 |
|
|
|
| Press Release |
|
|
|
Developer Tools Available to Enable Computers to Identify, Verify User Voices Provo, Utah -- Sept. 15, 1997 -- Technology that allows developers to make computers and applications more secure by identifying and verifying the voices of the people who use them was announced today by the Speech Recognition API Committee, an industry-wide consortium of leading technology developers and users. The Speaker Verification API (SVAPI) Software Developer Kit, version 1.0. is now available free to software developers. The technology can make a major impact in applications such as telecommunications, electronic commerce, banking and finance where the computer system's ability to identify and verify the voice of an authorized user can meet demanding requirements for secure communications and access to information. The Software Developer Kit (SDK) is based on the SVAPI specification released on April 15 of this year. Beta Versions of the SDK have been available since this Spring, allowing technology providers and application developers to use and comment on the tools. "We have had an excellent collaborative environment in developing this tools," said Bruce Armstrong, Chair of the SVAPI Committee. "It has been gratifying to see the speech verification community come together. This new standard benefits both the technology provider and application developer." The SDK guides developers in creating solutions that can both identify a speaker's voice and verify the speaker's authorization to access information or other computer resources. The open, standard application programming interface (API) will expand the market for these solutions by allowing developers to engineer applications that will be compatible and interoperable with systems from different vendors, including customers' existing information networks and the Internet. Computer networking leader Novell, Inc. chairs the SVAPI sub-committee responsible for the new API specification and has played a leading role in its development. Other members include Citicorp, Dialogic, E. Boyl Consultants, Higgins and Associates International, Hughes, IBM Inc, ITT Industries, J. Markowitz Consultants, Texas Instruments, Motorola, SRI/Nuance Inc., T-Netix Inc, US Government -- Dept. Of Defense (DOD), Internal Revenue Services (IRS), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) --, Veritel, VeriVoice. Judith Markowitz, leading industry consultant, the SVAPI effort, signaled the importance of the SVAPI effort. "This is a critical step in developing the Speaker Verification and Identification markets, she stated. "The strong vendor support behind the SVAPI effort will make this the natural path for both technology and application developers." "Speaker Verification and Identification Technology will be a tremendous boon to the banking and electronic commerce industries," added Peter Higgens, independent consultant. "We are beginning to see high profile security technologies using voice verification. I expect this trend to accelerate. This is a high-growth arena with massive potential." Integration with Customer Networks The SVAPI is designed to integrate with the client-server applications used by businesses across today's data and telecommunications networks, including the Internet. The technology can add value to a broad range of Internet and Telephony applications, including Java applications designed for access and distribution across multiple platforms. Speaker Verification and Identification technology can provide user-friendly secure access to networks, electronic commerce, stock and bank transactions, and many other applications. Studies show that Speaker Verification is more effective in most security applications than conventional systems that asks the user to type a password. Research indicates that 30% of passwords can be guessed by unauthorized users, while Speaker Verification and Identification Technology has error rates of less than two percent. In addition, solutions developed with the new API specifications can be secured against recordings or voice imitations. Availability The SVAPI SDK can be downloaded from the Internet at www.srapi.com. T-NETIX, ITT and Keyware Technologies have announced SVAPI compliant versions of verification technology available now or very soon. SVAPI- compliant applications using technology from T-NETIX and ITT are being debuted at AVIOS 97 in San Jose, CA. SpeechTech, being held in New York on Sept. 30, will feature additional SVAPI-Compliant technology and applications. The SDK includes tools and sample code for C++ and Java developers for Windows 95/Windows NT environment. Unix compatibility is currently under development, and is targeted for release later this year. Novell is concentrating on making sure that SVAPI-compliant client/server applications run flawlessly in the IntranetWare environment. Future SVAPI Sub-committee efforts will include strong integration with telephony standards, particularly the ECTF s.100 specification. There will also be efforts to work with biometrics technology, such as fingerprints or retina scans. The SVAPI sub-committee will also explore ways to integrate the API specification with secure transfer protocols, such as those recently announced by Intel and Microsoft. The SVAPI Sub-committee is actively pursuing new members. For more information, see the SRAPI/SVAPI home page at www.srapi.com, or contact Bruce Armstrong of Novell at (information below).
Media Contact:
Technology Providers:
ITT Industries Inc.
SRI/Nuance Inc.
T-Netix Inc.
Veritel Inc.
VeriVoice Inc.
Citibank
Dialogic (ECTF Representative)
Other Committee Participants:
Hughes
Higgens and Associates, International
Markowitz Consultants
US DOD
US INS
US IRS Leading Hardware and Software Vendors Support SVAPI We have been extremely pleased with the industry collaboration on the SVAPI development," said Bruce Armstrong, Chair of SRAPI Committee and Manager, Novell Speech Technologies. "With the common goal of increasing the availability of Verification and Identification Technology to users and application developers, fierce competitors sat down together and hammered out a solution." Paul Shinn, Citicorp, expressed excitement about the specification: "We are extremely excited about the standard, and the quickly emerging support by technology vendors. In the past, we have had to completely rewrite applications in order to try out different technologies. SVAPI is going to make my life much easier." "The SVAPI Sub-committee has helped us achieve a goal that we proposed some time ago," said Ed Devinney, T-Netix, Inc. "We are announcing availability of our SVAPI-compliant engine simultaneously with the release of the SVAPI SDK." ITT Industries' spokesman Frank W. Smead states: "Customer need for SVAPI is strong. In early 1996, our internal API specification was one of the most popular pieces of literature at our exhibit booth at the Computer Telephony Expo in LA. Based on this evidence of customer demand, we offered this early version of SVAPI to the committee. It was used as a model to get started on the initial SVAPI specification. We are committed to providing SVAPI-compliant solutions to our development partners." Barry Frankel, CEO VeriVoice, was also pleased with the SVAPI effort. "The SVAPI team has been very good to work with. They made sincere efforts to address our needs. We are currently working on SVAPI- compliant prototypes and will make announcements soon on availability of SVAPI-compliant products." SpeakerKey spokesman, Alan Pressor, said "We have just become involved with the SVAPI effort in the last few months. The committee has produced an excellent tool for application developers. We expect to announce the time table for release of SVAPI-compliant versions of SpeakerKey technology shortly." Brad Wing, of the US INS also expressed excitement about the effort. "We have been using speaker verification technology at the US borders with excellent success. The SVAPI effort will make our future applications easier to develop because we won't have to use proprietary APIs to develop prototypes and applications using various technology providers." Peter Higgens, Principal Consultant for Higgens& Associates International expressed his approval of the SVAPI process. "The SVAPI Sub-committee has produces an interface specification that will permit system integrators to consider Speaker Verification services without being forced to choose among proprietary interfaces." |
|
|
