We’re into the holiday season, and to spread the joy we are releasing an Early Access (EA) version of VoiceObjects 9.1 – a preview of the next version of the Voxeo VoiceObjects platform, which is currently scheduled to reach GA in Q1/2010. In this post we’ll give you an overview of some of the major new functionalities that will be available, and that you can start working with today. Simply download the Early Access install from the VoiceObjects Developer Portal.

For those of you currently using VoiceObjects 9.0, note that we also released Revision 3, which you can download from the same place.

Database Object
Experience in lots of customer projects has shown us that an overwhelming percentage of Connector object implementations end up connecting to a database. So we decided to go ahead and create a dedicated object for this task – the Database object. It transparently manages the connection infrastructure, including pooling, and allows you to focus on the SQL statements to extract, insert, or manipulate data.

The Database object supports all standard databases (such as e.g. Oracle or  SQL Server) as well as any custom database you may want to use so long as it offers a JDBC driver.

Simple Connector Mode
A different requirement for the Connector object came from developers and new users who quickly want to build their first VoiceObjects applications. They often have existing scripts (JSP, PHP, Ruby, etc.) that they would like to re-use without the need to convert it to the XML data exchange format utilized by the Connector object. The focus here is on simplicity, ease of use, and quick results.

So we added a “simple mode” to the HTTP Connector that performs a straight POST of the parameters defined for it and expects a single return value. This value can still be an XML structure, from which individual items may be extracted using the XPATH-based result mapping.

Menu Object Enhancements
Dynamic personalization is one of the particular strengths of the Voxeo VoiceObjects platform: Adjusting each call to the preferences, usage patterns, and needs of the individual caller.

One aspect of this can be the dynamic re-ordering of items within a menu, so that e.g. the most frequently used entry (such as “Account balance” in a banking application) is at the top. VoiceObjects 9.1 provides a new option on the Menu object to easily change the ordering of Menu items using a comma-separated list of entries.
When utilizing such dynamic re-ordering, specifically in DTMF-based applications, it is often desirable to also employ auto-numbering, i.e. to automatically assign DTMF keys to menu entries. With VoiceObjects 9.1 we have provided easier access to these assigned digits for instance to read them out within the respective menu item prompts.

Finally, each menu item can now also fill a variable with a result value that indicates which item has been selected by the caller.

Cache Standby
In deployments with a large number of services, there is often the situation that a small number of these services receive the vast majority of call traffic, while many of the other services are merely using up memory most of the time. VoiceObjects 9.1 therefore now intelligently puts such services into a standby mode in which they do not consume any resources, but still remain available for calls.

Control Center Reports
The Infostore repository gives a lot of insight into the status of a deployed system, such as call traffic over time, traffic distribution within a cluster, or caller success rates (as measured by Business Tasks). With VoiceObjects 9.1 graphical reports for key metrics are available right from within the Desktop for Eclipse Control Center. There is also a fully embedded Infostore now in Desktop for Eclipse, so you can start using these reports without the need to set up a separate database.

In addition to the new features described above, VoiceObjects 9.1 will also offer a number of other capabilities that are not yet included within the Early Access package:

Infostore Extensions
The Infostore repository provides a wealth of information on application performance and caller experience. And with each release we add more data to it to enable even more detailed reports. VoiceObjects 9.1 is no exception, and with it we provide among others

• Aggregated Business Task information within the Call Data Record
• Performance data on the new Database object
• Detailed barge-in information for input states

Utterance Validation in Textual Channels
In voice or DTMF applications, grammars define what callers are allowed to say within a given input state. In text and web applications, there often is free-form text input which the application then needs to validate explicitly. With VoiceObjects 9.1 we make this easier by allowing developers to define a regular expression pattern that the caller input needs to conform to. VoiceObjects Server automatically checks this and triggers a No Match event when appropriate.

To learn more about VoiceObjects 9.1, please join us for our upcoming Developer Jam Session on December 9, 2009 at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern / 5pm European.

In October we opened our support knowledgebase for the public use.
Now I can present two new functionalities to you (one of them was already pre-announced in my last post). Both will help you – these changes enable you to provide feedback to us.
As every other company we are looking out for customer feedback to enhance our offering. So if you tell us what you think about the knowledgebase as such or about a certain article this will really help us to get better!

You have from now on two options to do so. You can add your vote to an article (“Is the article helpful or not?”) and you can add a more detailed comment.

Vote articles

Below the knowledgebase article you will see the following:

This is the place where you can tell us how you think about this article – anonymously! Just click on the thumbs-up logo if that article helped you. In case this article did not meet your requirements click on the thumbs-down (I hope you’ll never do that again, don’t you?).
Please login into your Evolution page (evolution.voxeo.com or evolution.voiceobjects.com) to vote.
You can vote multiple times on a given page, but only the most recent vote counts – in case you changed your mind.

Comment on an article

On the top of each article you will now see that the page has a second tab:

Open this second tab – and you will be able to see all comments for an article. And you will be able to add your own comment too!

To add comments to your page please choose the “add comment” link on the bottom of the comments page:

This will open a mask where you can add a comment – with a subject and your text:

Click “Save” to post your comment to the page.
Your comment will end in our support team – and from there we may add a response to the comment.
In case you think that a comment might not be appropriate – no problem, we are also standing by in case you send a mail to support@voxeo.com or open a support ticket in your Evolution account.

