Glossary
A
ABNF
Augmented Backus-Naur Form. A metasyntax used for expressing context-free grammars (CFGs).
ACL
Access Control List. A list that specifies the rules for access to a particular resource.
Active Server Pages (ASP)
A server-side scripting environment that can be used to create dynamic Web pages or build Web applications. ASP pages are files that contain HTML tags, text, and script commands. ASP pages can call Component Object Model (COM) components to perform tasks, such as connecting to a database or performing a business calculation. With ASP, the user can add interactive content to Web pages or build entire Web applications that use HTML pages as the interface to your customers.
a-law
A lossy compression algorithm that converts an analog signal from 16-bit to 8-bit, and modifies the dynamic range of the signal for digitizing. Commonly used outside of the United States.
AM
Acoustic Model. A visual representation of a sound that shows the characteristics and behaviors of that sound.
ANI (Automatic Number Identification)
A means by which telephone company switches, call centers and computer telephony gear ascertains the calling party's telephone number. ANI-equipped gear can gather this information with inband or out-of-band signaling on both analog and digital circuits. ANI is used to route callers to the appropriate destination, to monitor calls, to perform billing, and to provide security.
ASP.NET
A component of the Microsoft .NET Framework for building, deploying, and running Web applications and distributed applications.
ASP.NET Application Speech Controls
ASP.NET controls that contain linguistic information that applies to common Web application scenarios. These include scenarios in which users pick a date, input an amount in dollars, provide a ZIP Code, or select an item from a list. Application Speech Controls:
| • | Are built from one or more Dialog Speech Controls such as the QA control and the Command control |
| • | Use the Grammar Library included with the Speech Application SDK |
B
babble
A stream of speech that continues beyond a time limit set by the application. For example, if a telephony application user begins a conversation with a colleague instead of responding to the application, and the duration of the user's conversational utterance exceeds the time limit for a response set by the application, the application treats the user's speech as babble.
bargein
The ability of the user to voice-interrupt ("barge in on") the system during a prompt. The bargein attribute allows the user to speak or use dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) input to interrupt a prompt.
C
.cfg
The file name extension for context-free grammar files.
CBEMA
Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association. An organization of hardware vendors and manufacturers in the United States involved in standardizing information processing and related equipment.
CFG
Context-free grammar.
coarticulatory effects
In the context of speech-recognition systems, the acoustic effects produced by the influence of one phone on the articulation of a neighboring phone.
confidence score
A value indicating the likelihood that the word or phrase recognized by the speech engine matches the word or phrase actually uttered by the speaker.
CSTA
Computer Supported Telephony Application. A set of API calls that provide an international standard interface between network servers and telephone switches. Established by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA).
CTI
Computer-Telephony Integration. The enabling of computer applications to integrate and control telephony functions.
D
DDI
Direct Dial Inward. A telephone service that provides companies or businesses with a block of numbers for calling into their Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system. With DDI, outside callers can dial individuals directly without intervention from a switchboard operator.
dialog
A programming construct, component, or element that structures, enables, or manages dialogue.
Dialog Speech Controls
A set of ASP.NET controls designed primarily for building Web-based telephony applications using Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) technology. Members include controls for the collection and validation of data. A client-side script handles confirmation and application flow without the need for a graphical user interface (GUI).
dialogue
A turn-taking exchange of audio, such as a human-to-human or human-to-computer exchange.
directed dialogue
Also known as system-initiative. A speech dialogue in which the application prompts for specific information and recognizes only the requested information at that point in the application.
DNIS
Dialed Number Identification Service. A telephone service that enables the receiver of a call to determine the number that the caller dialed. Commonly used by companies that have multiple 1-800 or 1-900 numbers.
DOM
Document Object Model. A programming interface specification developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that enables HTML and XML pages and documents to be created and manipulated as objects.
DRS
Design Requirements Specification
DSP
Digital Signal Processor. A specialized microprocessor used to perform high-speech, complex, and often repetitive operations on digitized waveforms. Typically used for audio or video processing. Digital signal processors operate in both time and frequency domains, and improve the accuracy and reliability of digital communications.
DTMF
Dual Tone Multi-frequency. The signaling system used in telephones with touch-tone keypads, in which each digit is associated with two specific frequencies.
E
.ETL
File name extension for a Windows Event Trace log.
EC
See explicit confirmation
ECMA
European Computer Manufacturer's Association. An industry organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, whose goal is the standardization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems. Developed Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications (CSTA) standards, which define the functionality and content of messages used by the SALT application. The American counterpart is the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturer's Association (CBEMA).
