VoiceXML Forum Launches Initiatives at SpeechTEK 2004

SPEECHTEK 2004, NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2004 - The VoiceXML Forum today announced the launch of two important initiatives that support the Forum's mission of promoting the creation and adoption of VoiceXML-driven applications. First, the Forum has chartered an Accessibility Committee to address the challenges faced by sensory-impaired individuals in accessing VoiceXML applications. Second, the Forum has launched the VoiceXML Education Exchange, an online resource available to instructors and students of university and college courses involved in VoiceXML training and research.

New Accessibility Committee to Address Needs of Sensory-Impaired
The VoiceXML Forum Accessibility Committee will address the particular needs of hearing-, speech- and vision-impaired individuals interacting with VoiceXML applications and will publish relevant best practices in dialog and application design. The committee, whose chairperson has not yet been selected, will be composed of representatives from several Forum member companies. Forum members wishing to participate in the Accessibility Committee may contact voicexml-accessibility@voicexml.org.

"Speech application accessibility for sensory impaired individuals is a commercial requirement that demands a cooperative solution," said Bruce Pollock, newly appointed Chairman of the VoiceXML Forum. "By joining the Accessibility Committee, Forum members have an opportunity to play a leadership role in a commercially and socially important initiative. We also encourage companies that are not already Forum members but that have in interest in communications accessibility to join the Forum and participate in this direction-setting committee.".

VoiceXML Education Exchange to Support VoiceXML Education
The VoiceXML Education Exchange (the "Exchange") is designed to provide educational institutions with up-to-date and relevant information and resources concerning VoiceXML. The Exchange is located at http://www.voicexml.org/resources/vxml_university/education_exchange.html.

Those individuals and organizations, including VoiceXML platform vendors, software vendors, instructors and students wishing to list appropriate materials on the Exchange may submit a written application to education-exchange@voicexml.org. Application guidelines are available on the Web. Vendors are encouraged to offer discounts on license fees and other charges for resources accessed via the Exchange.

"The VoiceXML Education Exchange will enable instructors to share teaching and training materials as well as to obtain software and information that supports projects and research in speech applications," said Dr. James Larson, Adjunct Professor at Portland State University and the Oregon Graduate Institute (OHSU). "The Exchange makes it easier for instructors to incorporate VoiceXML as a subject into programming courses and to use VoiceXML applications in other disciplines, especially for surveys, data reporting, and help assistance."

Materials available via the VoiceXML Education Exchange include commercial-grade and freeware software, including development environments, tools and sample applications and grammars, online services, including development environments and hosting services, and teaching resources, including syllabi, lecture notes, sample test questions, projects, exercises and other training materials.

About the VoiceXML Forum
The VoiceXML Forum is an industry organization formed to create and promote the Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML). With the backing and contributions of its diverse membership, including key industry leaders, since its inception, the VoiceXML Forum has successfully driven market acceptance of VoiceXML through a wide array of speech-enabled applications. Currently, the Forum has more than 325 member companies, distributed across three membership categories (Sponsor, Promoter and Supporter). Membership in the Forum is open to any interested company.

The core activities of the VoiceXML Forum are driven by its five active committees: AAccessibility, Conformance, Education, Marketing and Tools. The Forum publishes the VoiceXML Review, an electronic magazine dedicated to VoiceXML, featuring insightful articles written by industry experts. Its public website (www.voicexml.org) is a rich, one-stop source for information about VoiceXML and related technologies. The VoiceXML Forum is organized as a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO).