The first industry-wide standard the “5A” Protocol released

Beijing, September 24, 2014 – ZTE, one of the global leaders in the mobile handset manufacturing industry has established the “Smart Voice Alliance” and announced the “5A” protocol, which is the world's first voice controlled technology alliance for mobiles. This partnership includes other leading enterprises in the industry such as: Audience, Nuance, AutoNavi, Baidu, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has been officially launched at PT/EXPO COMM CHINA 2014 in Beijing as the first industry-wide code of practice.

This strategic alliance main purpose is to integrate all of the existing voice technologies, ranging from manufacturers of voice control products to content providers, from software designers to handset manufacturers, to establish a standard platform that will enable a stable and fast paced growth for the whole industry in all levels and permit a gradual migration from touch screens to voice controlled devices. 

The first industry-wide standard protocol “5A” has been based on 5 clear principles to establish a set of clear guidelines for development across the entire sector, those principles are:

• Anyone – Giving users customized configuration;
• Anyhow – By enabling users with fully smart controls;
• Anytime – That it can be used whenever required in any weather type or particular situation;
• Anything – By including in its data bank ten million terms;
• Anywhere – Allowing use under any type of environment and in any circumstance.

The commitment of “5A” protocol is to ensure that the highest standards of research and development are to be used, and special attention is given to enhance end-user experience and satisfaction.

As expressed by Adam Zeng Xuezhong, CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices and Executive Vice President of ZTE Corporation, during the launch of the alliance, “ZTE believes that voice control is the future of smart mobile phones and it has already become ZTE’s core strategy. However, the current mode of touch screen control is deeply rooted in the behavior of users. Change can only come when voice control becomes more practical”.

ZTE was one of the first companies to make some of the earliest ventures into smart voice research and saw in this field an opportunity for development since the year 2012. From that point on, it has become a market leader. During the 2013 Beijing Technology Exhibition, ZTE released “Driving Assistant”, the first entirely voice controlled driving software powered by Nuance Communications, then in April ZTE quickly followed with the success of “Star 1”, a handset showcasing the depth of ZTE’s technical expertise in voice control technology, also powered by Nuance. ZTE Star 1 incorporated technologies which were the sole creation of ZTE, and capable of a sensational voice-command recognition rate of over 90%. As an important fact, the actual reaction speed for identifying a person’s name is 1.2s (from a 1500 name cards data base), making the voice-command recognition rate and speed of response rank first in the world.

“We are thrilled to join the Smart Voice Alliance, which will drive the development of thoughtful and compelling voice innovations for the global market. The 5A protocol showcases ZTE’s continued leadership in bringing more intelligent mobile experiences to market across its mobile portfolio,” said Michael Thompson, executive vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. 

“As the leader in advanced voice and audio processing in mobile devices, Audience is aligned with ZTE’s vision that voice control will play a key role in the future of smartphones and we are honored to be a member of the new Smart Voice Alliance,” said Robert Schoenfield, Vice President Worldwide Sales, Managing Director, China.  “We look forward to working closely with the alliance members to create voice-enabled platforms that deliver an outstanding user experience for mobile consumers everywhere.”

The expectation is, that by the end of 2014, the entire process of voice recognition will be finished to offer a complete experience, from the moment the mobile is activated and through with the running applications all achieved by voice control. This breakthrough will represent a great leap for the mobile technology world.