Microsoft used the Spring 2003 Voice on the Net (VON)
Trade Show & Expo in San Jose as a platform to unveil a Windows CE
.NET-based Voice over IP (VoIP) solution that paves the way for the
integration of voice communications with a variety of IP-based client
devices and services, including PCs and mobile phones.
The Windows CE .NET advancements will include a sample Telephony User
Interface (TUI), a VoIP Application Interface Layer (VAIL) and an advanced
real time communications/Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) network
protocol.
The TUI will provide an integrated, telephony-specific graphical user
interface which Microsoft said OEMs will be able to customize and extend,
while VAIL offers an extensible VoIP application suite and API layer based
on real-time communication and SIP. Finally, enterprise infrastructure
integration services will provide new support for the .NET Compact
Framework, as well as new security and network technologies like IP
Security (IPSec) and 802.11a.
The enhancements will come with Windows CE .NET, slated for release during
the first half of 2003.
The advances to Windows CE .NET are designed to complement Greenwich, the
company’s forthcoming extensible real-time communications solution, through
an integrated client and server solution. They will also synch with
Microsoft’s recently launched Windows 2000 Server for Telecommunications
Systems with the Server Appliance Software 2.0. That product comprises
embedded server software for telecommunications equipment, geared for use
in small and medium-sized businesses.
“VoIP is creating new opportunities for the communications industry to
offer greater convenience and productivity to its customers,” said Todd
Warren, general manager of the Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at
Microsoft. “Windows CE .NET 4.2 will provide the industry’s most integrated
and extensible standards-based VoIP device platform, enabling OEMs and
network equipment providers to more quickly, easily and richly innovate and
deliver on the promise of VoIP.”
Microsoft sees the technology as permeating all manner of devices, from
handsets and PDAs to consumer electronics and even industrial automation
robots.
“We really see this as part of a wave of investments we’re making around
VoIP,” Scott Horn, director of marketing for the embedded and appliance
platforms group at Microsoft, told internetnews.com. “We see voice
increasingly as a disruptive technology.”
For instance, Horn said Symbol Technologies is using the new VoIP solution
to create mobile data collection devices with ‘walkie-talkie’ capabilities
for use in warehouses.
“We think that’s a precursor of all the places you’ll see VoIP being used,”
Horn said. “We really want to enable OEMs to focus on what differentiates
their devices out of the box.”
Microsoft has also lined up Original Device Manufacturer (ODM) and Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) support for the new VoIP push, with a slew of
companies designing devices and silicon to support it. Microsoft said BCM
Computers, Casio Computer Company, Hitachi, NEC Infrontia, Samsung
Electronics, Symbol Technologies and Tatung are in the process of
developing devices. AMD, ARM, Broadcom, Conextant Systems, Intel, MIPS
Technologies and Texas Instruments are in the process of optimizing their
CPUs and building reference designs for VoIP devices using Windows CE .NET.
Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of Microsoft Chairman and Chief
Software Architect Bill Gates’ declaration
last month that mobility will touch on every aspect of the company’s
business.
“This business is something that probably will be the fastest growing of
all of our businesses,” Gates said at the Microsoft Mobility Developer
Conference 2003, held in conjunction with the CTIA Wireless 2003 show in
New Orleans.
Gates said Microsoft will pursue a strategy in which devices in all form
factors will work together intelligently to create a rich user experience.
The company is relying on its .NET Framework to pull it all together,
allowing all of the various form factors to operate on the same platform.
The .NET Compact Framework, a subset of the .NET Framework, is designed for
the lower-power devices like PDAs and Smartphones. The plan is to support
mobile applications ranging from field sales to mobile gaming, delivery
routing and field service.
In related news Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled two sample applications
designed from the Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) specification.
The applications, created by Vertigo Software using Microsoft’s SALT-based
Speech Software Development Kit (SDK) beta 2, include the ASP.NET Commerce
Starter Kit, and the Fitch & Mather Stocks (FMStocks) Web application.
The ASP.NET Commerce Starter Kit, based on the IBuySpy Store sample, is
meant to show how an existing Web-based e-commerce store can be
speech-enabled. The application allows users to order an item by product
number, browse the store catalog and hear product descriptions with voice.
FMStocks allows users to obtain stock quotes, buy and sell stock, and
review their portfolios with voice.
“By following these sample applications, developers are able to
speech-enable their current Web applications based on Visual Studio .NET,
having limited to zero experience with speech technology,” said Scott
Stanfield, CEO of Vertigo Software. “With the SALT-based Speech SDK
integrated in Visual Studio, developers now have an incredible new
interface option that can augment existing, traditional systems.
