lustratus LiteBytes

I was intrigued to read an article today discussing how SOA had provided real value in a Voice environment.

Basically, the article describes how, in the manufacturing and logistics area, SOA is helping out the use of voice in the warehouse. The problem appears to be that, given that voice technology is still pretty early in the maturity cycle, most voice-based offerings are proprietary and tightly bound with the applications the voice interface is related to. But unfortunately, as with many industries, there is increasing demand for a flexible, adaptable and agile system to support warehousing, with changing regulations and a constant drive to reduce cost per transaction.

Given the proprietary nature of the technology, changes almost always relate back to requirements placed on the solution vendor, and hence agility and flexibility are outside the user’s control.

Step up SOA. By using emerging standards such as VoiceXML, together with SOA technology, vendors such as Voxware are starting to deliver solutions which are much more easily adaptable. Essentially, use of SOA and standards-based interfaces makes it much easier to interface to Warehouse Management Systems and ERP solutions. Systems become more flexible, enabling users to meet new business demands without having to depend on vendor turnaround.

It’s nice when technology you personally believe in actually does what it say on the box….

Steve