(June 26, 2003) - The SALT Forum, a group of companies with a shared goal of accelerating the use of speech technologies in multimodal and telephony systems, has published a SALT profile for the W3C's Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) markup language. The new SVG profile supplements the SALT 1.0 specification, which was contributed to the W3C by the SALT Forum and already included profiles for use with the XHTML and SMIL specifications. SVG is an XML-based language for describing advanced graphics that enables developers to deliver a visually rich user interaction experience in their Web applications. By adding SALT to SVG, developers can further enhance the user experience with interactive spoken interfaces coupled directly to the visual interface.

The SVG specification has gained considerable support since its release by the W3C. Its ability to render high-quality graphics on displays of varying size and resolution, along with a lightweight design that reduces computational requirements, has made it attractive to manufacturers of cell phones, PDAs, and other portable devices. SVG with SALT provides the means to build sophisticated mobile applications for these devices with easy-to-use speech interfaces that are accessible without looking at or touching the equipment. SVG with SALT can be used to provide speech "hot spots" within a graphic or provide spoken commands for scrolling and zooming the display. It can also be used to embed descriptive services for the visually impaired directly within a graphic, streamlining the workflow process.

The SALT specification was designed to add speech input, speech output and call control capabilities to practically any XML-based language. The SALT profile for SVG demonstrates the potential of this flexible and platform-independent approach for responding to technology advances that support improved content delivery.

"The SALT profile for SVG is an example of the exciting industry developments now underway to realize the full potential of SALT," said Glen Shires, chairperson of the SALT Forum's Technical Working Group. "The SALT Forum continues to take an active role in refining, enhancing and supporting the SALT 1.0 specification as an open industry initiative."

Mr. Shires, Principal Engineer of Application Enabling Software for Intel's Network Processing Group, was recently elected by Forum members to lead the activities of the Technical Working Group, which included development of the SALT profile for SVG. Mr. Shires coauthored much of the SALT 1.0 specification and is active in multiple W3C working groups. He holds several patents and has a distinguished history in the technology industry.

The SALT profile for SVG can be obtained from the http://www.saltforum.org/devforum/profiles/SALTProfileforSVG.asp ">SALT Forum.