Evaluating Unified Messaging Solutions

Prepared and Published by Blair Pleasant

COMMfusion LLC

The contents of this report represent analysis by COMMfusion LLC, of information generally available

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founded on numerous sources (which COMMfusion LLC believes to be reliable) and includes subjective

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Unified Messaging – What it is and What it isn’t

Unified Messaging (UM) has taken a back seat to the latest hot technology – Unified Communications (UC). But with the advent of UC, there is now more momentum in the UM market than ever before. Unified messaging is an important component of UC, and as UC systems become more ubiquitous in enterprises, UM systems will also become more prevalent.

As UM systems add real-time communication capabilities, enterprises can experience enhanced value and benefits of these systems (or Enhanced UM). Enhanced UM functions including routing and call connection and completion capabilities, such as find me/follow me, live reply, call screening/filtering, and speech access to calendar information, help enterprises improve worker productivity while reducing operating expenses and contributing to increased revenues.

The following differentiates between voice mail, unified messaging, and unified communications.

• Voice Mail: Voice mail is a centralized system of managing telephone messages for a large group of people. Most voice mail systems can forward messages to another voice mailbox, send messages to multiple voice mailboxes, add voice notes to a message, store messages for future delivery, make calls to a telephone or paging service when a message is received (outcall, SMS, MMS, e-mail, etc. notification), transfer callers to another phone for personal assistance and play different message greetings to different callers. Many voice mail systems also offer an automated attendant facility, allowing callers answered by the system to dial a selected person's mail box or telephone.

• Enhanced Voice Mail: COMMfusion defines this as voice mail systems that add the visual voice mail component, or the ability to receive voice mail messages via the email or web client. Voice messages are generally stored as .wav files and can be played over the computer’s speakers.

• Unified Messaging: UM is the integration of voice, fax, and email messages and message notification, allowing users to access any of these messages, anywhere, anytime, from any terminal. The UM inbox can be accessed via a telephony or a computer interface. The key benefit is unified message management, screening/filtering, consolidated message notification, desktop/browser fax and voice mail retrieval, and cross-media message response. For the purposes of this report, we do not differentiate or distinguish between a single store (unified) and a dual store (integrated) – as long as users can access their voice mail, email, and fax messages in a single inbox, it is considered unified messaging.

• Enhanced UM: includes a range of real-time capabilities, such as desktop call screening of inbound calls using recorded caller identification input, and or contact data “screen pops; find me/follow me; call return capabilities from the voice mail server during message retrieval, also known as "live reply" capabilities; screening and filtering of messages and calls using Personal Assistants and speech recognition technology; cross-media messaging; integration with calendar, contact, and other groupware information,

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which can also be enhanced with speech technologies such as speech recognition and text-to-speech, creating “personal communication portals.” In some cases the Personal Assistant and speech capabilities are included as part of the UM product, and in others they are separate products and are sold separately.

• UM-Capable: Some UM vendors today provide systems that can be used for both traditional/enhanced voice mail and for unified messaging. These systems are essentially UM systems that can be used for regular voice mail, and upgraded on a user-by-user basis to unified messaging. By purchasing a UM-capable system, customers can provide UM mailboxes to users as needed, allowing them to migrate users to UM over time as deemed necessary and appropriate, without having to purchase UM licenses for all users.

• Unified Communications: Unified Communications is defined by UCStrategies.com, an alliance of industry analysts and consultants (which includes COMMfusion), as “communications integrated to optimize business processes.” UC integrates real-time and non-real time communications with business processes and requirements based on presence capabilities, presenting a consistent unified user interface and experience across multiple devices and media types. UC manages business transactions and projects across populations of users. In addition, to be a UC solution, something has to change in the business to create value, such as the way in which workers communicate, the way a business process gets done, etc. UC consists of several elements or components, one of which is unified messaging.

