Alcatel Lucent Naperville leads on Visual Voice Mail
A group of Naperville engineers and technicians at Alcatel Lucent helped to develop the new Visual Voice Mail application now offered by Verizon Wireless on the LG Voyager handset.
Visual Voice Mail provides a display screen with one-touch access to listen to voice-mail messages. Users can delete, reply and forward those messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions. It also eliminates the need to dial in and listen to messages in sequential order.
The Naperville group has been working on the innovation for about two years, said Gani Nayak, who heads Alcatel Lucent's Messaging Applications Business Division in Naperville.
"This is like having e-mail capability with your voice mail," said Nayak.
You can just look at the screen, pick it, play it and reply to it. Users can store up to 40 messages for 40 days, double the capacity of basic voice mail. Users also can create up to 10 greetings, 20 distribution lists and 50 distribution members.
Visual Voice Mail costs $2.99 a month per line, plus airtime or megabyte charges and messaging fees. For more details, see www.verizonwireless.com.
The Naperville team also worked with another team in Columbus, Ohio, as they tested the product extensively with different groups of users, he said.
While the application is targeted to professionals so they can quickly manage their messages, it also would be good for younger users, Nayak said.
"The younger generation doesn't like to make telephone calls. They would rather text message someone," he said.
"This helps to bridge that generation gap."
Surfing: More than 2,000 attendees are expected at the Illinois CPA Society's 28th annual Business & Technology Solutions Show (www.icpas.org) to explore issues and showcase new technology and products on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N. River Road, Rosemont. The event is for finance and business professionals and features the latest solutions in accounting and tax software, office products, payroll and HR resources and document management. Exhibitors include Microsoft Corp., Harris Bank, SmartVault, Warehouse Direct, MorganFranklin and others. Among the show's special features are the CCH Educational Center and the Intuit Product Experience Zone with hands-on demonstrations.
•Chicago-based Citizens Utility Board has launched www.CUBCellphoneSaver.com to help consumers save money on their wireless bills. Customers of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless can upload an online copy of their bill for an analysis. It them provides a report that shows the least expensive plans offered by those carriers based on the consumer's mobile phone use.