Active Voice to acquire PhoneSoft

Siltek Telecoms, a distributor of Active Voice, says the US-based vendor has signed an agreement to acquire PhoneSoft, a provider of true unified messaging solutions (UMS) for Lotus Notes/Domino.

"It's an added benefit for our customers, resellers, and strategic partners that we have a true unified messaging solution for the Lotus collaborative computing environment," says Johann Engelbrecht, national sales manager at Siltek Telecoms. "With Active Voice's acquisition of PhoneSoft, both companies can immediately offer our customers a UMS for the Lotus Notes/Domino platform. Looking ahead, Active Voice will also incorporate PhoneSoft's technology to provide core support for Lotus products on the Unity platform."

PhoneSoft's unified messaging solution currently supports all versions of Lotus Notes, including R5. The PhoneSoft solution gives users the ability to manage all messages (e-mail, voicemail, and fax) from the Lotus Notes Inbox, through a touchtone telephone, and over the Internet.

The PhoneSoft solution fits in with Active Voice's true unified messaging strategy. Unlike other unified messaging solutions for the Lotus Notes/Domino platform, PhoneSoft's solution is truly unified as it shares the same directory and message store as the Domino server. By simplifying administration, message network operations, and end-user training, the solution lowers TCO when compared to products that use a proprietary enterprise directory and message store. Specifically, true unified messaging eliminates duplicated user accounts, address books, and distribution lists.

It also means that one set of backup, security, and storage and retention policies can be applied to all message types.