EIF
Enterprise Instrumentation Framework. A Microsoft technology that provides an extensible event schema and unified API that leverage existing event, logging, and tracing mechanisms built into Microsoft Windows.
engine
A processor or component that determines how the application manages and manipulates data. Three examples of specific types of engines used by Microsoft Speech Server (MSS) Speech Engine Services (SES) are:
| • | Prompt Engine |
| • | Speech Recognition Engine |
| • | TTS Engine |
Event Trace log
A file containing event trace log data.
explicit confirmation (EC)
The most basic form of confirmation. Of the three styles of confirmation (implicit, explicit, and short time-out), explicit requires the most user time, because it introduces an extra prompt to explicitly confirm information that the user has provided.
extraction
A segment of a prompt that can combine dynamically with other extractions at run time to create a prompt.
F
FirstInitialTimeout
A property whose value determines how confirmation is handled in a dialogue. If the value of FirstInitialTimeout is zero, then the QA control performs normal confirmation and the user must explicitly accept or deny the confirmation. If the value of FirstInitialTimeout is non-zero, then the QA waits for that number of milliseconds before raising the silence event.
form factor
In computer hardware, the size, configuration, or physical arrangement of a computer case or chassis, or one of its internal components. In computer software or programming, form factor typically refers to the size of the program or the amount of memory required to run the program effectively. Analogous to footprint.
G
grammars
A structured list of rules that identify the words or phrases that can be used for speech recognition.
Grammar files are XML documents created using the grammar XML elements defined by the W3C Speech Recognition Grammar Specification (SRGS). The Speech Grammar Editor in Microsoft Speech Application SDK Version 1.0 creates files in this format.
For applications that use Speech Engine Services (SES) with the default Microsoft-provided speech recognition engine, grammars must be saved in one of the following file formats:
| • | The W3C-compliant XML format (uncompiled). |
| • | The context-free grammar (CFG) format (compiled). |
| • | Other recognition engines may utilize grammars in other formats. |
.grxml
The file name extension for XML Form grammar documents, as adopted by the W3C Voice Browser Working Group. The Speech Grammar Editor in Microsoft Speech Application SDK Version 1.0 creates files in this format.
GRN Referencing
Grammar Rule Name (GRN) Referencing. A type of semantic markup language (SML) script referencing in which the script expression evaluates semantic values of, or assigns semantic values to, the Rule Variable (RV) of the rule element that contains the expression.
GRN Rule Variable
Grammar Rule Name Rule Variable. A predefined object that holds a semantic value which may be composed of multiple properties. Every rule element in a grammar has a single GRN Rule Variable. The GRN Rule Variable is identified by a dollar sign ($).
GRR Referencing
Grammar Rule Reference (GRR) Referencing. A type of semantic markup language (SML) script referencing in which the script expression evaluates semantic values of the Rule Variable (RV) of a rule element outside of the rule element that contains the expression.
GUID
Globally unique identifier. A program-generated number that creates a unique identity for an object.
H
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. The language most commonly used in World Wide Web pages.
I
IC
See implicit confirmation
IETF
Internet Engineering Task Force. The international community of network designers and professionals that defines standard Internet protocols and addresses Internet architecture issues.
implicit confirmation (IC)
The confirmation method that combines the confirmation question with the next information retrieval question to form a single prompt. Uses fewer prompts than explicit confirmation (EC).
inbound call
A telephone call originated by a user and directed toward the telephony server. Synonymous with incoming call.
inline grammar
Grammar logic that exists as XML markup in the code of an .aspx page rather than in a separate grammar file.
inline prompt
Static text that the prompt engine plays when the application activates a control. Only one inline prompt exists per control. If a control has an inline prompt, that prompt is the only prompt the control plays. An application cannot change an inline prompt at run time.
instance
An individual object of a particular class. A class is the definition of a type, and an actual occurrence of the class is called an instance. Each instance of a class can have different values for its variables.
ITN
Inverse text normalization. Enables a spoken numeric or symbolic value to appear as a number or symbol when translated by a speech recognition program. For example, if "twenty three" is dictated, it appears as "23" on the computer screen.
