Unified Messaging

Waiting for the Desktop Standard
Integrated messaging products have been around for nearly five years, but until recently they have not raised significant enterprise interest. Two early integrated messaging pioneers were Active Voice and Applied Voice Technology (AVT). Both shipped products in late 1992 and 1993.

Users of these new applications saw them as an efficient way to view voice and email messages on the same screen; the applications were impressive accomplishments at the time. Other voice mail vendors followed the two companies' lead in offering integrated messaging solutions, and the race was on to grab enterprise desktop market share.

But sales of integrated messaging never fulfilled early expectations. Vendors ended up primarily selling their standalone voice mail systems. Something wasn't quite right.

One important reason for enterprise resistance was the requirement that users give up their email client in favor of the proprietary messaging client that the voice mail companies supplied. The early integrated-messaging vendors figured that the benefits of a common GUI to view both email and voice mail messages was enough to convince enterprises to throw out their existing email systems.

Users didn't like this approach because the new desktop clients were different and often lacked some familiar features of their standard email program. Administrators didn't like this approach because it meant splitting the company into two groups: people who had the corporate standard email program and those with the integrated messaging front end. That dual system meant extra training, extra support, and extra cost.

Enter computer telephony (CT) rule #1: CT systems enjoy the highest level of acceptance when they adapt to their network and telephone surroundings rather than replace them. So the next big issue for enterprise acceptance was which email client was flexible enough to assimilate new integrated/unified messaging features?

Exchange to the Rescue
Exchange has influenced the acceptance of integrated and unified messaging in the enterprise. Exchange is rapidly becoming the standard as a messaging front end; most major voice mail vendors have declared their intentions to support integrated messaging under Exchange. MAPI and the Exchange client extensions make this support possible.

Not all industry leaders in unified messaging, though, are singing an Exchange-only tune. Vendors such as AVT and CallWare Technologies also support Lotus Notes and Novell Groupwise as desktop email clients for their integrated messaging solutions. Octel Communications intends to support other email platforms, too, as part of its unified messaging strategy.

But vendors express excitement and hope for Exchange- and Microsoft Outlook-based solutions for continued enterprise growth of unified messaging. (Outlook is the new desktop information manager that is part of Microsoft's Office 97 Suite.) Exchange 5.0, Outlook, and NT's next-generation Directory Services promise new features to make single-directory unified messaging systems easier to implement than before. As a result, more vendors can offer products that follow the true unified model with Exchange Server, storing different message types in one server system.

Some Unified Messaging Products
Let's briefly look at some integrated and unified messaging products from some key vendors. For more detailed information and product demos, you can go to the vendors' home pages.

Active Voice. Active Voice says the company was first to show an integrated messaging product, TeLANophy, in fall 1992. Active Voice, like AVT, has been responsible for much of the pioneering development and market work.

Active Voice announced ViewMail for Microsoft Messaging, which offers a full set of integrated messaging capabilities. This product works with both Exchange and Outlook clients. ViewMail for Microsoft Messaging offers voice, fax, and email support that lets you send voice mail messages to anyone reachable by Exchange, even if the recipient does not have an active account on any voice mail system. Active Voice also has integrated messaging support for Lotus Notes and Groupwise, but the company believes strongly that Outlook will win as the best possible unified messaging platform and client interface for the enterprise.

Active Voice's leaders say they will offer both integrated and unified messaging solutions and let their customers choose which is best for them. The company is currently working on its next-generation Exchange-based true unified messaging product.

Applied Voice Technologies. AVT has produced an integrated messaging solution since fall 1993. AVT now successfully ships thousands of copies a year of CallXpress3.

CallXpress3 offers both TUI and single-screen GUI (the latter shown in Screen 1) interfaces to messages in a unified inbox model, allowing support of voice, fax, and email message types. CallXpress3 offers message platform support for both Exchange and Groupwise. AVT says that this year, it will introduce a server-based (true unified) messaging system that will run under both Exchange and Groupwise.

AVT also recently announced CallXpressNT, a fourth-generation NT-based computer telephony server. CallXpressNT offers a scalable solution that will interoperate with other Microsoft Back Office products, such as SNA Server and SQL Server.