San Francisco, CA and Oslo, Norway — (press release excerpt) — IBM and Opera announced that they will jointly develop a multimodal browser based on the XHTML+Voice (X+V) specification. The beta version of the browser, available this fall, can allow access to Web and voice information from a single mobile device.

This project builds upon IBM's and Opera's ongoing relationship. In 2001,IBM, Motorola and Opera submitted the multimodal standard X+V to the standards body W3C. This mark-up language leverages existing standards, already familiar to voice and Web developers, so they can use their skills and resources to extend current applications instead of building new ones from the ground up.

Multimodal technology allows the interchangeable use of multiple forms of input and output, such as voice commands, keypads, or stylus — in the same interaction. As computing moves away from keyboard-reliant PCs into devices such as handheld computers and cellular phones, multimodal technology becomes increasingly important. This technology will allow end-users to interact with technology in ways that are most suitable to the situation. For example, multimodal applications bring tremendous benefits to field force automation. Off-site workers will be able to request inventory information by voice, for instance, when they're on the factory floor and need to access information – hands-free. The information can then come back to them in text, or as graphics.

This is the latest in a series of moves IBM is making in multimodal technology. Last week, IBM announced its multimodal toolkit for developers and the planned addition of multimodal capabilities to its recently announced WebSphere Everyplace Access (WEA). Built on IBM's WebSphere Voice Toolkit, the multimodal toolkit will contain a multimodal editor, in which developers can write both XHTML and VoiceXML in the same application; reusable blocks of X+V code; and a simulator to test the applications. Additionally, the toolkit adds Eclipse-based plug-ins to a web developer's existing WebSphere Studio development environment. WEA enables access to enterprise data and applications from a wide range of mobile devices. The addition of X+V-based multimodal capability to WEA allows users to access business applications such as databases and Customer Relationship Information applications via multimodal devices.

Adkins added that tools such as reusable dialog components — chunks of code that can be used to build applications to different industries– would help greatly to ease voice and multimodal development. “A developer should be able to use the same block of code to build a credit card application for retail as he'd use for a travel application,” he said.

 
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