NetZero in Message Business.Free Internet access provider An organization that lets users gain entrance to a network, typically the Internet. It generally refers to a smaller Internet service provider (ISP) rather than a UUNET or MCI, which would be called a "service provider." See ISP and service provider. NetZero Inc. will be adding unified messaging services to its offerings. Unified messaging Having access to e-mail, voice mail and faxes via a common interface on the computer or by telephone. Computer-based unified messaging typically sends digitized voice mail messages and faxes to a mail server that distributes them as e-mail attachments to the user. Audio-based systems convert e-mail messages to speech (text-to-speech) to deliver messages to any remote user at a desk phone or cellphone. See unified communications and text-to-speech. systems collect a variety of messages - voicemail See voice mail. and e-mail, for example - and make them available through one centralized voicemail or e-mail address. The Westlake Village-based NetZero has partnered with ThinkLink, a unified messaging services provider based in San Francisco, to offer its customers a way to check all their messages in one place. "The majority of the services that we will be offering our consumers will be free," said Mark Goldston, chairman and chief executive of NetZero, probably the best-known provider of free Internet access. With the company's new unified messaging service, one free feature will be access to a tollfree number through which users can - in one centralized voicemail box - check messages from voicemail boxes at home, at the office and on cell phones. The company will generate revenues by offering additional features, such as pager notification of new messages, for a fee. The company's first priority is to attempt to sign up new users who are interested in receiving NetZero's free Internet access service. Then the company will target its current user base with e-mails promoting the unified messaging service and detailed information on the company's home page. "We've been thinking about unified messaging for almost six months," Goldston said. "In the U.S., unlike Europe and Asia, we're kind of in the dark ages Dark Ages: see Middle Ages. when it comes to wireless and unified messaging. ... Here, we all have different phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and it's a mess." The potential customer base for such services is enormous, he added. "Virtually everyone has voicemail and e-mail, even if they don't know how to use the Internet," he said. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion