Attending this year’s RSA Conference gave us the chance to gauge the security community’s perception and acceptance of voice biometrics. Bottom line: Security officers and solution vendors remain skeptical of speaker verification as a strong authentication solution. It’s up to the vendor community to connect-the-dots for security advocates by making it clear that biometrics figure into security solutions and, where phones are concerned, voice biometrics fit the bill.
Advisories
SAP Shows NetWeaver Voice at Genesys Event
At the recent Genesys Analyst Conference, SAP offered a preview of a solution integrating NetWeaver Voice runtime resources with the Genesys Voice Portal (GVP). The use case on display involved the automated dispatch of a utility company’s field technician based on an emergency situation. To complete the task, GVP performed under the command of NetWeaver Voice’s “voice dialogue runtime,†which is built on VoiceObjects technology. NetWeaver Voice has been available to developers for a number of months but will be formally introduced at SAP’s SAPPHIRE gathering in Atlanta in April.
CAT 2007: Simplifying Search, Service Delivery and Customer Care
In 2007, IT spending will grow very modestly. Yet spending on Conversational Access Technologies (CAT) – automated speech, real-time communications and service-oriented architectures – will continue to follow a growth rate in the high ‘teens or low twenties. You may think that the need to accommodate photos, music and video would crowd out automated speech as an important modality, but the opposite is true, as discussed in this advisory.
1-800-YELLOWPAGES: AT&T’s Entree into Free DA
AT&T’s free DA trials in Oklahoma City, Bakersfield (CA) and Columbus (OH) signal that the company is ready to cannibalize its own service. It is leveraging the capabilities of its automated platform – featuring technologies from VoltDelta, Envox, Nuance and Apptera – to automate DA queries as well as the purchase, placement and provisioning of a variety of audio advertising.
Sprinting Toward Mobile Services: Nuance Buys MobileVoiceControl
The acquisition of MobileVoiceControl, Inc. brings Nuance a downloadable product that runs on Palm’s Treo, RIM’s Blackberry and some Windows Mobile devices. More importantly, with MVC, Nuance now has a billing and retail relationship with Sprint/Nextel and a strategic content and advertising partner with Gannett (publisher of USA Today). All serve as real-world proof points for the Nuance Mobile concept.
Looming FFIEC Deadline Sparks Interest in Voice Biometrics
December 31, 2006 marks the deadline for compliance to guidelines established by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) for authenticating users of online banking services. While the guidelines focus on Internet-based commerce, banks must offer consistency and ease-of-use across multiple media. Voice biometrics has a major role to play as an authentication factor for multiple touch points.
RSA Adapts Vocent Product Line
RSA Security’s Adaptive Authentication for Phone furthers voice authentication’s foray into high-volume, customer-facing deployments. It makes good on RSA’s promise to incorporate Vocent’s framework (acquired via the PassMark Security acquisition) and Nuance’s biometric engine into its core offerings. Timing is driven, at least in the U.S., by a regulatory mandate for “two-factor” authentication. Demand “pull” is expected to follow.
On the Road to Speech-Enabled Mobile Search (SEMS)
Tellme Networks’ expanded role with Cingular and Call Genie’s partnerships with Verizon, Telus, Rogers and Yellow Pages Group create fertile beds for product definition, technology refinement market conditioning and, most importantly, business plan development. These market leaders show that there are many paths towards building sustainable business models on Speech-Enabled Mobile Search (SEMS).
INFONXX Buys Excell Services and Conduit: Seeking Global Scale for Local, Mobile Search
Wholesale providers of directory assistance services have a major role to play in the emerging local, mobile search marketplace. By acquiring Excell Services and taking formal control of Irish contact center operator Conduit Limited, INFONXX positions itself as a key source of service enhancements for directive advertising and customer care, in addition to enhanced directory assistance.
SpeechTEK 2006 Retrospective: Rationalizing a New Value Chain
High-profile addresses from Paul English, Microsoft and Nuance at SpeechTek 2006 indicate that the speech-processing community is acutely aware that new economic rules apply. New alliances and hosted service offerings are emerging to lower the cost and complexity of implementing speech-enabled applications. And new “standards†are emerging to ensure that new systems respond to the expressed needs of enterprise customers.