Associated Press
NEW YORK — Send Dave Zimmer a fax, and chances are he’ll listen to it on his phone. Send him an e-mail, and he might listen to that, too.
If you leave Zimmer a voice-mail message, the market researcher will pick it up in his e-mail box. Sound confusing? It’s not supposed to be.
The technology is called unified messaging, and you’re apt to be hearing a lot about it as the need grows to better organize computer, phone and fax communications.
A few dozen companies sell these bundled products and services, and so far their customers range from freelance writers working from home to juggernauts of commerce like Microsoft Corp.
Although features vary, unified messaging systems work toward one goal: funneling sundry electronic messages into a single repository — in most cases an e-mail inbox.
Unified messaging systems, made up of a combination of hardware and software, enable a computer to convert an incoming phone call to a digital .wav sound file, then deliver it as e-mail, usually with an icon that distinguishes the message from a typical e-mail. Click on the icon and the message plays over the computer’s speakers.
Faxes arrive in the same inbox, attached to an e-mail as an image file. They’re opened in a separate image viewer.
Beyond the ability to check a single device for all messages, many unified messaging systems offer remote access to the inbox, either via the Web or telephone, or both. Hence the ability to listen to faxes and e-mail.
"Being able to get my voice mail when I’m out of the country is a big win for me," said David Farber, a University of Pennsylvania telecommunications professor who subscribes to a service from j2 Global Communications. "I can send a fax no matter where I am, without having to pay the outrageous rates charged by hotels."
Neal Matteo, 43, managing director of a New York management software firm, said his unified messaging service, provided by Call Sciences Inc., allowed him to review a legal contract while traveling in Pakistan in May.
Some brand-new programs even understand voice commands, advertising hands-free access while driving.
One of those, Captaris Speech for Microsoft Exchange — designed for use on large corporation computer networks — allows a user to listen to various types of messages but also create and send them using only voice commands.
There is a downside to unified messaging.
"Now that people are more responsive, we’re going to end up with more messages to handle each day," said Zimmer, a principal at Warrington, Pa.-based Unified-View, which analyzes unified messaging systems.
For individual consumers, there are a few options.
Call Sciences, based in Edison, N.J., sells monthly unified messaging service for about $25 per month, depending on use.
Hollywood, Calif.-based j2 Global Communications Inc., offers various services ranging in price from free to $12.50 per month, plus 10 cents a minute during use.
For the do-it-yourself crowd, Smith Micro Software Inc., based in Irvine, Calif., sells a $69.95 software package called HotFax MessageCenter that offers the same basic capabilities.
At the other end of the spectrum, companies like Captaris of Kirkland and Avaya Inc., of Basking Ridge, N.J., provide in-house software packages for corporate get-it-all-in-one-box systems.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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