this article, we will learn how two evolutionary trends are creating a new generation of unified customer communication platforms....   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf After months of hype but no substance, the SALT Forum finally released a draft version of the Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) specification on February 19. My initial impression is that it was worth the wait and given follow-through from Microsoft, will significantly advance the use of speech driven applications on computer...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In Part II of the Introduction to CCXML, we will become more familiar with the elements of the language and how they work together to create call control applications. CCXML Test Platform To test my CCXML applications, I have been using the Voxeo Tech Preview platform, which includes CCXML support. Voxeo was the first company to...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In case you missed it, you can still read the previous sections of this article: Introduction to CCXML, Part I and Introduction to CCXML, Part II . In Part III of the Introduction to CCXML, we will begin developing practical call control applications. Overview As I've mentioned previously, I'm using the Voxeo CCXML platform...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In Part IV of the Introduction to CCXML, we will learn how to set up and breakdown a 2-party conference call using join and unjoin. We will also learn more about state variables and their use in CCXML. Overview We're going to build on the concepts that were introduced in the first three CCXML tutorials and extend...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Your decision on whether to use a natural dialog approach instead of a directed dialog in an IVR application will directly affect the cost, effort and maintenance of the system. This article will give you a process that you can use to make the right decision. Natural Dialogs versus Directed Dialogs A natural dialog is one in which...   Read Article.

by Hitesh Seth In the second part of our quot;SALTquot; series we will endeavor to understand the syntax of the key SALT elements and their usage. prompt The prompt element is the main element for speech-output. It allows SALT-based applications to play prompts using TTS (Text to Speech Synthesis) or pre-recorded audio prompts. The...   Read Article.

by Hitesh Seth So far in our SALT (Speech Application Language Tags) series we have learned about the syntax of key SALT elements and their usage. We have also seen a preview of some of the applications that can be developed using SALT. In this article, quot;Applying SALTquot;, we are going to go back to the drawing-board and learn about the various...   Read Article.

Step 1: Developing and Testing Pure SALT Applications by Hitesh Seth So far in our introductory series on SALT (Speech Application Language Tags) we have learned the basic architecture of SALT-based applications. In the previous article in the series we took a closer look at the components of Microsoft .NET Speech SDK (Beta 2) and a brief introduction...   Read Article.

by Hitesh Seth So far in our series on SALT (Speech Application Language Tags) we have looked at the basic architecture of SALT based applications. We have also taken a closer look at some of the quot;elementsquot; of SALT and their syntax. Now that we are ready to start developing, we will take a look at the new Microsoft .NET Speech SDK which allows...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In this final introduction to the CCXML language, we will develop a simple multi-party conferencing system in Perl. In case you missed them, you can find previous parts in this series here: Introduction to CCXML, Part I Introduction to CCXML, Part II Introduction to CCXML, Part III Introduction to CCXML, Part IV Overview Creating...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf The recent VoiceXMLPlanet Conference was a great opportunity to hear from vendors and potential customers to get a better picture of the state of the market. It also gave me a glimpse into potential new markets that may emerge as a result of the technology. In this article, I will provide a list of the top insights that I took...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Microsoft is about to release a free Beta version of its .NET Speech SDK this week. This is Microsoft's first foray in the growing voice Web market where speech recognition technology is fused with Web technologies and the telephone. The .NET Speech SDK will support the SALT XML specification developed by the SALT Forum, a standards...   Read Article.

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Dialed Number Identification Service (or DNIS) is a standard that most telephone companies in the United States use to identify the number that was dialed. In this tutorial, we will learn how to use DNIS information to direct callers to sub-menus in VoiceXML applications. DNIS Overview This information is frequently used in call...   Read Article.