UM Vendor Positioning Figure 1 depicts COMMfusion’s view of the relative positioning of the UM vendors. We looked at two elements – a vendor’s ability to lead the market and the completeness of a UM solution. This chart focuses only on unified messaging products and offering, and not other unified communication offerings, which are increasingly being tied to UM. “Ability to Lead Market” looks at the vendors’ worldwide market share, distribution strategy and channel partners, global presence, financial stability, flexibility in meeting customers’ needs, customer “mindshare,” and other factors that impact the ability to be a leading player this year and next (note: Microsoft has the potential for leading the market in 3-5 years, but not currently). “Completeness of Solution” takes into account a range of features and capabilities, going beyond the basic integration of voice mail, email, and fax, to capabilities such as find me/follow me, live reply, as well as speech-enabled personal assistant, speech capabilities, automated attendant, integration with a groupware calendar, web clients, the ability to work with several groupware products, and other functions. In addition, the ability to support both IP and TDM environments, the ability to integrate with multiple vendors’ switches and in a mixed-switch environment, networking capabilities, notification options, TUI emulation, etc., are all taken into account. Several vendors include find me/follow me on their UM platforms, making it easier for customers to implement and deploy. Other vendors add UM capabilities such as find me/follow

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me, and especially Personal Assistant and speech capabilities, on separate servers or are in separate products, and offer them as part of an overall Unified Communications offering.

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Figure 1

Source: COMMfusion LLC

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The following very briefly discusses the vendors’ UM offerings:

• AVST CallXpress delivers call processing, voicemail, unified messaging, personal assistant, fax, speech, and notification, with integration to over 400 PBX products using a multitude of integration methods, including SIP, E1/T1, analog, and digital station set emulation. The system supports 10 different UM client languages, as well as six TUI emulations, and various networking options. CallXpress offers find me/follow me and other enhanced UM/UC capabilities, speech recognition for automated attendant and personal assistant applications. Speech capabilities include: auto attendant, name dialing, take/place calls, record calls, locate employees, manage messages (voice mail, e-mail, fax messages), access/schedule meetings, change personal preferences (e.g. locate numbers, greetings, virtual extension), and patented acknowledge feature, transfer and divert. CallXpress supports custom Outlook forms and Notes templates, supporting the ability to play and record via a telephone or via multi-media. Clients include the Web PhoneManager, and wireless device can access messages in a variety of ways. CallXpress lets users deploy any type and mix of unified messaging on a system as well as allowing administrators to mix unified messaging and traditional voice mail users on the same system. AVST offers four unified messaging architectures: Server-based, Client-based, Secure, and Simplified.

o In 2010, AVST acquired Active Voice, formerly a subsidiary of NEC, bringing the Active Voice products into the AVST portfolio, AVST into the hospitality market, and delivering AVST an OEM relationship with NEC. AVST’s product offerings now include Active Voice’s Kinesis (which supports a variety of switches), Repartee LX, and Repartee for Windows, as well as Active Voice’s productivity applications that include ViewCall, Viewmail, ActiveFax and VideoMail.

• ADTRAN’s NetVanta Unified Communication (UC) product suite targets small-to-

medium businesses up to larger enterprise customers, ranging from 5 to 2000 users per server. NetVanta UC features include: Teleconferencing, Call queues, Presence-based console, individual and organizational call control, unified messaging with integrated fax, in/outbound IVR, service creation environment for customized IVR solutions, find me/follow me services, auto-attendants, call screening and notification services, out-dialing and paging, meet me audio conference server, click to dial, and teleworker/mobile worker/Blackberry support. Two versions of Personal Assistant are provided as part of the UM system - Basic Personal Assistant or Business Personal Assistant, which includes a drag-and-drop environment for personal call control. It also provides an integrated messaging client as an alternative to UM for voice and fax messages for clients without email access.

• Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) offers the OmniTouch 8440, which federates of all ALU’s existing voice mail engines into a single one with various deployment options. It is a pure-software voice messaging solution compatible with any network architecture while also

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being integrated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Unified Communications solution. It is Linux based and compatible with any PBX using standard SIP signaling. The UM interface is fully integrated with ALU’s My Instant Communicator (MyIC) unifying the access to personal assistant, PC telephony, IM, presence and video. Messaging features include multi-language support, web-based management, visual voice mail access, text-to-speech support for 16 languages with automatic language recognition of email. It supports three architectures: Voice-mail Architecture for a pure voice-mail solution, Integrated Messaging Architecture, and Unified Messaging Architecture.