IVR
Interactive Voice Response. A telephony application that leads a telephone caller through a hierarchy of menus, delivers recorded or text-to-speech voice prompts, collects voice and data inputs, and performs other operations on behalf of the caller or the program sponsor. The term "IVR system" has historically referred to a DTMF-based (touch-tone) application where the host computer is referred to as the Voice Response Unit (VRU). However, an IVR system is now commonly referred to as a VRU.
L
Logman
A command-line tool provided with Microsoft Windows 2000 and later that is used for managing and scheduling event trace log collections.
M
Manifest File
A file containing a list of resources, such as grammar files and prompt databases, that Microsoft Speech Server (MSS) preloads and caches to improve performance. The Speech Web Application Project Wizard automatically creates a manifest file (manifest.xml) when a new project is created.
Microsoft .NET
Microsoft software for connecting information, people, systems, and devices. .NET provides XML-based interoperability and is being incorporated across Microsoft's clients, servers, services, and tools. For example, products like Microsoft Windows® and Microsoft Office will use .NET to connect with other systems and applications. For developers, .NET is manifested in the programming model delivered in the Microsoft .NET Framework.
Microsoft .NET Framework
An integral Windows component that enables building and running the next generation of software applications and Web services. It includes technologies for Web services and Web applications (ASP.NET), data access (ADO.NET), smart client applications (Windows Forms), and many others.
Microsoft Enterprise Instrumentation
An application programming interface (API) used by the Microsoft Speech Server to perform logging services.
Microsoft Speech Application SDK
The Microsoft Speech Application Software Development Kit (SASDK) is a developer's kit for adding speech interfaces to ASP.NET Web applications. The Speech Applications SDK contains a wealth of resources, including ASP.NET Speech Controls (Speech Controls), a rich voice-mode grammar library, authoring tools, debugging tools, log analysis tools, and sample and reference applications. The SASDK enables developers to create applications that recognize spoken commands and depending on the mode, communicate a spoken or a visual response to the user.
MIME
Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions. An e-mail protocol extension that enables the exchange of different file types, such as audio, video, and applications, through e-mail.
mixed-initiative dialogue
A speech dialogue in which the application prompts for specific information, but the user may respond with additional or different information that the application recognizes.
MMC
Microsoft Management Console. An application that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) and an operational framework for administrative and management tools.
ms
Abbreviation for millisecond (1/1000 of a second).
MSMQ
Microsoft Message Queue. Application-level messaging software that allows applications to asynchronously send and receive messages in disconnected environments.
MSS
Microsoft Speech Server
mu-law
See u-law
multimodal
The mode that allows a combination of speech and other means of input/output. Enables a user to speak to an application while, for example, pressing a stylus on a Pocket PC or clicking a mouse on a desktop application. Also allows an application to speak to the user while it displays graphics on the screen.
mumble
An utterance that the application recognizes with a confidence level that falls below the recognition rejection threshold. A speech recognizer often classifies an utterance as a mumble when:
| • | The user's pronunciation does not match the pronunciation expected by the speech recognizer. |
| • | Excessive noise (background noise or line noise) is present in the input. |
N
N-best
The recognition results in which the speech recognition engine has the highest levels of confidence. 'N' is the number of results returned.
NL
Natural language. A human language, as opposed to a command or programming language traditionally used to communicate with a computer.
NoReco
Shortened form of "No Recognition." NoReco is the name of the event generated by the speech recognition (SR) engine when the engine is unable to recognize input. The NoReco event is generated by one of four conditions:
1. | Sound detected, but no speech could be interpreted. The SR engine detects and parses speech, but is unable to match the parsed speech to the active grammar. |
2. | Mumble. The SR engine detects and parses speech, and returns a result, but the confidence level for the result is below the recognition rejection threshold. |
3. | Babble. The SR engine detects speech, but does not detect silence for the duration of time specified by the BabbleTimeout property. |
4. | No Sound. The SR engine stops listening before speech is detected during the period of time specified by the value of the InitialTimeout property. A NoReco event due to no sound differs from a Silence event. A NoReco due to no sound can be generated only before the time specified by the InitialTimeout property is reached, whereas the Silence event is generated only after the time specified by the value of the InitialTimeout property is exceeded. |
O
Out of Grammar
An utterance that is not legal as specified by the grammar for a given application state. The utterance may contain an invalid word or invalid word ordering. The input may also be non-speech noise.
outbound call
A telephone call originated by the telephony server and directed toward a remote party. Synonymous with outgoing call.
P
.pf
The file name extension for a prompt function file.
.promptdb
The file name extension for a working file containing transcription text, extraction data, and archived versions of prompt .wav files in their original recorded format. Compiles into a .prompts file.
