Configuring Voice Access

Mobile Access software has built-in support for providing voice accessibility. Its voice components are certified against the Nuance Voice Platform, which includes a VoiceXML 2.0-compliant voice browser.

To access the voice functionality, a voice server must be configured to provide speech recognition, text to speech, and a VoiceXML browser.

This section discusses the following available configuration options:

• Using a Voice Service Provider

• Using a Telephony System

• Using Session Initiation Protocol

• Using Native Audio

Using a Voice Service Provider

If your Portal Server software is accessible from the Internet, the simplest option is to use a voice application service provider, or a voice hosting service. The service provider runs the voice server and provides a phone number for calling your Portal Server software.

To enable voice service provider access, perform the following steps:

To Enable Voice Service Provider Access:

1. Install Sun Java System Portal Server Mobile Access software, and make sure the system is accessible from the Internet. You may need to open your firewall to HTTP traffic for the port assigned to Portal Server software web interface.

2. Identify a voice service provider that uses the Nuance Voice Platform. The platform must use the VoiceXML browser in the Nuance Voice Web Server, not just the core Nuance recognition platform. Contact Nuance for a complete list of voice service providers that support the Nuance Voice Platform.

3. Create an account with your voice service provider, and specify the HTTP URL of your Portal Server software. The service provider will assign a phone number and possibly a PIN for each service that you create. Most voice service providers allow the creation of evaluation accounts.

Using a Telephony System

If you plan to access Portal Server software using a phone, you must obtain a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) telephony card that is compatible with your telephony network (or switch) and your voice server hardware platform. NMS Communications has a range of DSP solutions that are compatible with the Solaris^TM Operating System (SPARC® Platform Edition), as well as Windows Intel platforms.

To use telephony system access, perform the following steps:

To Use a Telephony System Access:

1. Install the DSP hardware, device drivers, and software using the manufacturer’s recommendations. If you use an NMS Communications DSP card, you will also need the NMS Natural Access 2002-1 software.

2. Test the DSP card configuration using a test utility, usually supplied with the DSP software.

3. Provision a port or range of ports in your telephony switch, and configure the ports to use a protocol compatible with the DSP card.

4. Assign phone numbers to the ports established in step 3 above.

5. Connect the DSP card to the switch, and test its connectivity by dialing the numbers established in step 4 above. Use the test programs provided with the DSP hardware to verify correct operation.

6. Refer to the section Installing a Nuance Voice Web Server to install the Nuance components.

Using Session Initiation Protocol

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) allows users to access your portal site using Voice over IP (VoIP) from any computer equipped with a microphone and speakers.

To enable this, you must install a SIP software-based phone to communicate with the voice server. Pingtel has a SIP-enabled software-based phone application, InstantExpressa, which can be used for this purpose. A number of public domain SIP-based phones are available on the Internet.

To set up a system for SIP access, perform the following steps:

To Setup a System for SIP Access:

1. Locate the computer that will be used to communicate with Portal Server software. Ensure that it can communicate with your voice server using the SIP protocol. You may need to configure your firewall to open the SIP ports.

2. Install a SIP-based phone on this computer, and test it by connecting to a SIP service, if available. Many SIP-based phones include simple test servers that you can install for testing purposes.

3. Refer to the section Installing a Nuance Voice Web Server on page 58 to install the Nuance components.

Using Native Audio

The term native audio refers to accessing Portal Server software directly from the system that is running the voice server software. This means that the voice server must have an audio card and a microphone. Users can only interact with the native audio locally. Remote access is not possible.

For systems running Microsoft Windows operating systems, the sound card must be SoundBlaster compatible. To use native audio access, perform the following steps:

To Use Native Audio Access:

1. Refer to the section Installing a Nuance Voice Web Server to install the Nuance components.

2. Configure the Nuance Voice Web Server for native audio. Refer to the Nuance Voice Web Server documentation for details.