AJAXImpact on TelecomIt’s not just for web sites anymore

3

So what is AJAX?

• Asynchronous JavaScript and XML– Refers to a programming model in which the user Interface is driven by data

instead of “pages”

– DOM manipulation is used to update UI components

– Sites and applications are more responsive

4

Technical Impact of AJAX on the Web

• Advantages– Application skeleton only downloaded once

– Can result in significant reduction in bandwidth

– Asynchronous requests allow browser to be more responsive

– Page transitions are eliminated resulting in less "flicker"

• Disadvantages– Applications become more chatty

– Harder to develop

– Breaks the back button

– Impacts “bookmarkability”

5

Technical Impact of AJAX on Telecom

• Advantages– Application skeleton only downloaded once

– Can result in significant reduction in bandwidth

– Asynchronous requests allow browser to be more responsive

– Page transitions are eliminated resulting in less "flicker"

• Disadvantages– Applications become more chatty

– Harder to develop

– Breaks the back button

– Impacts “bookmarkability”

6

Are people doing this today?

7

Sure, Voice Browsers have needs too!

• VoiceXML and CCXML engines are browsers• Governed by the W3C• Based on proven web standards/techniques

– Open protocols (HTTP, SSL)

– Request-response model

– HTTP 1.1 Caching

– Intelligent resource pre-fetching

8

VoiceXML

• Used to create interactive Voice Dialogs• VoiceXML : Speech :: HTML : Web• AJAX-style development via the <data> element• Uses ECMAScript as it's primary scripting language

9

Demo

Demo: “Score!”

10

Demo Overview

• What did we cover?– VUI downloaded once per call instead of once per lookup

– Scores loaded “on-the-fly” using a custom Web Service

– Audio files are cached via standard HTTP caching headers

• Wait, but was that asynchronous?– No, VoiceXML is effectively a procedural language

– To do true AJAX we need an event/callback model

11

Enter CCXML...

• A complementary standard to VoiceXML• Completely asynchronous!• Allows interaction with low level signaling (i.e. SIP)• A container for VoiceXML Dialogs• Loves ECMAScript!

12

Thanks to the ITP Program at NYU for the idea: http://itp.nyu.edu/itp/

Demo

Demo: “Your clicks are important to

us”

13

Demo Overview

• What did we cover?– Asynchronous event processing

– CCXML was able to send and receive messages from an external source

– We leveraged several open source JavaScript libraries in a way it’s authors may have never imagined!

14

But don’t stop there!

• AJAX is not just about performance!– The emergence of AJAX brought on a landslide of innovation that has

fundamentally changed the way we approach software delivery (e.g. Software as a Service)

– AJAX requires that developers separate their UI from the underlying data; maximizing code reuse

– Massive online social networks and countless Internet superstars owe their beginnings to this new development paradigm

15

Social Impact of AJAX

• Service Oriented Architectures (SOA)• Mass adoption Open Standards• Free services funded by advertising• Faster ECMAScript Engines!!!

16

Q&A