.prompts
The file name extension for a prompt database file, a binary file that contains all the prompt information and audio data for a prompt project. Compiled from a .promptdb file.
.prproj
The file name extension for a prompt project file.
PBX
Private Branch Exchange. An automatic telephone switching system that enables users within an organization to place calls to each other without going through the public telephone network or a switchboard operator. Also allows users to place calls directly to outside numbers.
PCM
Pulse-code modulation. A method of encoding information in a signal by varying the amplitude of pulses. Unlike pulse amplitude modulation, in which pulse amplitude can vary continuously, PCM limits pulse amplitudes to several predefined values.
PEML
Prompt Engine Markup Language.
phone
A unique sound unit of speech.
phoneme
Abstract categories of speech sounds (vowels and consonants) grouped together to create words. For example, SAPI provides two default pronunciations of the word hello: "h ax l ow" and "h eh l ow." Each group of sounds, separated by spaces, represents a phoneme.
POS
Abbreviation for part of speech.
postamble
Optional ending words or phrase.
preamble
Optional beginning words or phrase.
prompt
A question, directive, greeting, or information spoken by a speech application. Examples:
| • | "On what date do you wish to depart?" |
| • | "Welcome to Paris." |
| • | "Press three." |
Prompt Database
A database containing the prompt information and audio data for a prompt project, including prompt transcription text, extraction data, and archived versions of prompt .wav files in their original recorded format.
prompt engine
The component of Speech Engine Services (SES) that processes text input and produces speech output by concatenating prerecorded words and phrases that match the text input. The prompt engine stores the recordings it uses on disk and indexes them in one or more prompt database files. SES is a component of the Microsoft Speech Server.
prompt function
Dynamically generates a prompt at run time.
prosody
A collection of phonological features including pitch, duration, and stress, that define the rhythm of spoken language.
Q
QA control
Defines a single interaction with the user, which is usually, but not always a "Question and Answer" dialogue. A QA control that collects data places it in SemanticItem controls.
R
RFC
Request For Comments. A formal document created and reviewed by members of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Some RFCs become Internet standards, and some are informational.
RMS
Root mean sequence.
RRV
Root rule variable.
RunSpeech object
Supports Dialog Speech Controls on a client device, and is responsible for the activation of these controls and the confirmation of data they collect. Also exposes several methods and properties used in client-side scripting.
S
SADS
Speech Application Deployment Service.
SALT
Speech Application Language Tags. A markup language extension that integrates speech services into existing markup languages such as HTML and XHTML. SALT consists of a set of XML elements, with associated attributes and Document Object Model (DOM) object properties, events and methods. Enables multimodal and telephony access to information and applications from PCs, telephones, and PDAs.
SALT Interpreter
A software component that interprets script and markup languages such as HTML, xHTML, and SALT on speech-enabled Web pages. A SALT interpreter works similarly to a graphical browser, except that it recognizes only voice commands rather than mouse clicks or text input. Like graphical browsers, it completes forms on the page and submits information to the Web server.
SAPI
Speech Application Programming Interface. A set of routines, protocols, and tools that enable programmers to build speech-enabled applications for Microsoft Windows platforms.
While the Microsoft Speech Server includes the latest version of SAPI it is not a part of the programming methodology for developing speech-enabled, voice-only telephone-based or multimodal applications for deployment on the Microsoft Speech Server.
SASDK
Speech Application Software Development Kit.
semantic interpretation
The process by which a semantic interpreter generates a result based on a spoken word or phrase that matches a grammar rule or rules.
SES
Speech Engine Services. Microsoft Speech Server component that provides speech recognition and speech output resources primarily for telephony and Pocket PC clients.
short time-out confirmation (STC)
Confirmation method that interprets silence as acceptance. With short time-out confirmation, the time period that the application waits for the user to speak is typically shorter than that in explicit confirmation.
SI
Abbreviation for semantic interpretation.
silence
No sound from the user is detected by the application.
SMEX
Simple Messaging Extension. The communication mechanism by which SALT applications establish an asynchronous message exchange channel for sending and receiving messages between the SALT application and external components of the SALT platform.
SML
Semantic Markup Language. An XML-based markup language that allows the application to identify and parse meaningful parts of speech recognition output.
SO
Abbreviation for speech output.
