Unified Messaging

The unified messaging TUI builds on its voice mail roots to let telephone callers retrieve different message types. For example, you log on to your inbox using the TUI, and the system announces, "Good morning, Wendy. You have 13 voice mail messages, 6 faxes, and 12 email messages. To listen to your voice mail messages, press 1; to retrieve your faxes, press 2; or to listen to your email messages, press 3." This is powerful mixed-media technology at work.

For business travelers, the ability to connect at all times to your flow of messages through a TUI-based interface is a long-sought solution. Harnessing dramatically improved technologies such as text-to-speech for email reading, unified messaging can finally deliver on the promise of a single point of access to all message types.

Ideal Features for Users
So what makes for an ideal unified--in the generic sense--messaging system and architecture? The answer for users is a common GUI, Web access, external email, the ability to receive private faxes, TUI access, and flexible message notification.

Common GUI front end. You can run one program (such as Microsoft Exchange) on your desktop to see all your messages in all media. You manage your personal mail profile from the GUI and define how to handle message notification and other processes. You usually set up your preferences through extensions to existing email clients such as Microsoft Exchange, Novell Groupwise, or Lotus Notes.

Web access front end. You can use any Web browser to access mail. Or, you can perform other functions you can do with your GUI front end.

Send messages to people not on your system. You can send all message types from your GUI front-end program to people reachable by email, even if they do not have a mailbox on your unified messaging system. For example, you can send a voice or a fax message as an email attachment to anyone, anywhere, who is running Microsoft Exchange. The recipient clicks the attachment, and the appropriate device plays or displays the message.

Receive private faxes. You can receive faxes directly into your personal mailbox. You can specify a unique fax telephone number in your fax server. The unique number cues the fax server to transfer the fax to your mailbox through a feature called Direct Inward Dialing (DID).

Or you can let outside callers call from their fax machine handset into the voice system. From there, they select your mailbox number, then press the fax machine's Send button to directly deposit a fax into your inbox. This private fax method is an alternative to receiving your faxes at a public fax machine and manually routing or copying them.

TUI access. You can access all message types from any touch-tone telephone. You can hear voice messages, listen to email messages, and forward faxes to the nearest fax machine.

Flexible message notification. You can receive notification of pending mailbox messages wherever you are. With multiple message-type capability, the ideal system lets you configure any medium as your primary notification method and lets you specify whether urgent-only or all messages initiate notification. For example, you can tell the system to call your pager between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm when you receive new messages; at other times, the system can send you a fax or email message to notify you of your waiting messages.

Ideal Features for Administrators
The features that administrators need go beyond the list of what users want in a unified messaging system. Administrators want replication, centralized management tools, one user directory, integral security, an easy-to-use GUI, and a scalable architecture.

Replication. The system automatically replicates user directory entries and changes to networked and remote messaging servers. You can replicate messaging objects (e.g., voice, email) according to site messaging server profiles.

Centralized management tools. You can monitor and manage all mailboxes through one GUI. And you can easily add or delete subscribers and move subscribers from one domain or messaging server to another.

One user directory. You can maintain one directory entry for all mailbox message types. This feature lets you run only one program when you need to add, move, or delete users. Typically, administrators can maintain this directory as part of either the email server or the LAN operating system.

Integral security. Administrators can set specific user rights according to the type of message (voice, fax, email, etc.). You can require an additional password, for example, when you transfer faxes to an offsite fax machine. The system would implement all security features as extensions of Windows NT's underlying security layer.

Easy-to-use GUI. The unified messaging front end requires little training. Users already familiar with Exchange will feel familiar with Exchange-based systems. For PCs with multimedia capabilities, voice-message audio plays or records from a local sound card. For PCs without sound cards, the unified messaging system calls any local phone extension or number you specify and uses the phone connection as a virtual sound card.

Scalable architecture. You can add new mailboxes, new departments, and even new message servers easily, without replacing what already exists. With NT-based systems, you can implement multiprocessor or multiuser solutions to meet performance targets.