The Traverse software allows users to see and hear office voice mail through an e-mail-like in-box in a mobile device so they can sort through various messages to find important ones, said Eileen Rudden, vice president of unified communications at Avaya. The software reduces the need to dial a number for access, simplifying the voice-mail retrieval process.

Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya also announced a family of four product groups for unified communications software. A customer will be able to pick a group of applications that can save them an average of 30 percent over the cost of buying the applications individually, Rudden said.

The four groupings build upon one another, starting with Unified Communications Essential Edition, which is intended for office users needing advanced IP telephony, voice mail and basic conferencing capability. The next level up, Unified Communications Standard Edition, adds advanced mobility tools from Traverse to take applications to users' mobile devices. The third level up is Unified Communications Advanced Edition, which adds conferencing for teams larger than six people and whiteboarding. The top tier, Unified Communications Professional Edition, adds video communications and speech-recognition software, including videoconferencing and voice-driven access to messages and other applications.

The top tier might be used by the highest-level employees in an organization, Rudden said.

The various editions will be available in the first half of 2007, Rudden said. List pricing per user is US$340 for Essential, $660 for Standard, $786 for Advanced and $976 for Professional.