Making good on promises made last October, Novell Inc, Provo, Utah has announced availability of the beta test release of a network telephony-based interactive voice response development tool. The announcement comes on the back of a deal with Voysys Corp and promises to provide users with a tool, codenamed Informator, that simplifies availability of turnkey, semi-custom and custom speech offerings. Novell and Voysys aim to deliver value-priced voice systems that unify network information, telephone call control and voice processing through Novell’s NetWare Telephony Services and the TSAPI Telephony Services Application Programming Interface. The alliance will provide systems to enable businesses to format, present and retrieve information efficiently through the telephone system and through any connected computing device. The tool combines a visual application design environment with the Open Data Base Connectivity access standard, and TSAPI call control standard. It will enable value-added resellers and systems integrators to develop and deliver speech systems that make their customers’ existing information systems usable through the telephone, and offer an enhanced level of reliability and performance due to network telephony integration. These applications will be targeted at small businesses that want to automate the telephone delivery of common information such as product availability, store hours, price quotes, accounts, order status, marketing programmes and more. They will also target departments in larger companies that wish to create speech-driven offerings and not rely on central information system resources.
