US messaging software developer Centigram Communications Corp has announced four new products running on its Series 6 server, targeting service providers offering unified communications and Web-enabled call management services.
The first product is Unified Inbox, which provides users with access to voicemail and faxmail messages from any standard-based email client, making it possible to check all voice and text messages from a desktop of portable PC. Voicemail messages can be subjected to any of standard email function, such as forwarding, replying or distributing.
The second product is Internet Call Manager, which is currently beta testing for general availability in the first half of 2000, according to Janine Roth, VP of marketing and business development at San Jose, California-based Centigram. She described this product as analogous to Call Waiting and Calling Line ID on normal landlines, but transposed to the PC.
As around 70% of residential internet users in Europe and 65% in the US have only one phone line, they can now see if they have calls waiting and who theyÆre from, while they’re on the net, Roth said. Users can then decide whether to answer, divert the call to another number or send them a message and direct them to voicemail.
The third product is Short Message Service Center, which is in fact an upgraded version of an existing offering. We now enable web-to-SMS, email-to-SMS and faxmail-to-SMS, said Roth.
Last, there is Smart Forwarding, which the Centigram executive described as a mass market one-number service. Centigram recognized that most of the first generation of one-number services were overly complex, more aimed at the road warrior than the average citizen, said Roth. It has therefore brought out a more basic product which is not only more readily comprehensible to the customer but also easier to deploy and administer, from the service providersÆ point of view.
