March 1999

Price: $6,000 for four ports (Office Messenger client included free).

RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 5
Documentation: 4.5
Features: 5
GUI: 4.75
Overall: A+

Despite predictions by analysts that it was bound for imminent success, unified messaging hasn't exactly skyrocketed. Why? Well, there are several reasons. The most important one is that unified messaging systems are still too expensive to suit most businesses. Even though these businesses recognize unified messaging brings value, including enhanced employee productivity, they are still deterred by the price tag. Clearly, cost is still a very important determinant in the selection of a voice mail system. With many unified messaging systems carrying a hefty price tag, information systems administrators, and even interconnects, have been reluctant to buy or install them.

But perhaps unified messaging is due for a new image. Once known for being useful but expensive, unified messaging may become known for being useful and inexpensive - thanks to products like Maisoft's Office Messenger. This product boasts features such as auto-attendant, voice mail, speech recognition, remote playback of e-mail via text-to-speech, and many other features, all at an almost unbelievable price - $6,000 for a fully featured four-port system, including an unlimited number of seats of the Office Messenger client software free of charge.

TMC™ Labs was a bit taken aback when we heard the price of Maisoft's system, which is, as far as we know, the lowest price for a "true" four-port unified messaging system (not integrated messaging). According to Maisoft, the low recommended price still accounts for the standard margins that master-distributors and dealers must make to stay in business.

INSTALLATION
During a visit to TMC Labs, a Maisoft representative installed Office Messenger. Actually, all the software had been pre-loaded and tested, so our share of the installation was limited to configuring the clients, adding mailboxes, and creating various Class of Service (COS) levels. During our installation, we noticed that the GUI for setting up mailboxes was very user-friendly.

Next, we connected a couple of phone lines to our Brooktrout voice boards (these boards were formerly under the Lucent label) to be able to dial into the unified messaging platform. To speed things up a bit, we actually used our Teltone analog simulator to provide dial tone to the Maisoft server. In addition, we connected a phone to our Teltone simulator so that we could assess the product's dial-in capabilities; that is, we wanted to dial into the Maisoft unified messaging system and retrieve our voice and e-mail messages over the telephone.

Incidentally, the Maisoft machine also ran Microsoft Exchange Server and Windows NT 4.0. Certainly, putting Exchange Server, voice boards, and the Maisoft server software on the same machine was just for demonstration purposes. Generally speaking, most companies would use a server to run the Maisoft voice mail/auto-attendant server, with voice boards and analog lines attached, and a separate computer to run Microsoft Exchange Server.

DOCUMENTATION
The documentation included a handy User's Guide, which was in pamphlet form. It included a full menu tree with arrows showing how to traverse the voice mail system. Also included was a small, perforated tear-out card which also showed how to traverse the voice mail system. This card was small enough to fit in your wallet.

The Installation (administrator) manual was fairly good, although it lacked an index. Another shortcoming was that all the illustrations were in black and white. On the other hand, the text was easy to read, thanks to the large font, and screenshots were plentiful.

FEATURES

• Management of voice and e-mail via the phone interface or the Outlook inbox.
• Rerouting of e-mail to the nearest fax machine via the telephone interface.
• Allows users to reply to an e-mail message with a voice message or vice versa.
• Sends voice mail messages across the Internet using standard .WAV files.
• Supports caller-ID.
• Follow-me capabilities.
• E-mail and voice mail notification to pager.
• SMDI, inband, set emulation integration (standard).
• Speech recognition for directory assistance and transfer.
• Port densities from 4 to 64 ports.
• "True" unified messaging capabilities (that is, not integrated messaging).

OPERATIONAL TESTING
We didn't encounter any failures during our tests, and were extremely pleased with the feature set of the Maisoft unified messaging platform. Our only disappointment: We were unable to test the product's speech recognition directory assistance. Unfortunately, the system we had was a demo/trade show unit, and it lacked the necessary software.

On a more positive note, we were able to take advantage of the latest version's improved administration capabilities. And when we say latest, we mean just that. We were all but finished with testing when the software update arrived via e-mail.

Obviating Profiles
In earlier versions, Maisoft's messaging functionality relied on "Exchange profiles." That is, these profiles were the means by which voice mail stored on Microsoft Exchange could be managed. Using Exchange profiles allowed for great flexibility, but they also presented a management headache, both for information systems administrators and for VARs implementing the Maisoft system. Essentially, profiles had to be created for every client on the Maisoft server. Otherwise, clients would be unable to connect to their unified messaging mailboxes.

The first software version of Administrator for Office Messenger required that we create an Exchange profile for every user mailbox on the Office Messenger server to allow them access to their e-mail account via a TUI (telephone user interface). After setting up but a few profiles, we realized that having to set up many profiles (an unavoidable chore in a large organization) would be very time-consuming.

