Birmingham, AL – September 12, 2002—The TeleMessaging Industry Association’s (TMIA) Unified Communications Committee has released its latest research on consumer interest in unified communications (UC) and messaging to member companies. Performed using Web-based surveys, the research measured respondents’ interest in a wide range of UC services as well as the messaging needs of adult consumers.

Unified communications: knowledge above capability
The main purpose of the research was to investigate the depth and breadth of consumer interest in capabilities and services which could be offered under the umbrella of Unified Communications. Two surveys measured respondents’ interest in 10 UC capabilities and services, such as call notification, voice-activated dialing and sending voice messages.

An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that the most attractive capability is incoming call notification when the home telephone line is busy accessing the Internet, commonly known as Internet Call Waiting. Nearly 53% of respondents indicated that they were either somewhat or extremely interested in this service. This group of respondents was dominated by those who have only one voice line, who do not have high-speed Internet service and who access the Internet through a dial-up connection.

An equal number of respondents (53%) were interested in the capability of dialing calls by speaking the name and/or telephone number of the person they wish to call. This was particularly interesting in light of the fact that voice-activated dialing (VAD) has been available for some time but has not experienced deep market penetration.

In addition to incoming call notification and voice-activated dialing, about half of all participants were interested in sending voice messages to friends and family. Such a service allows individuals to record a voice-message on the phone or through a computer microphone and then send the message to anyone with an email address. Finally, PC management of all incoming messages also attracted a great deal of interest, with 45% of respondents either somewhat or extremely interested in this capability.

Messaging: prevention tops the charts
Before respondents were presented with actual product possibilities, they were surveyed to understand their most important messaging needs. Respondents of the survey were adamant about eliminating messages. 45% of the respondents chose one of the top two scale values when asked about the importance of preventing some messages from getting to them. The next three most important needs were focused on notification, with respondents indicating a desire to be notified of new mobile phone, e-mail and home telephone messages as soon as they are received.

UC committee research continues
The TMIA UC Committee will continue its research in the last quarter of 2002 and into 2003. Media persons seeking additional information about the TMIA UC Committee research report should contact Nicolas Boillot at nboillot@hartboillot.com. Readers seeking more information about the TMIA should visit http://www.tmia.org, or contact Tom Harper, Executive Director of TMIA, at tom@tmia.org.


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, ASPs, customer premises equipment (CPE) providers and other parties with an interest in advancing the use of all messaging services in all markets. In 2002 the TMIA has been 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.

Unified Communications Research
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 site at www.tmia.org.


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