A service that has just gone live lets people split their online address book into private, business, social ‘zones’ into which they can segregate the various email, instant messages and calls they send and receive, and access them all from a single web view.
Zones can be open and shut off at different times so that people are not disturbed by private messages or calls during work, and can choose to view the messages later on. The unified communications service from Dutch start-up Perzonae also funnels unwanted messages to zones that are rarely viewed, neatly handling spam and email-overload at work.
The service is being marketed as a way of combining into a unified system all of the features that people currently turn to tools and software such as Outlook, Thunderbird, MSN, Hotmail, Skype and Gmail.
“Less management, less junk, fewer distractions and interruptions,” the company said would be the benefit of its new service.
It’s a single sign-on service that’s always up to date across your devices” the company added.
The beta supports just emails, but Perzonae plans to quickly add support for instant messaging and eventually it will also support geolocation, so that people can see where their contacts are at any one time.
Following that it intends adding support for IP telephony, video and audio conferencing.
The idea behind the service is that too many people are using too many different tools for online communication, and management of them has become an unnecessary burden. It also believes people want to integrate their telephony, email and instant messaging activities.
Initially free, the company will introduce charges for the service as it adds features to it.
It said, “Perzonae allows people to create multiple identities to manage your on-line persona. Decide which accounts belong to which identity. Take back control and determine where to shift your communication, what information to share and what to shield from unwanted eyes.”
The Perzonae client runs on Windows XP and a version for Mac OS X is in the pipeline with plans for Linux and Windows Vista clients to follow. The company is reportedly also planning a version for Windows Mobile, iPhone, Symbian and Android.
