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In what year was Voice Mail technology developed in Israel?

1
2006-07-30 07:51:02, Category: Programming & Design
Israel supposedly created the technology but in what year? The equipment and business was eventually developed and built in Richardson, TX by a company named "VMX Technology". VMX was short for "Voice Message Exchange" and was bought out by OCTEL in 1994.

Answers

  1. c0mbustible

    On 2006-07-30 08:50:23


    I have seen that claim before, There is an company named Comverse that builds voice mail systems and has engineering offices in Israel, so it is sort of correct to say that "voice mail was (or is) developed in Israel", but that does not mean it was invented there. The telephone answering machine was invented by a Jew, but not in Israel. Willy Muller was in Switzerland in 1935, when he produced his first machine. The device was a handy way for Orthodox Jews to avoid using the telephone on the sabbath. This was a very large and expensive device about a meter tall, limited by the technology then available. Note that the modern country Israel didn't even exist at that time. The first unit generally considered practical for use by people without extraordinary needs -- because it had a reasonable size and cost --appeared in 1960. This was the Ansa Phone, developed in Japan by Kazuo Hashimoto. The first modern voice mail system, SFS, was developed at IBM in the US, by S.J. Boies in 1974-1975. The Gordon Matthews version (much more complete, with full PBX capabilities) turned up later, beginning in 1979. Matthews is the one who founded ECS in Texas (later VMX). (I've also seem claims that Windows NT was developed in Israel, but I'm 100% certain that Dave Cutler was in Seatlle at the time.)