An concise article examplifying VoiceXML from A-Z.

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Ideal desktop environment for the IVR application developer. Makes VoiceXML testing and debugging a snap. Perfect for pre-deployment tests and usability tests.

Voicent Gateway is ideal for developing desktop voice applications such as the Voicent Messenger Personal Version. These Applications can also use the same Voicent Gateway so people in the same office can share the same telephone line. Voicent Gateway extends the boundaries of business and the web by enabling rapid design and deployment of voice applications. Based on the Open VoiceXML standard, Voicent Gateway enables interactive voice access to the web and enterprise systems from any telephone.

Visibridge specializes in cost-effective VoiceXML technology for the voice, web and wireless world. Offerings include IVR development tools, turnkey systems and hosting services based on W3C open standards.

Audium 3 is industry leading voice application software that combines the standards of VoiceXML with the packaged services that are essential for serious IVR applications. A complete solution, Audium 3 provides a full set of tools to help developers quickly build consistent, high quality voice applications, as well as a robust framework to create, deploy, and manage the full lifecycle of large multi-application voice projects.

The heart of any Plum system is our VoiceXML Interpreter. In essence, the interpreter serves as a browser for VoiceXML applications, processing tag instructions during each phone call. This high-efficiency, W3C-compliant VoiceXML 2.0 Interpreter offers best-in-class DTMF (touchtone) support and various speech plugins.

Companies that want to broaden the range of features in telephony-based applications now have more options through speech recognition, but the new technology will require the development of greater levels of expertise. With Version 2.1 of VXML (Voice XML), the World Wide Web Consortium is about to standardize a number of improvements that consolidate several common vendor implementations of features that previously weren't inside the scope of VXML. This will allow developers to build more robust applications and handle exceptions more effectively. Version 2.1 of VXML is currently under final review by the W3C (www.w3c.org/voice).

Until fairly recently, the web has primarily delivered information and services using visual interfaces, on computers equipped with displays, keyboards, and pointing devices. The web revolution had largely bypassed the huge market of customers of information and services represented by the worldwide installed base of telephones for which voice input and audio output provided the primary means of interaction.

The emerging world without wires has fostered a growing number of small and mobile devices (everything from PDAs to smart phones) capable of accessing data and running applications. The trouble is, while devices are getting smaller, human hands and fingers are not.

The Voice Browser Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of the Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.1. Fully backwards-compatible with VoiceXML 2.0, the draft standardizes eight additional features implemented by VoiceXML platforms.

Ten to midnight -- it's your partner's birthday tomorrow, and you've forgotten their gift! Suddenly, a thought comes to mind: she's always wanted to see a musical in the big city. "Barry," you say, for that is the name of your web agent, "buy two tickets for Cats in London for tomorrow." A short pause, then Barry responds: "Please confirm; Cats the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, in London the capital of the UK?" "Correct," you reply. "Understood." The next morning a print-out awaits your attention, comprising a receipt for your tickets and a map with directions to the theatre.

The SALT (Speech Application Language Tags) specification pairs speech with HTML, XHTML, and XML. The specification boasts a 70-member consortium of backers including industry heavyweights Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel. The group submitted SALT 1.0 to the W3C. SALT is not a W3C standard, though. SALT was submitted to the W3C's Voice Browser working group, which will consider it as a part of the next VoiceXML standard. This article will touch on the SALT/VoiceXML relationship again near the end.

When I'm at the airport and my flight is cancelled, I call my travel agent who gives me travel alternatives. But copying down new itineraries—flight numbers, confirmation numbers, addresses, and telephone numbers—can require several frantic minutes of repetition and scribbling. However, if my travel agent could send me instant messages, the interaction would be quite different. Instant messages would help me decipher complicated lists of choices. When we finished, instant messages would contain my entire itinerary.

Learn the entirety of VoiceXML from the perspective of its Document Type Definition (DTD). You will begin with a brief overview of the language, moving into an examination of each individual language element type.

Get all the necessities of VoiceXML, beginning with a brief overview of the structure of the language. You will see several abstract element types that will be used as a shorthand as you examine each language element type individually.

Continue your study of the VoiceXML language with more language elements. You will visit aspects of the language from "phoneme" to "vxml."

The VoiceXML Forum is an industry organization established to promote VoiceXML as the universal standard for speech-enabled Web applications.