Nuance delivers V-Builder 1.0 and launches voice staging center on the Web

Call Center CRM Solutions, Aug 2000

In May of this year, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) acknowledged the submission of the VoiceXML specification. Its future adoption by the W3C should accelerate and expand the reach of the Internet through voiceenabled Web content and services. VoiceXML was created by the VoiceXML Forum and is supported by more than 150 companies, including AT&T, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Motorola and Nuance.

Nuance Communications announced the availability of V Builder 1.0, a software development tool for building VoiceXML-based speech recognition applications that can be accessed over the telephone. With its intuitive, graphical, drag-and-drop development environment, V Builder is designed for professional Web and speech developers to create high-quality voice Web sites. Using V Builder, developers can combine the simplicity of VoiceXML with SpeechObjects (Nuance's open, reusable speech components) to create complete speech applications that can access databases and Internet content. V Builder enables developers to drag and drop VoiceXML objects and SpeechObjects into an application and customize them without writing code. A graphical grammar editor and prompt management system are included to simplify the definition of valid input into speech applications and the prompts that are played to callers. The resulting voice sites can use Nuance's speech recognition and voice authentication software to enable telephone access to a broad range of applications. V Builder will be available at no cost through the Nuance Development Network (NDN) at www.nuance.com, along with the speech recognition software to develop and test applications on the desktop. V-Builder runs on Windows NT and can be integrated or bundled with third-party tools such as interactive voice response (IVR) tools and Web development tools.

Nuance also announced the Voice Site Staging Center, a 24-by-7 interactive testing center that aids developers by allowing them to test their voice Web applications over the phone using the Nuance Voyager voice browser. The center is intended to expedite time to market by providing the necessary deployment infrastructure for testing, allowing developers to focus their efforts on application development, and reducing the cost of development equipment. The Voice Site Staging Center is a free service to members of the Nuance Developer Network (NDN) and will be hosted by Interactive Telesis through a partnership with Nuance.

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