Free, ad-supported email is making its way into the enterprise and challenging the stranglehold that Micrososft and IBM still have with Outlook/Exchange and Lotus Notes. Google is trying to push Gmail as an Outlook replacement, but many businesses don’t quite feel comfortable giving up their email servers just yet. An angel-backed startup called Unison Technologies is iaunching a beta on Tuesday of its powerful client-server communications software. It like a combination of Outlook and Skype, bringing together email, enterprise-wide instant messaging, and a VoIP gateway/phone messaging system.
Unison looks like Microsoft Outlook, complete with email, contacts, and calendar. It also has presence management through its own IM that can interoperate with Jabber, Gtalk, MSN MEssenger, and ICQ. And it acts as a PBX for VoIP phone systems, complete with follow-me phone numbers and the ability to pause calls on the desktop or switch them over to another phone. The phone system is also tied into the presence management so that when you pick up the phone, your status changes to “not available.” And you can listen to, save, or forward voicemails through the desktop software just as if they were emails. You can also record phone calls.
