The concept of a universal inbox is simply a computer capable of receiving messages from multiple sources in multiple formats. Voice mail, e-mail, faxes, and pagers all would be delivered to the same inbox. It would list all incoming messages and the user can listen to, read, delete, or file the messages. (You read voice mail by playing it over your multimedia computer). It would be faster and easier to train users, since only one interface is used. Your messages can be organized into folders, and e-mail and text messages could be read to you like voice mail. There are several types of messaging we receive on a daily basis that are either transferred to us or are in real-time.

There are several distinct problems with messaging in general:

• Messages cannot be processed out of sequence;
• Cannot be processed under one roof;
• Cannot be processed in one session;
• Cannot be processed via multiple access methods;
• Cannot follow an attorney as they change locations;
• Cannot be protected for attorney client privilege;
• Cannot be searched from a work product perspective.

There is no standard solution to these problems, but some goals are to:

• Access messages in one location;
• Access all message types from remote location;
• Obtain messages in various forms, such as text, OCR'd faxes, and spoken output using voice recognition;
• Access all messages from desktop, laptop, phone, LAN, and WAN;
• Cross-reference information for the retrieval of case information, matter management, client accounting, and marketing data.

The universal inbox is being built into groupware products such as GroupWise™, Lotus Notes™, etc. We will begin to see universal inboxes combining Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) with computer groupware for control of collaborative computing.