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol. Provides a simple mechanism for exchanging structured and typed information between peers in a decentralized, distributed environment using XML. Defines a message format in XML that travels over the Internet using HTTP. The protocol consists of four basic components:
1. | An envelope that defines a framework for describing message structure. |
2. | A set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined data types. |
3. | A convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses. |
4. | A set of rules for using SOAP with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). |
Speech Add-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)
A SALT interpreter that interprets SALT markup in speech application Web pages, enabling IE to properly render the pages. The Speech Add-in is required for multimodal connections; telephony operations do not require it.
Speech Add-in for Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer (IE)
A SALT interpreter that interprets SALT markup in Web pages for speech applications built to run using Pocket IE on a Pocket PC 2002 device.
speech application
An application in which human-computer interaction is mediated either unidirectionally or bidirectionally by speech.
Speech Debugging Console
A tool included with the Microsoft Speech Applications SDK that enables developers to debug speech applications during application design. Use Speech Debugging Console to debug both voice-only and multimodal applications within the Visual Studio .NET 2003 programming environment, or as a stand-alone application outside of Visual Studio.
Speech Engine Services (SES)
The component of Microsoft Speech Server that processes the audio (speech) streams that pass between the speech application and the user.
Speech Recognition
The process of converting spoken language into printed text. Speech recognition (SR), also called speech-to-text recognition, involves:
1. | Capturing and digitizing the sound waves produced by a human speaker |
2. | Converting the digitized sound waves into basic units of language sounds or phonemes |
3. | Constructing words from the phonemes |
4. | Analyzing the context in which the words appear to ensure correct spelling for words that sound alike (such as write and right) |
Speech Recognition (SR) Engine
The component of Speech Engine Services (SES) that converts spoken input to text and delivers the text to an application. SES is a component of the Microsoft Speech Server.
SR
See Speech Recognition.
SRGS
Speech Recognition Grammar Specification. Specification developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that defines syntax for representing grammars for use in speech recognition. Enables developers to specify the words and patterns of words to be listened for by a speech recognizer.
SSML
Speech Synthesis Markup Language. An XML-based markup language used to control various characteristics of synthetic speech output including voice, pitch, rate, volume, and pronunciation and other characteristics.
Start Page
The page that is loaded when an instance of a SALT interpreter is initialized. The Start Page is to SALT interpreters what a Home Page is to graphical browsers. When the caller's session terminates, the SALT interpreter resets and reloads the Start Page.
system-initiative
A speech dialogue in which the application prompts for specific information and recognizes only the requested information at that point in the application. Also known as directed dialogue.
T
tap-and-talk
When using devices like Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC (Pocket PC) or Tablet PC, tapping a control with the input stylus and then speaking to input data.
TAS
Telephony Application Services. The client that renders telephony applications in a staging and production environment.
TASim
Telephony Application Simulator. The client that render telephony applications in the Speech Application SDK (SASDK).
TCQ
Triggered Call Queue. The process running on the Web server that receives alert notifications from SSNS, routes call requests to available interpreters, and monitors call request status interpreter status.
telephony
Telephone technology (voice, fax, or modem transmissions) based on the conversion of sound into electrical signals or wireless communication.
Telephony Application Services (TAS)
The component of Microsoft Speech Server that maps incoming calls to the associated speech application on a Web server, and sends application requests for speech output or recognition to Speech Engine Services. TAS is a SALT interpreter.
text normalization
The process of converting abbreviations and non-word written symbols (for example, "7") into words that a speaker would say when reading that symbol out loud.
TIM
Telephony Interface Manager.
time-out confirmation
Confirmation and correction of the user's responses using a combination of implicit confirmation (IC), short time-out confirmation (STC), and explicit confirmation (EC) strategies.
Token
Specifies a string that a speech recognizer can convert to a phonetic representation.
Transcription
A document that is produced by converting or transcribing spoken words into written text. Commonly transcriptions of recorded interactions (for example, a telephone call) with a speech application are produced in order to better analyze the performance of the application. By matching what the user said during a call with the log file showing how the application behaved in response, a speech application designer can more easily "tune" or improve the performance and effectiveness of the application.
transcription
A record of a speech-based conversation converted into written text. Commonly used to analyze the performance of an speech application by matching what was said during the call with the log file of what actually happened.
TTS
Text to speech. The process of converting text into spoken language by breaking down the words of the text into phonemes, analyzing the input for occurrences that require text normalization, and generating the digital audio for playback.
