Aspect Software and Microsoft Form Alliance
WESTFORD, Mass. — Aspect Software formed an alliance to deliver a solution targeted at small and midsize contact centers. The initiative will provide Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server as an embedded component of the Aspect Unified IP product. This offering is designed to allow organizations to enjoy the benefits of speech self-service features, and to leverage the unified solution.
Aspect Unified IP incorporates an automatic call distributor, a voice portal, quality management, a predictive dialer, and Internet connection in a single application. It also provides unified reporting, routing and administration functionality, and hosted capabilities with multitenancy, while running on the customer's transport of choice: either voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) or time-division multiplexing (TDM).
Speech Server (2007) is Microsoft's Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) 2.0-certified speech and telephony platform and provides the tools, run-time environment, and speech and telephony services needed for speech-enabled telephony applications on an integrated platform.
The combined offering of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Speech Server, and Aspect Unified IP 6.5, is scheduled for release in July 2007.
The offering from Aspect Software and Microsoft is designed to address the needs of this market by doing the following:
- Embedding speech as a core capability of Aspect Unified IP
- Providing a platform
In addition, because the capabilities are based on standards such as VoiceXML, the components of the speech applications can be reused.