Toronto, Canada – October, 2001 – The Telemessaging Industry Association (TMIA), comprised of the leading messaging companies worldwide, held its semi-annual meeting on October 9th through 11th in Toronto, Canada. Over 60 representatives from 28 companies attended.

Attendees were presented with the findings of the consumer research just completed by the Unified Communications (UC) Committee. Over 1000 consumers responded to a Web-based survey addressing the demand for unified communications by various market segments.

"Our vendors and service provider members collaborated on this research," said Dan Corcoran, Chairperson of the UC committee from CES Computer Solutions, who presented the results. "We found the Web-based research to be more accurate, cost effective and faster than traditional telephone surveys."

Members learned from the research that early adopters of Unified Communications would more likely be home voicemail users, families with teens or telecommuters. More than 50% of the respondents were very interested or interested in purchasing unified communications features as a flexible bundle of services. Internet Call Management also rated highly as service consumers would want in their bundle.

Also on the agenda were several presentations on real-life trial experiences where Unified Communications was introduced in both the business and consumer markets.

"Our members certainly went away with more knowledge and ideas to help accelerate the introduction of next generation messaging services," said David Tilford, TMIA Co-Chairperson from Bell Canada. "Education is one of TMIA's primary goals, and we certainly achieved our desired outcome at our Fall Meeting."

"Our UC committee has to be commended on the work they have completed to date," said Jeff Schlueter, TMIA Co-Chairperson from Cingular. "Between now and the Tucson annual meeting in February, the committee will continue to work with the data and will present us with more information on the potential of unified communications in both the consumer and enterprise markets."


About TMIA
The Telemessaging Industry Association, formed in 1998, is an open forum comprised of over 35 companies including major service providers, prominent voice mail/messaging vendors, ASP's, customer premise equipment providers and other parties with an interest in advancing the use of all messaging services in all markets. In 2002 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.


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