VoiceXML Forum Field Report

Peter Gavalakis, Chair, Marketing Committee, VoiceXML Forum

Here’s a summary of the technical, educational and marketing activities currently underway at the VoiceXML Forum:

Jim Ferrans and the Technical Council are wrapping up their analysis of the 2006 Forum Survey and will report their findings in an upcoming issue of the VoiceXML Review.  The Council also published a technical article in this month’s issue of the VoiceXML Review about how VoIP technologies and VoiceXML work together.

The newly chartered MRCP Committee has also been busy writing and has published a technical article about the IETF MRCP standard for integrating speech engines into voice platforms in this month’s issue of the VoiceXML Review.  MRCP Committee Chair Andrew Wahbe tells me that the MRCP Committee is looking to ramp up their efforts and all companies interested in joining the Committee should contact him at andrew.wahbe@genesyslab.com.

At SpeechTEK 2006, the Forum announced that 18 VoiceXML platform implementations had been certified to date through the Platform Certification Program.  Several more platforms are currently being tested.

The Speaker Biometrics Committee has been extremely busy all year.  Co-Chair Judith Markowitz tells me that they are finishing work on the new version of the “Speaker Identification and Verification (SIV) Requirements for VoiceXML Applications” document.  They have also created a stand-alone glossary for SIV.  The Committee is also working on a new draft of the Data Exchange File Format, a cooperative project with ANSI’s M1 Biometrics Committee.  The two committees are working together to respond to a call to vote on comments resulting from two SIV proposals that were recently presented to ISO’s Biometric Committee SC37.

The Marketing Committee is very active on many fronts, including preparing for the launch of the VoiceXML Solutions Directory later this Fall.  The VoiceXML Solutions Directory is a Web-based directory of VoiceXML products and services and is designed to help companies interested in deploying VoiceXML-based applications find the products and services they need quickly and efficiently.  We invite all VoiceXML Forum members to submit their company’s product and services information for inclusion in the VoiceXML Solutions Directory.  The deadline is Friday, October 13, 2006.  If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Tiritilli at cindy@voicexml.org or Christian Danella at christian@prequent.com.