News

Lucent Unveils Unified Messaging Solution for Microsoft Exchange

• By Scott Bekker
• October 11, 1999

Lucent Technologies (www.lucent.com) announced today that it will provide a new unified messaging solution to service providers based on Microsoft Exchange and Lucent’s Unified Messenger systems. The solution, which will be sold to service providers and marketed to businesses, brings a company’s voice mail, e-mail, and fax capabilities into a single system.

Lucent positions its offering as a complete unified messaging solution to service providers -- hardware, software, services and support -- under a single contract. The new solution will be called Unified Messenger for Service Providers. Service providers will be able to offer unified messaging services to businesses in two ways: either as a hosted application where the hardware and software reside on the service provider’s network, or as an on-premise managed service.

Unified Messenger for Service Providers combines all voice, e-mail and fax messages into a single mailbox and features a single directory. It integrates with both the telephone and data networks and allows users to access, create and manage all of their messages from a personal computer or telephone anywhere and at any time. Microsoft Exchange provides the e-mail component for Unified Messenger.

Lucent will offer Unified Messenger and Microsoft Exchange client licenses to wireline, Internet service providers and application service providers on a monthly basis. Additionally, Lucent will work with its partners worldwide to supply hardware, installation and support services. The solution will be available from Lucent in Canada and the United States in the first quarter of 2000, with availability in several other global markets to be made available in the second quarter.