Microsoft Releases SALT-based Sample Applications

REDMOND, WA - Microsoft Corp. announced the release of two sample applications designed to educate and demonstrate how Web developers can more easily add SALT-based speech technologies into Web applications. Utilizing the capabilities of Microsoft's SALT-based Speech Software Development Kit (SDK) beta 2, Vertigo Software Inc., a provider of software development and consulting services, has created sample applications targeted at the retail and financial sectors. The Microsoft SALT-based Speech SDK integrates into the Visual Studio .NET development environment and provides a way for Web developers to leverage their existing Web development knowledge and skills and incorporate speech functionality into Web applications. The first speech-enabled sample application, the ASP.NET Commerce Starter Kit, is based on the IBuySpy Store sample and demonstrates how an existing Web-based e-commerce store can be speech-enabled. By speech-enabling the ASP.NET Commerce Starter Kit with the Microsoft Speech SDK, users will be able to order an item by product number, browse the store catalog, hear product descriptions and add products to their shopping cart - all by voice. The second speech-enabled sample application developed by Vertigo is the Fitch & Mather Stocks (FMStocks) Web application, an online stock brokerage that allows customers to manage a stock portfolio by telephone. Users of FMStocks can obtain quotes on stock prices, buy and sell stock, and review their portfolios. "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. With the SALT-based Speech SDK integrated in Visual Studio, developers now have an incredible new interface option that can augment existing, traditional systems," said Scott Stanfield, CEO of Vertigo Software. Developers can use the ASP.NET Commerce Starter Kit and FMStocks Web application as best practices for creating a speech-enabled Web application that best accommodates their needs. The applications also include white papers designed to guide developers in speech-enabling their Web applications. "These SALT-based sample applications demonstrate how speech can be used to create a more useful and user-friendly environment," said Xuedong Huang, general manager of Speech Technologies at Microsoft. "Providing developers with speech-enabling best practices gives them immediate access to this groundbreaking technology, allowing them to produce speech applications that can help reduce costs, enhance revenues and improve business agility for their businesses, or their customers' businesses."