Orlando, FL – March 26, 2001 – The Telemessaging Industry Association (TMIA), comprised of the leading messaging companies worldwide, held its annual meeting on February 26th & 27th in Orlando, Florida. The meeting included the introduction of new member companies, as well as an exhibit of the latest in Messaging Technology by TMIA members.

Several new member companies were introduced at the meeting. These included: Ontario-based Centrinity; InfoInterActive from Bedford, Nova Scotia; Indianapolis-based Interactive Intelligence; Orchestrate from Atlanta, and uReach, headquartered in New Jersey.

"We are proud to welcome these companies to the TMIA," said David Tilford, TMIA Co-Chairperson from Bell Canada. "They not only bring fresh knowledge and experience, but also a new generation of messaging products such as Unified Communications. The companies will assist the TMIA in its goal of educating both the industry and public regarding the benefits of messaging services."

Also included on the meeting's agenda was a review of current regulatory issues related to messaging by TMIA General Counsel Karen Barr. In addition, Bill Ehlinger, who acts as liaison to the VMA, www.ivma.ch, a European based association with similar goals to TMIA, updated the group on the latest VMA activities. The Public Relations and Unified Communications Committees also participated in breakout sessions to establish their 2001 goals.

"These meetings allow us to strategize and formulate ideas of how to promote TMIA and messaging to the public," said Jeff Schlueter, TMIA Co-Chairperson from Cingular. "While voice-mail is ubiquitous in our current society, few individuals or companies have really understood just how useful and powerful various messaging platforms and applications can be."


About TMIA
The Telemessaging Industry Association, formed in 1998, is an open forum comprised of over 30 companies including major service providers, prominent voice mail/messaging vendors, ASP's, customer premises equipment (CPE) providers and other parties with an interest in advancing the use of all messaging services in all markets. In 2001 the TMIA will be particularly focused on the education, introduction and acceptance of Unified Communications services.

Founding members include Bell Canada, BellSouth, Comverse, Glenayre, Lucent, SBC Communications, Telus and Unisys.

The TMIA is actively recruiting members throughout the messaging industry. Those interested are encouraged to call 864-962-0648 or check the TMIA's web page at www.tmia.org.


« Back