By Grant DuBois
December 1, 2000
Despite this week's collapse of Lernout & Hauspie, one
of the leading lights in the voice-recognition industry, other
developers are determined to prove there is a market for this
software.
VocalPoint Technologies, which helps businesses voice-enable
their HTML and XML (Extensible Markup Language) content, will
announce later this month version 1.2 of its Voice Browser,
which guides mobile professionals through Internet and enterprise
intranet content on the phone.
Version 1.2 adds faster navigation with natural language-based
dialogue and data output via Wireless Markup Language on handheld
devices or WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) enabled phones,
said officials of the San Francisco company.
Customers can either integrate VocalPoint's proprietary technology
into their network infrastructure to build customized voice
portals and services or outsource it through VocalPoint's
VoiceASP service, officials said.
Unlimited vocabulary
Abovehealth Corp., an ASP that manages benefits administration
for insurance companies, is using VoiceASP to allow users
to dial into an internal system to check on eligibility, deductibles/copays
and claim status as well as complete transactions.
"With [this] technology, there is unlimited vocabulary because
it converts text to speech by reading HTML," said John Baerthlein,
vice president of sales and marketing, in San Jose. "[The
service] virtually can read or speak back to a person all
of the information that is pertinent from a Web site in multiple
languages.
The only glitch is that VocalPoint's speech engine has a
"little bit of a metallic sound," Baerthlein said, but he
expects this to be resolved in the next product release.
The next version of VocalPoint's Voice Browser, to be ready
by mid-2001, will bring voice and data together into single,
seamless interaction, Losert said.
Version 1.2 will be released by the end of the month. Pricing
was not available.
Separately, Webversa Inc., of Fairfax, Va., another company
that provides the infrastructure to voice-enable enterprise
applications on the Web, plans to release Webversa Voice 3.0
in the middle of the first quarter.
The new version will be more robust and scalable, add support
for WAP phones, and initiate enterprise access on two-way
pagers and handheld devices, officials said.
eWEEK from ZDWire Copyright (c) 2000 ZD Inc. All Rights
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