VoiceObjects, a phone application server vendor, has announced that it has made the application programming interface (API) for VoiceObjects Server available to the public. Company officials say this will enable third-party companies to create IDEs and other tools for use with VoiceObjects Server.

The company has also announced the immediate availability of VoiceObjects XDK, an XML development kit that helps tools vendors to create VoiceObjects-ready tools. SAP (News - Alert) NetWeaver Visual Composer, will support VoiceObjects Server via the newly available interface.

The new SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer, you'll remember, supports mySAP Customer Relationship Management, mySAP ERP Human Capital Management and mySAP ERP environments. Other IDEs to support VoiceObjects Server are Angel.com's Site Builder, OpenMethods' openVXML Studio, and SpeechVillage's SpeechDraw.

The VoiceObjects XDK is included at no additional charge with VoiceObjects Server. Pricing for VoiceObjects Server begins at $500 per port.

All phone application servers, have the capability to dynamically generate VoiceXML to create personalized dialogs with each caller at call-time, using information in an organization's CRM or other databases. The resulting caller-specific conversations provide opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell.

They also have an application execution environment that supports remote management and monitoring of multimodal applications, online application maintenance for instant changes or rollbacks, and guaranteed high availability.

Most, if not all, phone application servers also have Web services support for easy integration between an organization's phone-based self-service assets and its CRM, ERP, and other IT assets in service-oriented architecture environments, dramatically reducing development time and cost.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page.