Lotus, IBM bring a unified voice to messagingLotus and IBM are making plans to announce a unified messaging technology that would allow users to access voice, e-mail, and facsimile transmissions via Lotus Notes or a Touch-Tone phone. The program, PremisMail, will be integrated with Lotus Notes and will require an OS/2-enabled server. "It has to be on an OS/2 server," said one company official. "However, it will work in conjunction with a Notes Domino NT server." PremisMail will create "a single multimedia mailbox" that will convert voice mail to .WAV files for playback through a speaker-enabled PC.
The program also includes text-to-speech capability for reading faxes and e-mails over the phone, the capability to search through six phone numbers to locate a user, call routing, and message forwarding.
Oracle looking at XML for warehouse repository planOracle is eyeing Extensible Markup Language (XML), a standard mechanism for Internet searches, as a backbone of its upcoming meta data repository strategy. XML currently is being studied in Oracle's labs as a mechanism for meta data exchange in Oracle-based data warehouses, according to an Oracle source. But the company has acknowledged plans to begin briefing analysts about its meta data repository plan by the end of the month. The meta data plan would provide a way to build a directory of information about the origin of data in warehouses.
Domino 5.0 to include availability servicesLotus has turned to its parent IBM for directory interoperability and new availability services that will form part of next quarter's Version 5.0 release of Lotus Domino. According to IBM, Domino 5.0 will ship with IBM's Availability Services clustering and replication technology. IBM said DS Series would include availability alongside directory and security services. Lotus and IBM want users to be able to integrate their respective directories, said a Lotus representative.
Domino 5.0 includes improved support for non-Notes clients, SSL 3.0, SMIME security, native POP3, IMAP4, Web-based mail, and native HTML, executives said.