• Avaya offers Modular Messaging and CallPilot (Nortel), and recently introduced Avaya

Aura Messaging, Linux-based software that runs on Avaya hardware S8800 system platform and is integrated into the Avaya Aura architecture. Avaya Aura Messaging is a next-generation solution that is ready for deployment to drive customer value upon its first release and it will continue to evolve over time to become Avaya’s one and only messaging solution. Avaya’s portfolio consolidation will happen over time and the currently available products such as Modular Messaging and CallPilot will continue to be enhanced and be available to customers. Avaya Aura Messaging scales up to 6,000 users on a single server (up to 30,000 users on a multi-server system), supports SIP for telephony integration, and is certified with Avaya Aura Communication Manager, Session Manager, SES, and CS 1000 as well as other PBXs through SIP-PRI gateways. The system does not currently support any email message store products, but Exchange will be coming in the next release with others to follow. Features include: reach me, notify me, Web Subscriber Options, localization in six languages, speech-based addressing, speech-based auto-attendant, and a clientless Outlook toolbar. Avaya one-X Speech is a complementary Avaya product providing an English speech user interface. Using speech recognition and TTS technology, one-X Speech allows callers to speak commands, and provides access to voice mail messages, Call Answering, and follow-me/hold-my-calls filtering.

o Avaya continues to sell and support Modular Messaging. Modular Messaging standard features include Find Me, Call Me and Notify Me, accessible through thick and thin clients. Avaya Modular Messaging 5.2 includes the Avaya one-X Speech product, providing a speech user interface that supports all versions of Modular Messaging, as well as the Speech-to-Text capability that provides the conversion to text of Modular Messaging voicemails. Telephone user interfaces include Aria, Audix, and Serenade, as well as a choice of languages for the user and for the caller including TTY. Visual Voicemail for Modular Messaging using Avaya one-X Mobile is available on various mobile devices. Messages can be stored in an Avaya server, Microsoft Exchange, or IBM Lotus Domino.

o Avaya also continues to sell CallPilot (Nortel). Features include IVR integration for voice-services, Voice Forms, contact center voice services, voice/fax call screening/filtering, shared telephone call answering (with automated menu-creation), networking, user-level message forwarding to email, and more. CallPilot Speech Activated Messaging offers the ability to review, delete, forward,

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print, and reply to email messages. Voice messages are stored on the voice server and integrate with email at the client level.

• Cisco offers Unity Connection, Unity, and Unity Express, optimized to work with Cisco switches, but also interoperate with other call control and voice messaging solutions using standards-based protocols. Unity Connections has replaced Unity as Cisco’s core UM platform, although Unity is still available for large enterprises. Unity Express is targeted at the small business as well as distributed/hybrid enterprise branches with less than 500 users. Cisco Unity supports a single inbox unified messaging solution in Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. Unity Connection and Unity Express provide integrated messaging and voicemail-only solutions. Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA) is a Web client that gives Unity and Unity Connection users access to voice messages through a Web browser. Speech Connect is a speech-enabled auto attendant that can be added to Cisco Unity and comes enabled on new Unity Connection systems. Unity Connection has a number of speech capabilities, including voice dial directory and personal contacts; play and process message commands; edit and manage personal greetings; speech access to meetings in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace and Microsoft Outlook; and more. Cisco SpeechView converts voice messages to text and delivers them via e-mail or SMS. Cisco Unity has built-in speech recognition commands and also supports text to speech, reading emails from the unified inbox to the user.