We will also be happy to receive a suggestion for a new article!

Some weeks ago,  I announced the availability of VoiceObjects Evolution as the new Support Portal for our customers and partners – and that developers will get support for the Developer Edition through our Voxeo Evolution Portal.

Today we are opening our treasure chest a little bit!

Now available: The VoiceObjects Support Knowledge Base

You are now able to access Voxeo’s VoiceObjects Support Knowledge Base in our Evolution Portal. Just go to Documentation -> VoiceObjects Knowledgebase.

Articles in the Knowledge Base are written by our consultants, technology specialists and our Support team. They mostly cover frequently asked questions and general challenges from support, training and customer projects. This information is likely to be very helpful for you.
We open the Knowledge Base to share some of our knowledge and to support you with new ideas on how to approach a solution. Of course we also hope to get more of your feedback!

All articles have been reviewed internally. But – as the Knowledge Base is intended to be more dynamic than Voxeo’s VoiceObjects documentation, it might sometimes be the case that not everything in the Knowledge Base is a perfect fit for your issue. So some of the articles will refer to the documentation to avoid having the same content twice.
The Knowledge Base articles are not intended to replace the documentation or to give answers to all questions. They are primarily aimed at helping users in situations that are too specific to be handled in the documentation.
Please note that from time to time we might move articles from the Knowledge Base to the documentation – and vice versa.

Also note that some articles might describe behavior that is specific to a certain version of VoiceObjects (or other software) and thus cannot be generalized.
In case you can’t find the information you are looking for, please visit the Developer Portal to review the entire VoiceObjects documentation, the release notes and our developer blog!

Our Knowledge Base is updated frequently. We add new articles or remove articles which are no longer valid.
Therefore we need your input!
Please let us know what you think – about individual articles and the Knowledge Base system itself.

Please provide any feedback as article rating and in the VoiceObjects Desktop / Developer Edition Forum in the Support Forums of Evolution – until the comment functionality in the knowledgebase is available!

Since the end of 2008, VoiceObjects is part of the Voxeo family and since this time we worked on extensive enhancements for our technical support for customers, partners and developers.

While it was planned to open up the support system for our customers and partners for some time – and the old support ticketing system used at VoiceObjects already had all ingredients to show up as a support portal and knowledge base – the acquisition made this step even more urgent.
With the necessity of integrating VoiceObjects´ Technical Support into Voxeo´s Extreme Support organization, we were facing the need of having one ticketing system for all technical support inquiries.
The solution is Voxeo´s Evolution Portal.

Now we are happy to introduce VoiceObjects Evolution – a support sortal for customers, partners and developers using VoiceObjects´ technology, based on Voxeo’s Evolution.
This portal enables you to get support for your VoiceObjects related inquiries directly. It also allows the Voxeo Extreme Support team to use one system for all incoming support requests. This makes it easier for us to help you in the most effective way.

You may be wondering: “What is it all about?”
Well, this portal is a web based ticketing system. This means that the easiest way to get support is to log into Evolution and either open a support chat for quick questions or open a support ticket.

Or visit one of the available forums and check if your question has already been answered. If not – why not open a new forum thread?

Additional features are

• You are able to see all tickets opened for your account / company – even tickets opened by your co-workers

• Get access to the VoiceObjects documentation

• Explore other helpful resources

• View global tickets (announcements)

As a VoiceObjects Customer or Partner you are able to get a personal introduction to the portal. You or your manager should already have received a mail regarding the transition to the new support portal evolution.voiceobjects.com. If not, you will receive it within the next weeks.

If you are a VoiceObjects Developer I would like to ask you to register for your individual Evolution account at http://evolution.voxeo.com. This will give you the opportunity to receive support for your VoiceObjects products. Additionally it will give you the full Voxeo Evolution feature set – including the free hosted Voxeo Prophecy IVR.
You already have an account at Voxeo? Great – Just use it to get support for all of your Voxeo products!

And – we are not done yet.
We are working on integrating parts of our internal knowledge base into this portal within the next months.

Additional features for this portal are coming soon.
Stay tuned …

As you are probably aware by now, VoiceObjects got acquired by Voxeo.

During the past years, we have been able to create a software platform for self-service application development and analytics that is unique in the market. Many corporations world wide use VoiceObjects technology to successfully operate their phone self-services.

As Voxeo, we are now able to provide the complete technology stack to efficiently implement and operate self-services, including IVR and speech technology. And the best of all, Voxeo’s hosting offering enables you to develop and operate phone services without the need to build up and maintain your own infrastructure.

You are using an alternative IVR? Don’t be afraid. We will continue our strategy to provide an IVR-independent application development platform. More precisely, we will continue maintenance and will further extend our Media Platform Drivers to support all media platforms and new platform versions.

To learn more about what this acquisition means and what is next for the software, listen to this interview with Michael Codini, co-founder and CTO of VoiceObjects, hold by Dan York, Director Emerging Communication Technology, Voxeo.

You can download or play the podcast here:

[8:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Or you can watch on YouTube at: