Metaphor Solutions Announces Speech Application Development Tools

WELLESLEY, Mass. - Metaphor Solutions announced the release of its Metaphor Conversation Manager (MCM). Metaphor Conversation Manager is an integrated development environment for developing automated speech applications that interact with callers, with back-end data sources and Web services and with live service agents. Metaphor Conversation Manager works with any VXML gateway and the Microsoft Speech Server.

Metaphor Conversation Manager is an editor, linker, debugger and run-time interpreter that generates open-standard scripts in VoiceXML and SALT from a design-scripting language called Metaphor Script. It also includes Web-based end-user customization as well as administration, logging and reporting tools.

Metaphor Script, the scripting language of MCM, leverages many inherited resources used in the best practices for dialog design and has much more flexibility in controlling the conversation flow, as well as a simulation debugger.

MCM includes a library of package applications that allow the developers to customize and integrate speech IVR solutions for most common applications.  The MCM allows customers to integrate back-end systems to share legacy and Web information with their Speech IVR platform.

Open and standards-based, MCM-developed applications are VoiceXML and SALT compliant and eliminate the lock-in associated with proprietary IVR systems.