• Esna has OEM partnerships for its Telephony Office-LinX product, offering multilingual speech-enabled auto attendant, unified messaging, mobility, fax mail and presence management support. Targeted at 500-30000 users, the Telephony Office-LinX product is a SIP-based Unified Communication server that provides Unified Messaging, FMC, and enterprise presence. Features include: mobile client for smart phones; speech-to-text conversion; emergency broadcasting to SMS/email and phone numbers with database integration; Google apps integration for UM/Presence/mobility, faxing and desktop dialing; desktop SMS/text messaging; VIP-filter routing based on the user’s Exchange/Domino/Google calendar; dialing and screen pop support for Microsoft CRM and Salesforce.com; Voice Verification for secure access into a mailbox; and location-based routing with time zone support. The system supports 100 different IP and circuit-based telephone systems, supporting simultaneous multiple PBX integrations and simultaneous multiple email server integration for UM in hosted and campus environments.

• Interactive Intelligence offers the Messaging Interaction Center (MIC) and Customer Interaction Center (CIC) products. CIC is an all-in-one communications software suite that provides multichannel contact center automation, enterprise IP telephony functionality, and unified messaging for mid-size to large organizations. MIC is a standards-based software platform for voice mail, adding optional unified messaging and enhanced messaging. MIC features include: access to Outlook Calendar over the phone;

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browser-based voice mail access; status-driven custom greetings; message notification options; desktop status controls including status-based call routing; and integrated Outlook contacts to send voice mails to personal contacts. In addition, it offers call rules that enable proactive call, voice mail, and fax control. Interaction Mobile Office offers message management for voice mail, e-mail and fax, presence management, and personal company directory. An optional calendar integration module enables users to access their MS Outlook calendar for a particular day; available with both MIC and CIC.

• Microsoft’s Unified Messaging functionality has been built into Microsoft Exchange (since version 2007), and is tightly integrated with Outlook and Active Directory. The Unified Messaging server role in Exchange lets users access voicemail, email, fax messages (via partner solutions), and calendar information that is located in their Exchange mailbox from an email client such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Web App, from a mobile device that has Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync enabled, or from a telephone. UM features include: Play on Phone; voicemail form; missed call and voicemail notifications using text messaging/SMS; Voicemail Preview providing voicemail transcription; native Message Waiting Indicator; Call Answering Rules, Find-Me, and more. Using Exchange ActiveSync, voicemail and fax messages appear instantly on mobile devices and when users receive a notification they can play the message on the phone. Microsoft Exchange Speech Engine speech capabilities are part of the platform, and customers can use Outlook Voice Access to call in and manage their calendars, contacts, email, voicemail, and directory. Exchange Unified Messaging works natively using various protocols with IP-PBX systems, and can interoperate with a wide array of circuit-switched PBXs through media gateways.

• Mitel offers several UM and messaging products with varying features and functionality. NuPoint Unified Messaging is a “single system” solution for voice mail, unified messaging, and speech, with all applications running on a common server configuration and on the same operating system. PBXs supported include those from Mitel, as well as several other vendors. Integration into the Mitel Applications Suite lets additional UC applications be co-resident and operational with NuPoint UM, including audio and web conferencing, customer service functionality, teleworker, mobile integration and communications analytics. The NuPoint Messenger Speech Auto Attendant allows users to place calls to people or departments by speaking their names or telephone number. The Speech Auto Attendant can connect and interact with NuPoint Directory, Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP directories. Speech Auto Attendant also optionally provides the ability to determine and play back the current presence state of the called person prior to transferring the caller.

• NEC offers a variety of UM products for its UNIVERGE SV8000 Series Communications Servers and Sphericall communications platform:

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o UM4730 is Linux-based standalone UM product for the SMB market. Features include VideoMail, support for ActiveFax, FireFox for Web Mailbox Manager with MAC OS, Web mailbox manager, MobileView for smartphones, RSS Notifications, and SIP Integration. UM4730 utilizes the ViewCall application for call control, Personal Mailbox options for mobility/smartphone integration and mailbox manager for internal or offsite subscriber settings and routing.

o UNIVERGE UM8000 is a voice mail, unified messaging, and auto-attendant system supporting NEC’s SV8100 and SV8300 IP PBXs. Some of the optional modules available for the UM8000 are: Text-to-Speech, ActiveFax, and Visual Messaging for Microsoft, Lotus Notes, and Novell GroupWise Clients.

