Cliff Holste, Materials Handling Editor

The News: Voice-driven software products provider, Voxware, Inc. recently announced the release of Version 4.0 of its popular Voxware 3 Software product.

	SCDigest Says:
	Version 4.0 enhancements enable companies to deploy and manage voice picking applications across many facilities from a single centralized location, even when system configurations and workflows differ in each facility. What Do You Say? Click Here to Send Us Your Comments

Why it’s Worth Noting: For years voice vendors delivered customized point solutions geared to voice-enable today’s operation – not tomorrow’s. Distribution executives were later frustrated by the high cost and time required to implement what seemed like simple changes. With their hands tied, they could not move forward as they wanted.

Buyers are now looking at all elements of TCO over the life of the solution. They need enterprise-level services that eliminate the problems associated with managing proprietary, single-site point solutions. According to Voxware, their Enterprise Voice Manager Version 4.0 provides the most comprehensive array of such capabilities on the market today.

No doubt companies that operate multiple DCs need central command and control, flexible management of IT resources, and centralized server options. Version 4.0 enhancements enable companies to deploy and manage voice picking applications across many facilities from a single centralized location, even when system configurations and workflows differ in each facility.

Voxware says the even if a company decided to move back and forth between centralized and decentralized management of their voice solutions, they can keep the same Voxware systems in place and such changes are transparent to the users.

The Story: Historically, voice solutions were designed to support the requirements of one DC operation. In most cases, they have not evolved much: the solution may actually be hosted in the DC itself, or hosted in a central data center – but the architecture does not contemplate more than one DC.

Voxware points out that for companies operating multiple DCs this decentralized architecture causes a number of problems:

• Expensive licenses for software needed to host the voice solution (either at each DC or a central location) such as Operating System and DBMS licenses, need to be acquired multiple times because separate instances are need for each DC.
• IT is restricted in how it can apportion resources to support the voice solution.
• Real-time, integrated visibility across all sites is not feasible.
• Managers have a hard time managing a decentralized IT infrastructure with very few local IT resources.

Voxware’s new Version 4.0 of Enterprise Voice Manager includes a web-based architecture that can scale to dozens of DCs so that it can grow and adapt to business changes. In addition, 4.0 also includes many functional enhancements to order picking, replenishment, and putaway applications. Plus, support for additional devices from Intermec, LXE, and Motorola are delivered, providing users with the widest range of mobile devices that support voice solutions in the DC.

Voxware has many large customers already using this centralized deployment approach. One customer, Performance Food Group, operates 18 facilities across North America and over 600 concurrent pickers on one instance of their software located in PGF’s Richmond, VA data center.

For more information on voice in the DC, featuring Jeff Williamson, SVP of Operations at PFG, you can view the Supply Chain Digest On-Demand Videocast. In this outstanding videocast, we discuss the often overlooked, incremental benefits that companies derive from the type of voice solution it chooses to implement. Click on the following link: Voice In Distribution Videocast.

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