Unified messaging still needs ironing out

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by Jennifer Disabatino

SNOWBIRD, UTAH (IDG)-- Users and vendors at the Electronic Messaging Association conference here last week were looking for ways to integrate their various forms of corporate communications into a single messaging system. But the consensus was that despite years of hype, it's going to take time for that to actually happen.

"I think that the technology is there for a lot of it," said Clark Loffman, vice president of global messaging at Zurich-based Credit Suisse First Boston. "But I don't think that it's there to deploy on a wide . . . 24/7 basis."

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The convergence idea - known as unified messaging (UM) - calls for the integration of all forms of messages - e-mail, voice, fax and calendaring information - into a single system that can be accessed by the user's device of choice, be it phone, cellular phone, e-mail client or Web-based wireless device. Ideally, in such a system, text messages can be translated to voice and vice versa.

Business travelers "need to have as much with them as possible," Loffman said. "To simplify and improve life for users, many organizations would like to unify the various types of electronic communications people receive," explained David Ferris, an analyst at Ferris Research in San Francisco. "The earliest adopters are mobile executives, sales staff on the go and call centers."

Michael Goldgof, vice president and general manager of enterprise messaging at Lucent in Sunnyvale, Calif., said integrating some of the functions users want into a UM platform isn't going to happen soon.

One key application of UM would be to link customer relationship management to a user's messaging function. But that, Goldgof said, "still seems it will be a year or two out."

"[UM is] certainly not there yet," said Melissa Taylor, senior manager at WorldCom. Taylor said users have been hesitant to accept the wireless element in UM because of security concerns.

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