Call Sciences unveils unified messaging for handsets

Call management company Call Sciences has shown off a product which allows users to hear emails via mobile phones. Demonstrated to the industry for the first time at GSM World Congress 99, Unified Call Management (UCM) allows a single number to store and access email, fax and voice messages. Emails can be heard on mobile phones via text-to-speech technology. The US software company also claims messages will track you down wherever you are, adding a new dimension to the phenomenon of email stalking. Due to be launched in the UK on 18 March, UCM is an extension of the US company's existing single-number software. UCM uses Oracle's Internet Messaging platform. Users can filter emails by sender, subject or priority and reply to messages via the PC using a single mailbox accessed via the Internet. The product is an add-on to Call Sciences' existing software Personal Assistant, a single number system that routes calls and faxes to find the user on several designated numbers. This means UCM will try the user according to the time, day or the number it found them at last. UCM has been running in the US for three weeks. In the UK it will sell through Martin Dawes, over the Internet and mobile service providers. John Angus, Call Sciences UK marketing director, said: "UCM is designed for people on the move. Business is often missed or delayed when messages don't get through. This system tries any designated number -- home, work or mobile, and will send emails, calls and faxes to the answered or designated number." The company was set up in 1994 and has its European headquarters in the UK in Slough, Berkshire. ®