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AT&T,
Lucent Technologies, and Motorola Create VoiceXML Forum;
Companies Seek Open Standard to Promote Voice Access to Web Services
Basking Ridge and Murray Hill, NJ, and Chicago, IL (March
2, 1999)
AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Motorola announced today the formation
of the Voice eXtensible Markup Language Forum (VXML Forum) to make the
resources of the World Wide Web accessible by telephone. The Forum aims
to drive the market for voice- and phone-enabled Internet access by
promoting a standard specification for VXML, a computer language used
to create Web content and services that can be accessed by phone.
AT&T, Lucent and Motorola will contribute their markup language
technologies to the development of the open VXML specification. Seventeen
other leading companies from the speech, Internet and communications
markets have agreed to support the VXML Forum and play an active role
in reviewing or contributing to the VXML specification. Industry supporters
include 3Com Corporation, Blue Diamond, British Telecommunications plc,
Dragon Systems, General Magic, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lernout & Hauspie,
Nortel Networks, Nuance Communications, Online Anywhere, Philips, Registry
Magic, SpeechWorks, Unisys, Vocalis and Vogo. The initial specification
will be available for public comment and contribution next month, with
the goal of submitting a final proposed specification for standardization
to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) later this year.
The VXML Forum seeks to promote a broadly supported standard that creates
an open, platform-independent environment and enables equipment and
infrastructure providers, speech technology providers, speech application
developers and content providers, and communications service providers
to participate in the growth of this market. In addition to giving users
the option of voice-enabled Internet and intranet access, expected benefits
include new business opportunities for content developers, greater ease
of application development - and thus an expanded developer base - for
the speech community, and more rapid creation of differentiated services
for carriers.
"Just as standardization of HTML [Hypertext Markup Language] drove
the adoption of traditional Web applications, standardization of VXML
will drive the adoption of voice- enabled applications," said Maria
Martinez, vice president and general manager, Internet and Connectivity
Solutions Division (ICSD), Motorola, Inc. "The VXML Forum's efforts
will not only help to provide a crucial mobile component to Internet
access, but will also offer Internet access to the 58 percent of people
who own a telephone but don't own or have access to a computer."
One example of a voice-enabled application is a salesperson dialing
into a corporate intranet from any phone and using conversational interaction
to receive real-time order status information. Similarly, users could
access Web-based weather or traffic information, banking transaction
services, and other electronic commerce applications without touching
a computer keyboard.
"When people can interact with a Web application or an IP [Internet
Protocol]-based service this way, the ordinary touch-tone phone literally
becomes the ubiquitous Internet access device," said Larry Rabiner,
vice president of Research for AT&T Labs. "This technology
makes it possible to launch a variety of Internet information and communications
applications from anywhere - you only need access to a telephone."
A markup language is a high-level programming language that simplifies
content development. To place an image on a Web page, for example, a
programmer writes a simple instruction in HTML calling for retrieval
of a particular image file. Similarly, a content developer could use
VXML to program a particular audio prompt to play over the telephone.
"VXML will have profound impacts," said Lucent Speech Solutions
President Dan Furman, "changing the way we use the phone - and
perhaps the design of phones themselves - as well as changing the nature
and evolution of the Web. By making it easier to program Web applications
for voice access, VXML can bring high efficiency to call center and
intranet development. And enhanced availability will increase the value
of personalized Web applications, such as pages customized to deliver
an individual's selection of stock quotes, news, or other information."
Other companies interested in seeing access to Internet information
and content become voice- and phone-enabled may join as supporters,
contributors or adopters. The initial VXML specification will be based
on AT&T's and Lucent Technologies' phone markup languages and Motorola's
VoxML™ language, which have common roots but have been developed
independently in the three companies. The aim of the VXML specification
is to leverage the best of the companies' approaches for the benefit
of the entire industry.
For additional information on the progress of the VXML specification,
go to the VXML Forum web site at: www.vxmlforum.org.
AT&T is the world's
premier provider of voice and data communications, with more than 80
million customers, including businesses, government and consumers. AT&T
runs the world's largest, most powerful long-distance network and the
largest wireless network in North America. The company is a leading
supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and the nation's
largest direct Internet service provider to consumers. AT&T also
provides local telephone service to a growing number of businesses.
Lucent Technologies,
headquartered at Murray Hill, NJ, designs, builds, and delivers a wide
range of public and private networks, communications systems and software,
data networking systems, business telephone systems, and microelectronics
components. Bell
Labs is the company's research and development arm.
Motorola is a
global leader in advanced electronic systems and services. It liberates
the power of technology by creating software-enhanced products that
provide integrated customer solutions and Internet access via wireless
and satellite communications, as well as computing, networking, and
automotive electronics. Motorola also provides essential digital building
blocks in the form of embedded semiconductors, controls and systems.
Sales in 1998 were $29.4 billion.
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