VoiceXML Platform Certification Program Gains Momentum
NEW YORK - At SpeechTEK, the VoiceXML Forum, a global industry organization chartered to promote and to accelerate the adoption of VoiceXML-based applications, announced that twelve companies have certified VoiceXML platform implementations through the Forum's Platform Certification Program. Avaya, Edify, Envox Worldwide, Genesys, Holly Connects, Nortel, Nuance, VoiceGenie, Vocalocity, Voxeo, Voxpilot and West Corporation have all received certification that their implementations are fully compliant with the latest release of the Forum's VoiceXML 2.0 test suite. CT Labs, an independent testing laboratory working on behalf of the Forum, conducted the testing. More information about the certified platforms can be found on the Web at www.voicexml.org/platform_certification/certified_platforms.html.
"We're increasingly hearing that vendors are choosing to certify their VoiceXML platform implementations in response to customer demand, and the volume of certification requests has been increasing," said Bruce Pollock, chairman of the VoiceXML Forum. "Certification helps ensure cross-vendor interoperability of platforms, tools and applications, which stabilizes and matures the industry. That gives customers confidence that a wide variety of VoiceXML-certified platforms are sound speech technology investments. In turn, application developers and tool providers are encouraged to support VoiceXML, which further strengthens the ecosystem."
"VoiceXML is the industry standard for voice-automated applications," said Steve Cramoysan, research director at Gartner. "The advantages of having a standard go well beyond that of easing portability of applications from one platform to another. Customers should require that vendors who claim conformance to VoiceXML demonstrate their commitment by gaining formal certification of their platforms."
How the Program Works
The VoiceXML Platform Certification Program test suite includes more than 600 tests that cover the W3C VoiceXML 2.0 Recommendation and is based on the W3C's VoiceXML 2.0 Implementation Report. To aid vendors in preparing for certification, the Conformance Test Suite to be used in the VoiceXML Platform Certification Program is available, at no charge, for public download from the Forum's Website at http://www.voicexml.org/. Forum Sponsor and Promoter members also can download a Web-based test harness to aid in running the tests. Companies wishing to have their platforms tested may register on the Forum's Website at http://www.voicexml.org/ or contact the Forum at voicexml-admin@voicexml.org.
The Forum expects that the Platform Certification Program will test for VoiceXML 2.1 conformance in the near future.
About the VoiceXML Forum
Founded in 1999, the VoiceXML Forum is an industry organization whose mission is to promote and to accelerate the worldwide adoption of VoiceXML-based applications. To this end, the Forum serves as an educational and technical resource, a certification authority and a contributor and liaison to the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) and other standards organization. The VoiceXML Forum is organized as a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO). Membership in the Forum is open to any interested company. For more information, please visit the Website at http://www.voicexml.org/.