Rolm Corp, the Siemens AG-IBM Corp joint venture, has extended its PhoneMail family with a voice messaging system for extensions of 200 and under, enhanced its 9750 systems and emergency capabilities and added cellular support. The latest member of the family is Phonemail SP, aimed the branch office and small business market. It is around the size of a personal computer terminal and at present can be integrated only with Rolm PABXs. The system comes with four or eight speech processing channels and 4, 10, or 16 speech storage hours. Two types of disks drives, standard and high capacity are available and it also supports long distance networking capabilities. Rolm has also enhanced its Release 9005 voice system, adding extra security, international call route and backup power options. The security enhancements limit the number of Authorisation Codes and the system now disconnects the caller after one invalid attempt. International route optimisation means the system can choose the lowest cost carrier. Other enhancements to the system include System Forwarding Four Targets, where users now can choose to have calls forwarded to one of four locations, instead of having just two choices, as was the case before. There is now also a Data Priority Queuing option, enabling priority status to be assigned to certain users so they do not have to wait for data lines. A Configurable Data option enables customers with large numbers of casual data users to configure data lines for casual users differently than for heavy users, freeing up space in the system for other users. Cellular phone users can now access PhoneMail, and calls can be routed to cellular phones when new messages arrive. Rolm says its new emergency capabilities improve response time to emergency calls from office buildings, potentially saving lives and preventing property damage. With the service, an emergency dispatcher answering a call automatically receives the caller’s specific extension number which enables the dispatcher’s computer to access its database for the address of the building where the call originated and the caller’s location within it. Previously the dispatcher would get at best the main address and number of the establishment, without the caller’s location.
