Unified communications products abound

Network convergence, as in unified communications across applications and between wired and wireless modes, again is a big theme at VoiceCon in San Francisco this week.

Announcements Monday, and others expected later this week, concentrated on tying voicemail, call forwarding and other features of business desk phones with cell phones. The innovations move a step further than those announced by vendors at VoiceCon's March conference.

For example, Sprint Nextel Inc. Monday announced the availability of wireless integration with Cisco Unified Communications Manager, meaning that Sprint CDMA phones can be fully integrated into Cisco's UCM. That solution will allow companies to route calls over IP and reduce toll calls, Sprint said in a statement. Many of the capabilities offered by Sprint today are based on innovations Cisco Systems Inc. unveiled in March 2007.

The Sprint-Cisco service will also allow IT managers to set restrictions on mobile device usage, such as preventing users from making 900-number calls or international calls, as is commonly done with a desk phone. Mobile calls can also be tracked and logged. Corporate voicemail and intra-company calls can be extended to cell phones.

The deal also should give end users simpler dialing, such as calling a co-worker's extension. One phone number and one voicemail on both cell phones and desk phones would also be possible. No details on cost were provided for the service.

Avaya offers speech to text

In another example of unifying communications, Avaya Inc. Monday announced a capability for workers to read voice mail messages on their cell phones or computers. Called Avaya Speech to Text, the system works with any e-mail system and any connected mobile device, delivering the text messages with caller ID information. It was developed with Mutare Software and SpinVox. Details on pricing were not announced.

Also, Avaya said it has come up with software to combine many voice and video telephony and unified communications applications into a single package called Unified Communications All Inclusive. Available now, Avaya said the package will have no added cost for customers of Avaya Communication Manager 5.0 Enterprise Edition and will cost US$50 per user for an upgrade to the Communication Manager 5.0 Standard Edition.

Avaya, in a statement, listed eight different components of the All Inclusive package, including support of H.323 and Session Initiation Protocol audio and video through Avaya one-X Communicator. All types of communications media can be reached through a single interface via one-X, Avaya said.

Also, One-X Mobile from Avaya will enable call routing, voice-to-text e-mail and directory access through a single interface on 500 different mobile devices, including the Apple Inc. iPhone and phones from Research in Motion Ltd., including is Blackberry line, and Windows Mobile devices.

Mitel offers mobile unified clients

Also Monday, Mitel Networks Corp. announced a family of desktop and mobile unified communications clients. They include Mitel Unified Communicator Mobile to provide a single number and voice mailbox to mobile devices and to make cellular calls over the a business network to minimize calling charges. The Mitel technology can be used on devices running he Windows Mobile, Symbian and RIM BlackBerry operating systems.

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