NEW YORK, SPEECHTEK 2003, Oct. 2, 2003 — The VoiceXML Forum today announced the launch of the VoiceXML Platform Certification Program. The Program consists of a series of tests to determine whether a VoiceXML platform is fully compliant with the latest release of the VoiceXML standard. The VoiceXML Forum has engaged CT Labs (www.ct-labs.com) to perform the certification testing. Beginning this month, Forum members Vocalocity (www.vocalocity.net), VoiceGenie Technologies, Inc. (www.voicegenie.com) and Voxpilot Ltd. (www.voxpilot.com) will work with the Forum and CT Labs to test their platforms during the Program’s pilot. The Forum intends to expand its VoiceXML certification program in the future to include VoiceXML-compliance certification of applications and tools.
“By ensuring that certified VoiceXML platforms meet the requirements specified by the W3C standards, the VoiceXML Forum will help to assure interoperability across platforms, tools and applications,” said newly appointed VoiceXML Forum chairman, Igor Jablokov. “Our goal is to help eliminate customer confusion over language compatibility and functionality and to accelerate market adoption for speech-enabled applications worldwide.”
“VoiceGenie has always been an industry forerunner in providing full support for VoiceXML specifications with our speech platform solutions and we are keen to continue this trend as one of the very first companies to participate in the Certification Program,” said Adrian Lee-Kwen, vice president of engineering with VoiceGenie. “We fully expect that the VoiceXML Platform Certification will become a mandatory requirement as a means to provide customer assurance that platforms adhere to proper and full implementation of the standards.”
The Certification Program was conceived and will be managed by the VoiceXML Forum Conformance Committee with support from the IEEE-ISTO (www.ieee-isto.org) and NCC Group (www.nccglobal.com). The members of the Conformance Committee represent a range of companies in the speech and telecom industries. Many of the members of the Conformance Committee are also members of the W3C Voice Browser Working Group.
Initially, the VoiceXML Platform Certification Program will test for compliance with the VoiceXML 2.0 Candidate Recommendation and the W3C’s VoiceXML 2.0 Implementation Report. Following the Program’s pilot, VoiceXML platform vendors will be able to submit their products for testing and certification by the VoiceXML Forum. VoiceXML-certified platforms will be listed on the Forum’s Web site.
Beginning today, the Conformance Test Suite to be used by the VoiceXML Forum and CT Labs in the Certification Program is available, at no charge, for public download from the VoiceXML Forum Web site. For more information about the VoiceXML Forum’s certification program, please visit www.voicexml.org
About CT Labs
CT Labs is the leading supplier of independent product testing, certification, and analysis services for the converged communications, IP telephony, and computer telephony industries. CT Labs’ testing automation specialists not only perform a variety of standard test suites that validate and exercise telecom products, but can also create custom-developed tests for special needs. Testing solutions include telephone and graphical user interface functional, regression, and load / stress tests. CT Labs prides itself on working with cutting edge convergence technology and products. CT Labs’ client list includes CommWeb (www.commweb.com) and Communications Convergence Magazine (both of which are part of CMP Media) for whom it conducts multi-vendor product review testing. CT Labs was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Roseville, Calif. For more information, visit the CT Labs Web site at www.ct-labs.com/
About the VoiceXML Forum
The VoiceXML Forum is an industry organization that formed to create and promote the Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML). With the backing and contributions of its diverse membership, including key industry leaders, since its inception the VoiceXML Forum has successfully driven market acceptance of VoiceXML through a wide array of speech-enabled applications. Currently the Forum has more than 380 member companies, distributed across three membership categories (Sponsor, Promoter and Supporter). Membership in the Forum is open to any interested company.
The core activities of the VoiceXML Forum are driven by its four active committees: Education, Marketing, Tools and Conformance. The Forum publishes VoiceXML Review, (www.voicexmlreview.org), an electronic magazine dedicated to VoiceXML, featuring insightful articles written by industry experts. Its public website (www.voicexml.org) is a rich, one-stop source for information about VoiceXML and related technologies.
For more information about the VoiceXML Forum please visit www.voicexml.org or contact the VoiceXML Forum Administrative Team at +1-732-465-6464 or via e-mail at voicexml-admin@voicexml.org. The VoiceXML Forum is organized as a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO).
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