mostly used for simple applications, such as automated switchboard attendants or credit card activators. Natural language systems, such as the type used by Dollar Thrifty, have a wide range of applications, including product and service ordering, telebanking, and travel reservation booking. A pair of emerging technologies-VoiceXML and Speech Application Lan- guage Tags (SALT)-are also helping to advance voice integration. Both rely on Web technology to make it easier to develop and deploy speech integra- tion applications. VoiceXML is an XML extension for creating telephone- based, speech-user interfaces. VoiceXML lets developers create directed dialogue speech systems that recognize specific words and phrases, such as names and numbers. That style of interface is well suited to callers who have no screen from which to select options. SALT, on the other hand, provides extensions to commonly used Web-based markup languages, principally HTML and XHTML. It makes such applications accessible from GUI-based devices, including PCs and PDAs. A user, for example, might click on an icon and say, "Show me the flights from San Francisco to Boston after 7 p.m. on Saturday," and the browser will display the flights. Both specifications aim to help developers create speech interfaces using familiar techniques. "You don't have to reinvent the wheel and program a new interface to get speech recog- nition access to your data," says Brian Strachman, a speech recognition analyst at technology research company In-Stat/MDR. Although most people think of speech integration in terms of customer self- service, the technology can also be used internally to connect an enterprise's employees and business partners to critical information. Aircraft mechanics, for example, can use speech integration to call up technical data onto a PDA ON THE MENU-TELECOM SERVICES or notebook screen. Likewise, inventory takers can enter data directly into databases via speech-enabled PDAs, without ever using their hands. The Bank of New York, for example, has