Siemens Announces General Availability of Xpressions 470 Unified Messaging
Tuesday July 20, 2:21 pm Eastern Time
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 1999--Siemens Information and Communication Networks, Inc. today announced general availability of its Xpressions(TM) 470 unified messaging application.
Xpressions 470 converges voice mail, fax and e-mail technologies into a unified, feature-rich messaging platform, while also addressing key implementation, ownership and maintenance issues in a single package. It is also fully modular and open-standards-based.
The product is now available through Siemens' North American sales channels at a cost of between $100 to $300 per subscriber mailbox, depending on system size and features desired, and will be supported by Siemens' 24-hour-per-day/seven-day-per-week nationwide support program.
Xpressions 470 enables users to access, send and receive voice, fax and e-mail messages anytime, anywhere, via the communications device of their choice - phone, PC or fax device. This is made possible with ''message morphing,'' technology that converts voice mail messages to voice-based e-mails, and employs a text-to-speech engine to ''read'' e-mail messages and fax headers to the recipient over a phone connection. One can even send and receive compound messages that combine both voice and text elements into a single message. All voice, fax and e-mail messages are stored in a common ''inbox'' making communications simple and efficient.
''What I like best about Xpressions 470 is that from my car, I can get to all of my messages, whether they are voice, e-mail or fax,'' said Bryan Baehr, president of Impact Technologies and Xpressions 470 user. ''I can listen and respond to all of my messages before I ever get to the office, so that when I do get to the office, it's time for work and doing the projects I've got laid out for the day.''
One of the key strengths of Xpressions 470 is its ability to unify voice, e-mail and fax messaging applications into a single messaging infrastructure, providing a cost- and time-saving single point of ''back-office'' administration for system updates.
''Moves, adds and deletes are one of the most time-consuming tasks of an administrator's job,'' said Megan Gurley, research analyst at Yankee Group. ''With Xpressions 470, the back office can be manipulated from a single web-based source, making these tasks very easy to do.''
''Xpressions 470 allows us to manage our messaging systems as a single system,'' Baehr added. ''Instead of having to manage a PBX, a voice mail system and an e-mail system, now we can focus on just two systems instead of three.''
While Siemens' award-winning PhoneMail® voice messaging application is the primary voice interface, Xpressions 470 supports many common e-mail interfaces, including Microsoft Exchange® and Outlook® in the first release, with Lotus Notes® integration available in a planned future release. Xpressions 470 also integrates with many of the leading third party fax servers as well.
Xpressions 470 is being offered, initially, as a hardware/software solution in two models. Xpressions 472 supports configurations requiring between four to 16 voice sessions, while Xpressions 475 supports configurations requiring up to 48 voice sessions.
The application comes standard with a Microsoft NT®-based server featuring a 300 MHz or higher-speed microprocessor, at least 128 MB of memory and RAID Level 5 disk storage redundancy option. Standard features include a variety of call processing applications (auto attendant, audio text and voice forms), as well as web-browser interfaces providing each user a personal messaging assistant and for system administration.
Future versions will include a ''find-me/follow-me'' communications module for real-time messaging, enhanced video messaging capabilities and desktop call control. For more information about Xpressions 470, call 1-800-765-6123 or visit Siemens' Xpressions web page: icn.siemens.com.
Based in Boca Raton, Fla., Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc. provides integrated voice, data and video communications networks to carrier and enterprise customers. Last year the company's 7,000 U.S. employees generated sales of nearly $2 billion. Its parent firm is Siemens, the pioneering electronics giant with more than 400,000 employees worldwide and global sales of more than $66 billion. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.icn.siemens.com.
Note to Editors: PhoneMail is a registered trademark of Siemens. Xpressions is a trademark of Siemens. Microsoft Exchange and Outlook are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the properties of their respective owners.
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Contact:
Siemens Information and Communication Networks
Ed Rebello, 408/492-6999
Ed.rebello@icn.siemens.com
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