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Envox 6 Awarded VoiceXML 2.0 Industry Certification
[July 11, 2005]

Envox 6 Awarded VoiceXML 2.0 Industry Certification


Envox Worldwide announced today that Envox 6, the company's open, standards-based communications development platform, just received VoiceXML 2.0 Certification.

BY JOHANNE TORRES
TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist

Voice systems vendor Envox Worldwide announced today that Envox 6, the company's open, standards-based communications development platform, just received VoiceXML 2.0 Certification through the VoiceXML Forum's Platform Certification Program.



"We're pleased that Envox 6 has been cited as one of the first platforms to achieve VoiceXML 2.0 certification," said Mark D. Flanagan, president and chief executive officer of Envox Worldwide. "This certification adds to the growing list of Envox 6 awards and is further proof that Envox 6 offers customers the best of both worlds, the ability to leverage existing hardware and software investments, while, at the same time, providing a smooth migration path to emerging standards such as VoiceXML."

Envox explained that VoiceXML has become an important standard for enterprise customers and service providers developing IVR, enhanced self-service, and other voice solutions because it simplifies the integration of these voice solutions with IT infrastructures based on Web technologies and open standards. According to the company, as more customers rely on VoiceXML to lower the cost of deploying and maintaining voice solutions, and as the VoiceXML standard continues to evolve, platform certification by the leading VoiceXML industry body becomes increasingly important to ensure that the interoperability benefits of VoiceXML are realized. The company says the certification will enable it to provide developers and IT managers alike with the peace of mind that their voice solutions can be easily integrated with their IT infrastructure, allowing them to take full advantage of the VoiceXML standard.


The company’s platform provides a bridge between legacy systems and new voice systems, allowing developers to create a wide range of voice systems through flexibility and broad support for these emerging standards and technologies, including VoiceXML, speech recognition, VoIP and Web-based services.

The platform is integrated with Envox 6 VoiceXML Studio to create a complete VoiceXML offering. Developers using Envox 6 VoiceXML Studio in combination with the Envox 6 platform gain the following capabilities:

• Additional development functions not included in the VoiceXML 2.0 specification, including integration with e-mail, Web and fax systems; access to advanced call control functions such as conferencing, fax, PBX integration, ISDN signaling, ANI and DNIS-based actions, and intelligent routing; and extensive integration options for databases, Web-based services, enterprise applications and legacy systems.

• A bridge between legacy systems and new VoiceXML-based systems, allowing companies to leverage prior investments in hardware, software, and system development.

• Seamless support for speech and telephony resources from ScanSoft, Nuance, Intel and others.

• A fault tolerant VoiceXML gateway.

• The ability to deploy systems in a range of telephony environments including analog, digital, VoIP, and SS7.

• Powerful management capabilities that significantly reduce the time and cost of administrating larger-scale installations.

"The VoiceXML Forum's Platform Certification Program is a key component of our strategy to accelerate worldwide market adoption for speech-enabled solutions," said Ken Rehor, vice chair of the VoiceXML Forum and Chair of the Forum's Conformance Committee.

According to the VoiceXML Forum, its Certification Program certifies that implementation platforms conform to the W3C VoiceXML 2.0 specification. The forum tests for interoperability of platforms; and how well voice service providers, tools, and applications reduce customer confusion over language support and compatibility. The test is comprised of a suite of evaluations available to the entire industry certified 3rd-party independent testing. Platform vendors can test their platforms against the publicly available test suite. VoiceXML Forum members have access to a test harness to assist in local execution of the tests. Alternatively, members can also run the tests directly from the Forum’s Web site without having to install any software. Any vendors ready to submit their platform for testing can contact the Forum at [email protected].

Other platform vendors certified by the VoiceXML Forum include Avaya, Edify Corporation, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Nuance Communications, VoiceGenie Technologies Incorporated, Voxeo, and Voxpilot.

Envox made news toward the end of last month when the company announced the availability of Envox CT ADE version 8.4, the company’s first formal CT ADE product release since it acquired the product line from Intel this March. The company described the Envox CT ADE as a collection of utilities that enables developers to create and deploy IVR applications more quickly and easily than using the Intel Dialogic telephony APIs.

"This is an important release for CT ADE customers," said Mark D. Flanagan, president and chief executive officer of Envox Worldwide last month regarding the announcement. "Within a very short timeframe we’ve added critical new features to the product including VoIP compatibility based on feedback we’ve received from our key customers. We’re committed to ensuring that Envox CT ADE remains the IVR development tool of choice for those who prefer to create solutions using standard programming languages such as C, C++, C# and Visual Basic.

Envox Worldwide
www.envox.com

VoiceXML Forum
www.voicexml.org

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne%
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