Lucent Technologies Inc and Sun Microsystems Inc are collaborating on a solution they claim will enable ISPs and telcos to offer residential and corporate subscribers the ability to send, receive and manage email, voice and fax messages from telephones or any browser-based device, including PCs. As expected (CI No 3,475), Lucent is integrating its Octel Communications Inc unit’s unified messaging software and Bell Labs’ text-to-speech software with Sun’s Internet Mail Server, which runs on its Solaris Unix. The companies will jointly market the solution from early next year. In future some form of voice recognition technology derived from the various projects Bell labs has will be added, enabling desktops and other devices to display voicemail messages in text form. Initially more primitive voice recognition software will be used for mailbox navigation. LDAP directory services and media conversion technologies will ensure users don’t have to remember many different addresses, phone, fax and other numbers or convert files and messages from one format to another. Programmers can write applications for Octel’s messaging software and Sun’s mail server using Java. The solution will give Sun new opportunities to sell its servers to ISPs – where its systems already predominate – and the lucrative telco markets (both wireless and copper shops) where it’s just begun to make an impression. Lucent and Sun already offer a hardware/software package aimed at ISPs and have collaborated extensively on Java. There was no mention of Lucent’s Inferno network operating system being used. The integrated technology will become one of Lucent’s AnyMedia solutions. The work is at the other end of the scale from Sun’s prototype Persona home device which can act as a messaging service for voice, fax and email.
