IBM is rolling out upgraded
software, tools and technologies aimed at easing
speech applications into an enterprise’s
infrastructure.
The speech toolkits are gaining use, and not in
call centers with voice-response systems. Car makers
are increasingly integrating telematics for models,
such as the OnStar system.
The announcement comes in conjunction with new customers
using the technology: US-based Prudential Insurance
and Parcelforce, which have begun using IBM speech
technology in their contact centers.
In addition,
Norway-based Opera software has announced a new
multimodal browser that incorporates IBM’s embedded
speech.
IBM officials said the idea with Conversational
Access, the name of the suite upgrade, is to improve
call center and customer service offerings so end
users can access data whenever and wherever, as well
as complete transactions quickly, with the use of
VoiceXML to integrate speech applications with other
applications. The legacy approach is to treat speech
applications as a separate silo.
The products are built on open standards and based
on Java.
“Companies are now demanding that their contact
centers be integrated with their current IT
infrastructure. At the same time, developers want
speech middleware based on open standards so they can
use common application development tools to integrate
speech into their existing business processes,” said
Gary Cohen, General Manager, IBM Pervasive Computing.
IBM officials said Prudential Financial will deploy
an automated call center using Natural Language
Understanding (NLU), through which customers can use
voice commands to get information and perform
transactions on their 401K accounts. The system is
built on IBM’s WebSphere Voice Server and WebSphere
Voice Response platforms.
As a result, officials added, Prudential, which
receives about 3.3 million calls per year in its call
center, the NLU application allows callers to chat
with automated contact centers and voice portals using
natural phrases containing complex content.
IBM made the announcement as part of the SpeechTEK
conference that kicks off Tuesday in San Francisco. It
takes place alongside Microsoft’s “VSLive!” and
“Mobile DevCon” conferences this week.
All of the IBM upgrades are based on the VoiceXML
standard and feature tools built on Eclipse-based
WebSphere infrastructure software. The new versions in
the toolkit include Voice Toolkit for WebSphere
Studio, which is a plug-in for WebSphere Studio
Application Developer.
IBM said the enhancement includes a call flow
builder to streamline design and organize information.
The toolkit also includes CCXML (Call Control
eXtensible Markup Language), a proposed standard that
allows VoiceXML applications to manage telephony
infrastructure; WebSphere Voice Server (future
versions will support Linux as well as MRCP (Media
Resource Control Protocol), a proposed standard aimed
at easing the integration of automatic speech
recognition and text-to-speech; WebSphere Voice
Application Access, built to run on WebSphere Portal
5.0.2, with additional support for AIX 5.2, and features
improved customization options for portal
administrators, the company said.
