Parliant on Friday announced that its PhoneValet Anywhere service is available for the iPhone. Existing PhoneValet Message Center 5 users can upgrade their server for $59.95 to add the new capability (for unlimited users) — it’s a free upgrade if you already use PhoneValet Anywhere.
PhoneValet Message Center is a Mac-based telephony system designed for small businesses. Connecting a phone line to your Mac using PhoneValet’s interface enables you to create an entire automated phone system complete with interactive voice response. It identifies callers and can route them to the right person, provides voice mail, transfers callers to outside numbers, records calls and manages call logs, and provides users with auto-dialing capabilities and more.
PhoneValet Anywhere is an add on for the Message Center software that provides Web-based access to your Message Center from anywhere around the world. It works via a standard Web browser. Parliant has added new capabilities to leverage the iPhone, specifically — it lets you listen to voice mail, return calls, view recent calls and view or edit notes on call details, all in a user interface similar to Apple’s own “visual voicemail” technology. PhoneValet Anywhere for iPhone will also convert voice mail files into a file optimized for the iPhone — small enough to work quickly over AT&T Wireless’ EDGE network.
PhoneValet Message Center itself costs $169.95 for new users.