o UNIVERGE UM8500 unified messaging is part of NEC’s UC for Enterprise suite of applications, designed for the mid-market to the large enterprise. It supports up to seven different concurrent languages, and up to five different concurrent TUI’s. UM8500 features include FindMe FollowMe, auto-attendant, name dialing, and call control via the ViewCall application. Optional features include ViewCall, VideoMail, text-to-speech, networking, clustering, inbound ActiveFax, third-party fax integration, and access to Outlook Calendar.

o UNIVERGE UM8700 provides UM, a voice user interface, and personal assistant capabilities. Based on AVST’s Call Xpress platform, the UM8700 is aimed at NEC’s medium- to large-sized customers. UM8700’s speech capabilities allow users to access messages, navigate and process messages, and place calls to contacts or direct-dial numbers. The personal attendant feature routes calls based on presence, initiates find me/follow me, announces callers with virtual screening, and manages calendars with voice commands.

• ShoreTel’s Unified Messaging is a native, integrated component of the ShoreTel phone

system that can also be integrated as a standalone solution with other switches. ShoreTel’s UM includes directory dialing, Follow Me/Find Me, and various call handling and personal greeting modes to manage incoming calls. An add-on product, SpeechBridge, provides speech-based access to ShoreTel’s auto-attendant, as well as Microsoft’s Outlook email messages and calendar-based schedule. ShoreTel offers a personal assistant via its third-party technology partner Incendonet. Voicemail messages are stored on the ShoreWare Server(s) and can be accessed directly from the system via the ShoreTel TUI, Personal Call Manager GUI, or Mobile Call Manager GUI—and/or with an integrated message player from Outlook.

• Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) has two UC offerings as part of the OpenScape UC Application portfolio: OpenScape Enterprise and OpenScape Xpressions. OpenScape Xpressions is packaged, self-contained, and modular, enabling customers to purchase voicemail, UM and UC functionality separately as needed. OpenScape Enterprise is aimed at enterprises needing to integrate UC into diverse IT and telephony environments, and with existing Microsoft and IBM UC elements, as well as with in-place workflow, ERP, and vertical business applications. Xpressions features include

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user-defined call routing, rules-based filtering of inbox, and integration with other OpenScape Mobility products. Other features include IVR, the MyXpressions folder (a user-defined, rules-based filtering of email for text-to-speech playback); personal auto-attendant for every user, and personal shortcut keys for TUI administration actions. Enhanced features include personal Evo (Extended Voice Operation), Siemens’ voice-controlled voice mail system. UC user features include IM/Presence, Desktop CTI, audio-conferencing, and web-conferencing. The OpenScape UC Desktop client provides personal assistant functionality.

• T3 offers T3main, a Linux-based mid-range to high-end UM solution that serves as an adjunct to the PBX and integrates with a variety of PBXs. T3 offers call routing and IVR-like capabilities that routes calls based on caller ID, time of day, day of week, commands, and customer ID. Users can have their own automated attendant tree, and administrators and/or users can create customized IVR applications. Features include call screening, caller ID routing, call queuing, call recording, message call back, Viometrics voice verification, and Voice Transcription. Mailbox owners can provide a caller with directives to perform certain functions, such as transfer to assistant, replay greeting, contact pager, transfer to follow-me number, record a message, page mailbox owner, and send caller’s telephone number to email. Speech capabilities include corporate directory assistance, TUI command and control, and voice portal. The T3iCall Automatic Dialer is a broadcast notification tool used for the automated dialing of a pre-existing list of numbers.

• Zeacom’s ZCC (Zeacom Communication Center) provides an integrated UC solution for small- and medium-sized businesses, bringing together unified messaging, mobility, desktop telephony, contact center, and operator console in one application. Features include up to 99 presence profiles with customized greetings that can be applied to individual calendar appointments; Visual voice mail; Caller Profiles providing customized greetings and routing options to specific callers; Call screening based on Presence and caller ID; Integration with Outlook and Lotus for Calendar, Fax and Voice messaging; Integration with Outlook Contacts; integration with Contact Center and Operator functionality; Intelligent Mobility based on Presence; and Activity presence that allows call-back and follow-me options. Personal Assistant capability is included in the core product on the same server. The system supports all NEC switches, including SV8100 and SV8300; Cisco Unified Communications Manager and CUCM Business Edition, and Avaya IP Office and Communication Manager, with multiple PBX types supported on a single server.

