Communications equipment manufacturer has added speech tools to its unified messaging platform in a bid to increase and encourage use by mobile workers.

Avaya said that the addition of its one-X Speech aural interface would provide mobile workers with hands-free access to many of the applications on their mobile phones and personal digital assistants.

Announcing the update Mary Dunlop, vice president, Unified Communications Product Management at Avaya said, "Our goal is to ensure cost effective solutions where companies and employees benefit from improved collaboration, responsiveness and simplified access to the wide range of communications used today.

The interface was launched at the Interop show in Las Vegas where Avaya demonstrated the ability to reply to emails, search for messages, create appointments and carry out a number of other tasks using voice commands.

It forms part of the updated Avaya Modular Messaging 4.0 release, which also includes support for IBM Lotus Domino and links with Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Internet Explorer 7.

Modular Messaging 4.0 is available now.