Fortunately, Maisoft saw a way to preserve centralized administration while dispensing with the need to create Exchange profiles for each client on the Office Messenger Server. The improvement came to our attention after we had been working with the Maisoft product for about a week, when a Maisoft representative informed us that a new version of Unified Messenger had become available. In this new version, the product lets the administrator log on using a single mailbox alias and a valid Exchange server name.

According to the Maisoft representative, if the administrator had a valid user account in Exchange Server, the administrator would need only place that account (consisting of a valid user name and password) in a new tab. This new tab was called (aptly enough) "Unified Messaging," and it was located within the administration program. The Maisoft representative told us that they had to code deep into the core of the Exchange Server to achieve unified messaging without the need for client-based profiles.

Unified Messaging Tab
Although we had nearly completed our testing of the Maisoft system, we were intrigued by the new release. So, we asked Maisoft to e-mail it to us. We received a ZIP file containing a couple of DLLs and an .EXE file. We replaced the older files with the newer ones, and then launched the administrator program.

At first, we didn't notice anything different. The GUI looked exactly the same. However, we took a closer look and noticed a new tab labeled "Unified Messaging".

We clicked on this tab, to see just how the Maisoft system performed its unified messaging magic. It looked simple enough. All that was contained in this tab was the Exchange Server name, a valid Exchange account, and a password. Of course, a lot of coding underneath had to be performed to achieve this feat, so we certainly don't want to understate Maisoft's accomplishment.

Leaving And Retrieving Messages
In any event, we tested the latest release by calling into the Maisoft server and leaving several messages. Using the TUI (telephone user interface), we were able to quickly and easily retrieve our test voice messages. Next, we sent some test e-mail messages to one of our test accounts, and then also retrieved these messages via the TUI, utilizing Maisoft's built-in text-to-speech capabilities. The prompts on the Maisoft server allow you to quickly and easily retrieve all your messages by type (e-mail, voice mail, fax). Retrieving messages from Exchange/Outlook was very simple. Maisoft includes their own icon, a red phone, to distinguish e-mail from voice messages.

You can also forward e-mail to a fax machine, or even forward an e-mail with a fax attachment to another fax machine. (Incidentally, Maisoft works with any MAPI-compatible LAN-based fax server, such as Microsoft Fax, RightFax, and Omtool.)

Updating/Scheduling
Administering users from the GUI was very easy. From this GUI, the administration program lets you update a group of records via a "mass update" feature.

Another nice administration feature is holiday scheduling. While this feature is easy to overlook when you're shopping around for a voice mail system, you shouldn't underestimate its importance. Holidays may be exceptional, and relatively infrequent, but they do pop up regularly. The holiday setup challenge was neatly met by the Maisoft administration GUI.

Follow-Me Capabilities
Scheduling various follow-me rules within the Maisoft system was very easy. You can set times and dates for certain actions to take place on an incoming call. For example, you can arrange for incoming calls to be forwarded to your mobile phone on certain dates, such as when you plan to be on the road.

Options for the follow-me capability include "secure" and "unsecure". With secure mode, you can choose a PIN such that when the call is forwarded, you must enter a PIN before the call is connected. You can also be paged when you receive a new message, dependent on the dates and times you specify.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
The grid control used within the Office Messenger Administration program didn't follow usual convention. For example, when we were setting up Class of Service (COS information), in order to change the Class of Service name, we had to begin by clicking on the Class of Service Name field and then type the name in. However, when we hit Enter, the COS window closed. Apparently, the OK button has the focus, which would account for how the window closed. The grid also has gray boxes to the left which seem to indicate you can select individual rows by clicking on them, although this is not the case. You cannot select multiple rows.

The voice mail player form doesn't allow for bcc (Blind Carbon Copy), which is a useful e-mail feature. We'd like to see this sort of functionality applied to voice mail.

CONCLUSION
Maisoft's price-point is certainly an eye-opener. When we asked Maisoft why they were selling such a powerful unified messaging system at such a low price, Maisoft told TMC Labs that they were tired of hearing that unified messaging is too expensive. They added that they hoped the affordable price would help stimulate the growth of the unified messaging market. We commend Maisoft for its efforts to popularize unified messaging.

Although it is very reasonably priced, the Maisoft product doesn't cut corners when it comes to functionality. This is a "true" unified messaging product that includes advanced follow-me features, speech recognition directory assistance, and an easy-to-administer GUI.

TMC Labs is extremely pleased with Maisoft's Unified Messenger. In fact, we're so pleased that we're considering using this product for TMC headquarters to replace our existing DOS-based voice mail system, which may have some Y2K issues. (For the impact of Y2K on unified messaging, see Tom Keating's Cc: column, as well as the articles in this issue: Y2K: Should It Be Bugging You? and Y2K Disaster Party: Will Anyone Be There?) In summary, customers looking for an affordable unified messaging system should seriously consider Maisoft's product.