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Figure 2 Vendor Feature Matrix Source: COMMfusion LLC

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Recommendations for Enterprise Customers The following are some recommendations for companies considering moving to unified messaging:

• Start with a small set of users, preferably technically-savvy users, before deploying UM across the enterprise. It is best to have a segment of users try the system in order to understand how the system works and how users will be impacted by it. This is especially true if migrating from one type of voice mail system to another vendors’ UM system. Voice mail users get very accustomed to the telephony user interface of their voice mail system, and if the new system is different, it will frustrate and anger some users. It is best to understand how the new system differs from the old one in order to provide training for the users.

• Initial and continual user training is essential. UM systems have many, many features and functions, and most users use only a small portion of what is available. By properly training and updating users on the various features of the system, they are more likely to use the system properly and get the full benefits of it. It will also help lower frustration with the system, while making it easier on the support staff.

• End turf wars within your company, in order to make it easier for the IT staff (which is responsible for enterprise email and the data network) and the telecom staff (which is responsible for the switch and voice communications) to work together. UM crosses both IT and telecom, and in order to properly implement and manage the systems, the two groups need to work together.

• Look for a UM system that lets you start with voice mail and “turn on” UM capabilities when you’re ready. In the right type of system, you should be able to gradually add the UM capabilities you need when you’re ready, module by module, or capability by capability, without having to change out the system. It should be as simple as paying for the additional licenses and turning on the key code.

• Along these lines, modular systems may be the most appropriate. In many situations, enterprises will add various UM capabilities in a gradual manner, starting with certain capabilities for certain workers, and adding more capabilities and users over time.

• If you’re not deploying IP-telephony today, you want to be sure that your UM solutions can work with IP-telephony for when you eventually migrate to IP. Look for a UM system that can support both IP and TDM, particularly if you have a mixed environment. Companies shouldn’t have to change their switching fabric when moving to UM.

• If there is more than one type of switch in your organization, the ability to work in mixed environments is important; it doesn’t make sense to buy a UM system from vendor A if it only works with that vendor’s switch. The ability to support multiple switches on the same server will save money and the need for additional servers.

• Enable UM capabilities only for those individuals and pockets of users that need the capabilities and functionality, rather than implementing it across the board, or across the enterprise. For example, you may want to start with your mobile sales force, technical support reps, or executives and department heads. Carefully evaluate which individuals,

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groups, and teams would most benefit from UM, and roll it out to those workers to meet their specific needs.

• Start thinking about your Unified Communications strategy. As mentioned, UM is one component of a UC solution, and now is the time to think about how you will integrate communications with business processes, communication-enable applications, and integrate your UM system with other UC components, such as presence, conferencing/collaboration, mobility, and a unified user interface.

What You Need to Consider

Here are some key issues companies need to consider when implementing UM solutions.

• Your UM system needs to be aligned with other aspects of your organization, such as its corporate compliance strategy when considering the various UM architectures offered by these manufacturers. This will vary from company to company, but consult with your legal counsel to ensure you select a solution that meets your organizations compliance requirements.

• Protecting the confidentiality of messages outside the organization is also another important considerations when selecting the right UM solution. Understand your organization’s requirements for protecting confidentiality of corporate data.

• What are your business’ needs? UM can help workers be more productive in a variety of ways, and can address all of the business needs listed here. But you need to give the right tools to people depending on their roles, their work habits, and their communication modes.

• Who are the users? Not everyone in your company is going to need or use the same UM capabilities and functions, so it’s important to think about the particular users or user groups and determine what their needs are and what elements of a UM solution they need.

• What features do those users need – are they mobile, do they need it to work with their handheld devices or mobile phones?

• Will the UM solution support your needs today and in the future – can you evolve slowly and only buy what you need now?

And lastly, flexibility is key. As your company changes, as rules and regulations change, and as your business environment changes, you need to have the flexibility to go along with those changes.