Designing and Configuring Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2007 : Unified Messaging Features

Telephony Integration

With unified messaging, Exchange is now integrated into the telephony world. This integration takes place between the Exchange Unified Messaging server and gateways or Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs).

In a classic set of telephony and electronic mail systems, shown in Figure 1, there are two separate networks that deliver voice messages and electronic messages (email). In the telephony system, there are separate components for the PBX, voice mail, external lines, and phones. As shown in the figure, calls from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) come into a PBX device. Typically, an incoming call is routed by the PBX to the telephone. If the phone does not answer or is busy, the call is routed to the voice mail system. Similarly, email from the Internet arrives at the Exchange messaging server. Note that in the classic system, there is no integration or connectivity between the telephony and electronic mail systems.

Figure 1. Classic telephone and electronic mail systems.

With the advent of Exchange Server 2007 and unified messaging, these two disparate systems are integrated, as shown in Figure 2. Although the UM server does not connect directly with a traditional PBX, it does integrate with PBXs via gateways. The combination of the PBX and the Internet Protocol (IP) gateway can also be replaced by an IP-PBX, which provides both sets of functionality.

Figure 2. New integrated system.

Notice that, in effect, the Unified Messaging server has replaced the voice mail server in the classic system. The new Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Unified Messaging server is a voice mail server.

The more detailed view with all the Exchange 2007 server roles is shown in Figure 3. This figure also includes the various ways that a user can interact with the integrated system.

Figure 3. Detailed architecture diagram.

Single Inbox

The Unified Messaging server enables the true unification of email messages, voice mail messages, and fax messages into a single Inbox. Messages from all these disparate sources are stored in the user’s Inbox and are accessible through a wide variety of interfaces, such as Outlook, a telephone, a web browser, or even a mobile PDA.

The Inbox can be managed just like a traditional email Inbox, with folders, Inbox rules, message retention, and so on. Exchange administrators can back up and restore Inboxes with all these forms of data just as they do with email data. This reduces the complexity and ease of use for both users and administrators.

Call Answering

Call answering picks up incoming calls for a user who does not answer their phone. It plays their personal greeting, records voice messages, and converts the voice messages to an email message to be submitted to the user’s Exchange mailbox.

Fax Receiving

If the incoming call is from a fax machine, the server can recognize this and accept the fax. The fax is then converted to an email message and submitted to the user’s Exchange mailbox. The user can then read the fax as an attachment to the message.

Subscriber Access

The subscriber access feature is an exciting new capability that allows a user to access their Exchange mailbox using a phone. This access mechanism is called Outlook Voice Access.

With Outlook Voice Access, a user can access their Exchange Inbox with the telephone to do the following:

• Listen to and forward voice mail messages.

• Listen to, forward, and reply to email messages.

• Listen to calendar information.

• Access or dial contacts.

• Accept or cancel meeting requests.

• Notify attendees that the user will be late.

• Set a voice mail Out-of-Office message.

• Set user security preferences and personal options.

This, in effect, gives the user working access to their Exchange Inbox while out in the field with only a telephone.

The system not only recognizes dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) key presses from the phone, but also understands voice commands. The system guides the user through the prompts responding to voice commands, giving the user complete hands-free operation.

For example, a user might be on the freeway running late for a lunch meeting. Not remembering the exact time, the user calls into the subscriber access and says “Today’s Calendar.” The unified messaging system speaks the summary of the next meeting, which is at 12 p.m. Recognizing that the traffic will force him to be 20 minutes late, the user says “I’ll be 20 minutes late for this appointment.” The unified messaging system confirms and then sends a message to all the attendees, which is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Late to meeting email.

The speech recognition is remarkably effective and able to recognize commands even over cell phones and with background noise.

Outlook Play on Phone

The Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access client and the Outlook 2007 client both support a new feature called Play on Phone. This feature allows users to play voice mail on an internal phone rather than through the computer. The user opens the voice mail message, selects the Play on Phone option, enters the extension to play the message on, and clicks the Dial button, as shown in Figure 5. The phone at the extension 102 will then ring.

Figure 5. Play on Phone.

This allows the user to send the audio stream of the voice mail message to an internal phone for better sound quality, for more privacy, or to allow a third party to hear the message. The system even provides prompts over the phone following the playback with message handling options.

Auto Attendant

The auto attendant is like a secretary, providing voice prompts to guide an external or internal caller through the voice mail system. The system can respond to either telephone keypad presses or voice commands.

The auto attendant features include the following:

• A customizable set of menus for external users

• Greetings for business hours and nonbusiness hours

• Hours of operation and holiday schedules

• Access to the organization’s directory

• Access for external users to the operator

The voice prompts that provide the preceding information can be customized to suit the organization.