Used in voice-processing applications requiring production of broad, unrelated, and unpredictable vocabularies, such as products in a catalog or names and addresses. This technology is appropriate when system design constraints prevent the more efficient use of speech concatenation alone.
Text to Speech (TTS) Engine
The component of Speech Engine Services (SES) that processes text input and produces speech output by synthesizing words and phrases. SES is a component of the Microsoft Speech Server.
U
u-law
A lossy compression algorithm based on pulse code modulation (PCM) that converts an analog signal from 16-bit to 8-bit, and modifies the dynamic range of the signal for digitizing. Commonly used in the United States. Also referred to as mu-law.
UPL
User-perceived latency. The length of time that a user perceives to occur between the end of one event and the beginning of a subsequent event.
URI
Uniform Resource Identifier. A character string used to identify a resource (such as a file) from anywhere on the Internet by type and location. The set of Uniform Resource Identifiers includes Uniform Resource Names (URNs) and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. An address for a resource on the Internet. Specifies the protocol used to access the resource (such as http: for a World Wide Web page or ftp: for an FTP site), the name of the server on which the resource resides (such as http: //www.woodgrovebank.com), and, optionally, the path to a resource (such as an HTML document or a file on that server).
Utterance
Anything heard by the engine as a finite series of sounds that the engine attempts to recognize as speech.
V
VAD
Voice Activity Detector.
Vocabulary
The set of words used in the grammars that a speech application uses. Words that are not in the vocabulary, out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words, cannot be recognized by the speech application.
voice-only
An application that is driven by using either Speech or DTMF input. Telephony applications are a type of voice-only application in which users interact with the application by speaking into the telephone or pressing buttons on the numeric keypad.
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol. The use of the Internet Protocol (IP) for transmitting voice communications. VoIP delivers digitized audio in packet form and can be used to transmit over intranets, extranets, and the Internet. It is essentially an inexpensive alternative to traditional telephone communication over the circuit-switched Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). VoIP covers computer-to-computer, computer-to-telephone, and telephone-based communications. For the sake of compatibility and interoperability, a group called the VoIP Forum promotes product development based on the ITU-T H.323 standard to transmit multimedia over the Internet.
VPN
Virtual Private Network. A set of nodes on a public network that communicate among themselves using encryption technology so that their messages are safe from being intercepted and understood by unauthorized.
VUI
Voice User Interface.
W
W3C
World Wide Web Consortium. The organization that sets standards for the Web and HTML.
Web Server
The component of a Web application speech system that generates application Web pages containing HTML, SALT, and script. The Web server used by the Microsoft Speech Platform is Internet Information Services (IIS), which is included with Windows 2003 Server.
Although technically not a component of Microsoft Speech Server (MSS), a computer running Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is an integral part of a complete MSS deployment scenario.
Web Service Description Language (WSDL)
An XML format for describing Web services. WSDL allows Web service providers and users of such services to work together easily by separating of the description of the abstract functionality offered by a service from the concrete details of a service description (such as "how" and "where" that functionality is offered).
Web services
Protocols that enable computers to work together by exchanging messages. Web services are based on the standard protocols of XML, SOAP and WSDL, which allow them to interoperate across platforms and programming lan
WMI [Scripting]
Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a standardized programming interface for managing computers, servers, and networks. Applications and scripts can use WMI to access information about almost any Windows resource, on the local machine or remotely.
WMI originated from the Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative and the Common Information Model (CIM) adopted by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). WMI includes the managed objects that are defined by CIM, as well as extensions to the CIM model for additional information available from the Windows platform. WMI uses a single consistent, standards-based, extensible and object-oriented interface, which makes Microsoft Speech Server extremely manageable.
WML
Wireless Markup Language. An XML-based markup language used to specify content and the user interface for narrowband devices, including cellular phones and pagers. Part of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
X
XHTML
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language. A markup language incorporating elements of HTML and XML. Web sites designed using XHTML can be more readily displayed on handheld computers and digital phones equipped with microbrowsers.
XML
Extensible Markup Language. A condensed form of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) that allows Web developers and designers to create customized tags.
XMLNS
XML namespace. A collection of names, identified by a URI reference, which are used in XML documents as element types and attribute names. XML namespaces differ from the "namespaces" conventionally used in computing disciplines in that the XML version has internal structure and is not, mathematically speaking, a set.
XSLT
Extensible Stylesheets Language Transformations. A language used to transform an existing XML document into a restructured XML document. Primarily intended for use as part of XSL. Also called XSL Transformations.