Google Gmail Products Gets Unified Messaging Support from Thing5

Thing5, a provider of telecommunications services, will be now offering unified messaging support for Google Gmail products.

 

For those whore not familiar with unified messaging (UM), it is a subset of a fully integrated Unified Communications (News - Alert) (UC) system. It is the integration of different forms of communications like e-mail, SMS, fax, voice, video, etc. into a single unified message store, but accessible from a variety of different devices.

 

With the extension of Thing5’s cloud communications platform, the company will now be able to offer transparent integration between its hosted voice platforms and Google (News - Alert) Gmail subscriber’s mailboxes. This new service will also enable Thing5 subscribers to use Gmail as an enterprise class platform for email as well as an integrated platform for voice messaging.

 

Thing5’s hosted voice platform can keep all message indicators, voicemail and e-mail services in sync with real-time updates. With this new service offering, Thing5 has also expanded its single-sign on and identity management services, in order to include support for Google Apps. All the services of the company include single-sign on and identity support for its subscribers, whether accessing internal applications or those of third parties, said the company.

 

Thing5 anticipates that the new announcement will reflect tremendous growth in adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) telephony for real-time communication and will also reflect the widespread adoption of session initiation protocol (SIP).

 

Bill Faxon, product manager of Thing5, said, “Subscribers of Thing5’s unified messaging service are really excited about this next step towards streamlining their disparate communications devices and services. Within seconds of Thing5 customers receiving a call that they do not answer, the voicemail message appears in the subscriber’s unified message enabled Gmail account.”

 

“Simultaneously, the Message Waiting indicator lights on the user’s desk phone. Watching people’s reaction when the voicemail message is opened on the Google platform is a lot of fun. Within seconds of opening the message, the indicator will go out on the user’s desk phone, soft phone or mobile phone device,” added Faxon.

 

Thing5 says that it offers VoIP support to enterprise workers, mobile professionals, small businesses and hoteliers. The company’s core products are based on feature rich subscription service that includes un-metered U.S. dialing, enhanced voicemail services, enterprise XMPP (extensible messaging and presence protocol) services and additional voice services in audio conferencing and call route management. All its subscribers have access to the company’s Dashboard as well as an integrated XMPP message account.

 

 

Thing5 subscribers can manipulate individual call routing, caller-id, and voicemail features as well as call setup management via both Dashboard and the XMPP message offering, said the company.