Because LDAP-supported directories can be used as the primary user database, Communité servers can be deployed in each of Leagles' locations to share a common LDAP directory. In the alternative, different versions of Communité could be deployed in site-specific implementations--for example, Communité for Lotus Notes on the East Coast and Communité for Exchange on the West Coast. Interactive's version 2.2.2, scheduled for release in summer 2003, will support Chicago's open-source LDAP and IMAP4 resources, so they won't be left out in the cold. For high availability, an N+1 server configuration can be added to each site, as with Cisco Unity.

Leagles plans to replace its aging PBX, but Communité's broad support for PBXs may delay its end-of-life status. Communité supports all the leading PBXs, from Avaya to Siemens; and, like Unity, it will support any SIP-enabled PBX. While both vendors support legacy voicemail using AMIS (Audio Messaging Interchange Specification) and VPIM (Voice Profile for Internet Mail), Communité integrates fax services with the UM server. And like Cisco's product, it can support third-party fax servers like RightFax. In the event Leagles needs to upgrade its RightFax servers, it has the option to rely on Communité's onboard fax services.

Interactive and Cisco advised Leagles to run both digitized voice and call control on the same IP network as data. In that vein, Interactive recommended SIP phones on the desktop that have the same features as most proprietary digital sets. Users can move from phone to phone and simply log in from their current location. Administrators need not spend time shuffling or adding users as they move within the office, or even outside the office when roaming with a cell phone. Users can keep their analog phones and still get the benefits of UM because Communité comes with a softphone for the PC. And with SMDI (Simple Message Desk Interface) support, message-waiting lights can still illuminate LEDs on the desk phone. Although Unity also supports SMDI and message-waiting indicators on desk phones, it does not include a softphone without deploying CallManager.

Although both Communité and Unity have software applications that integrate with popular e-mail client software, Communité has the broadest support, including Microsoft Outlook and Express, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise. In addition, Communité has client applications that support handheld devices running Microsoft Pocket PC, Palm and RIM Blackberry. Unity supports only Notes and Outlook e-mail clients and Windows CE and Pocket PC for handhelds. Communité also has a solution for voicemail-only users. With XML, it can use a standard file system as a single message store in addition to the inboxes on the supported e-mail platforms.

For Web-browser access to the system, Communité uses Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Server) to support an integrated Outlook interface. This interface also allows Web-based URL access to configure personal settings, such as status-based call handling; contacts; and conditional rules for routing inbound calls, fax messages and notifications. Web-browser access for both Communité and Unity is not limited to reading messages. You also can listen to voicemail as long as a media player is installed. But with Communité you can also reply to a voicemail message with speech using a voicemail form that runs in a browser. However, it requires Microsoft COM technologies and runs only in browsers under Windows.

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For network managers and systems administrators, both Communité and Unity optimize network utilization and storage and support management consoles. Communité uses TrueSpeech technology to compress voicemail to .wav files using approximately 1 KB per second of recorded audio. For example, a 30-second voicemail message takes approximately 30 KB of storage on the e-mail or file-based server. And unlike Unity's adherence to NetIQ's voice-management solutions or an add-on ITEM (IP Telephony Environment Monitor), Communité offers a wide variety of third-party management tools that may already be installed in the enterprise--for example, BMC Patrol, HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli. If you lack these you can also use the Microsoft Management Console or any SNMP-based console. In its forthcoming version 2.3, Communité will support a real-time SNMP interface to set and view alerts.

Interactive also addressed Leagle's inquiry into customizing UM, a feature not addressed by Cisco. At its base, Communité is an event-processing engine. When a condition or event occurs, Communité takes action using a "handler." For example, the TUI is a handler that executes when an incoming call is detected. Communité's Interaction Designer is a graphical application generator that can customize handlers and direct the logical flow of calling information. The Designer can also create new services to tailor UM to specific needs, such as extracting data from a database. Interactive also offers an add-on module, Mobilité, that acts as a wireless application gateway. Mobilité lets system integrators create applications and generate forms for handheld devices to interface with CRM and ERP applications using a Microsoft COM API.

When it came to price, Communité could not be beat, coming in at a total of $56,571 for 200 users, or $283 per user. The total list price included the UM server software with TAPI (Telephone API) and IP integration sessions at $8,000 and licenses for 200 users at $17,310. The price also included a TTS engine ($2,000), fax support ($2,700), and a four-port autoattendant ($16,500) with an IVR ($4,000). After adding a one-year service and support contract at $6,061 (12 percent of the software total), Interactive trumped Cisco's bid of $407 per user. Interactive would also throw in the first six months of service and support, gratis.

Communité 2.2. Interactive Intelligence, (317) 872-3000. www.inin.com