Unified messaging
From Hill2dot0
Unified messaging is about the ability to store, generate, and receive messages from multiple platforms in multiple formats. For example, a unified messaging platform can integrate voice mail, fax, Email, instant messaging (IM), paging, and short message service (SMS) in a single platform. The system allows the retrieval of messages from any platform and receipt of messages by any platform. For example, users could receive their voice mail as an audio attachment (e.g., an MP3 file) to an email message. Conversely, email messages could be retrieved via a telephone with a text-to-speech capability built into the application.
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Platforms
The vast majority of unified messaging platforms focus on three messaging vehicles: email, fax, and voice mail. Between the others, there is some amount of interworking today between IM and SMS in public services. Although some interworking of services exists with paging, the combination of SMS and the falling prices of cellular services is more than likely to push paging into extinction.
Unified Messaging in the Network
The image on the right depicts the elements that would exist in a typical unified messaging application today. This particular configuration is premises-based, but the concept extends to Internet-based services and carrier-based services. They largely differ based on where the unified messaging server is located.
The unified messaging server is the lynchpin of the application. It acts as an agent on behalf of the user, tying together a variety of messaging systems and giving the user a single point of access. It is connected to the PSTN directly or via a PBX; on this connection it can receive and send faxes as well as incoming calls from mobile users. The same server also has a data network connection and through this connection it can access the corporate PBX (in a converged network environment) and the corporate email server.
The role of the unified messaging server is to create a merge point for these different messaging systems. When an incoming fax is received, the unified messaging server acts as a fax server, receives the fax, and routes it to the email inbox of the appropriate user. This can be done by providing each employee with a fax number and using caller ID, by having intelligent text recognition scanning the fax for destination information. Faxes that cannot be resolved can be forwarded to a fax receptionist (a person) who triages the electronic versions of the incoming faxes and routes them appropriately. The same server can be used to send faxes by the simple expedient of receiving documents or emails whose destination is a phone number and whose message type is “fax.”
Users access their unified account via a telephone. From the menu they can listen to their voice mail (as usual) or they can request audio read out of their unread email. From their desktop, users can send and receive email or faxes, and check their voice mail. The unified messaging server accesses their voicemail on their behalf, records an audio file version of the message, and forwards it into the email system as an attachment.
Integrating the Desktop
Another dimension of unified messaging happens on the desktop, where various messaging systems are integrated into a seamless, single interface. Here the integration is just beginning to gain steam. Most desktop applications have published APIs that make it possible for third party companies to develop what are referred to as plug-ins that can be added to the application. If an individual is running two different messaging systems, and both publish APIs, then it becomes possible for a third party to create a plug-in that integrates the two systems.
For example, consider a user who is running both Microsoft Outlook and Skype. A plug-in called SkypeLook can be installed that integrates the two applications. The user can launch an IP Telephony (IPT) call to a contact from within Outlook. The call can be placed PC-to-PC or routed via SkypeOut to any of the telephone numbers listed in the Outlook contacts list. A Skype text chat can also be launched from within Outlook. Skype users that are online can be seen, along with their current status, from the toolbar. The toolbar even adds an answering machine function to Skype, as an alternative to Skype’s voicemail.
Notice this is the integration of a desktop client with an Internet-based IPT solution. Similar software plug-ins are available for Outlook, Domino, and GroupWise to interwork them with premises-based IM, IPT, and other messaging systems from a variety of vendors.
The Benefits
The benefits of a unified messaging system are almost too obvious. The user can realize significant time savings. The morning routine of starting the work day, checking the voice mails, checking the emails, and then checking for incoming faxes is reduced to using a single interface to check all three (and possibly more) communication sources. The ability to generate messages via any of those communication systems from a single interface also greatly simplifies the work style, and possibly the lifestyle.
All of this translates to user satisfaction, which can positively impact employee (or other user) satisfaction and loyalty. Streamlining communications can have a trickle down effect of simplifying business processes. Time savings on the part of individuals and simplified business processes can translate into increased productivity. Enhanced communications can also spell increased customer satisfaction when the service is made available to customer-facing users, or when it reduces response time to product or service demands within the organization. A unified messaging system can also give the organization a single pressure point for performing backup and archiving of messages. This is a two-edged sword, however. Electronic communication is now broadly covered under several regulatory umbrellas, so implementing a unified messaging system might well bring voice mail and instant messaging and other real-time communications under the same regulatory umbrella that currently covers email.
For the vendors and service providers of unified messaging systems, these products have the potential to expand their subscriber base and provide a new source of revenue. The integration of multiple messaging systems into one tends to create stronger customer loyalty by virtue of the net effect on the cost of change. It is one thing to change one’s email address and provider; it is another to change all communication systems.
Problems and Issues
Unified messaging is a relatively young technology. Although there have been unified messaging products and services on the market for some time now, most are fairly narrowly focused. Part of the problem is the sea of variables that have to be dealt with to create products and services.
First, there are many different messaging systems we interact with daily. We use the telephone, which might be a conventional circuit-based telephone connected to the PSTN (public), a PBX(private), or part of a Centrex service (virtually private). Today, it is increasingly likely that it will be an IP-based telephone connected to a local Ethernet switch (IPT) or wireless access node (VoWLAN) and may be a stand-alone device or a softphone in a computer. The service might be private (premises-based), carrier-provided (IP Centrex), or public (Internet-based service). Most professionals also have a cell phone. Note the number of possible variations, and we have only discussed one messaging option. A similar list exists for IM and email. Add in SMS, fax, and paging and you have an enormous number of variables.
There is also an extensive list of vendors who provide solutions or parts of solutions. There are a variety of protocols to deal with, some well established and public, others relatively new and still not yet well established in the market, and still others completely proprietary. Finally, the applications in question have a variety of APIs, and there is little consistency in their selection or design.
Any company looking to deploy a unified messaging system will have to make decisions from among all these variables. They will have to consider carefully which messaging systems can and should be included in the unified messaging architecture, and which users should have access to which messaging systems. This means understanding how employees (and other target users) use their messaging systems. As users become more dependent on the unified infrastructure, issues of service availability and survivability become more critical. Failure in the unified messaging system has the potential to cut users off from all of their message sources simultaneously.
Decisions also need to be made about which devices are to be supported. Can and will the infrastructure be extended to laptops, desktops, and/or handheld devices (e.g., cell phones, PDAs)? The potential scale of the deployment must be considered to ensure that an easily scalable solution is selected.
The organization also must determine what the maintenance and management requirements of the new system are as it scales. For example, if the system needs to support 20,000 users with account changes to 20 percent of the population annually, and it takes 30 minutes to add, change, or delete a user account, the system will require a full-time person just to make account changes. This does not factor in system upgrades, troubleshooting, and so forth.
Finally, security considerations are critical. When users have collapsed access to all of their messaging systems, anyone who can breach the system gains the same benefit. The system must be secure without security being intrusive, or the users will themselves compromise the security. Users must know where, how, and when to report potential breaches. Policies must be clearly articulated, communicated, and enforced.
Products and Services
Premises-Based Unified Messaging Products
As with most interpersonal communication services, unified messaging can be deployed on premises as a private service, or it can be provided externally as an outsourced service. Outsourced services are readily available from many of the major carriers, and from many application service providers (ASP) on the Internet. Premises services come largely from one of two sources: equipment providers and application providers.
There is a strong relationship between unified messaging applications and IP-based voice services. Most of the unified messaging systems from equipment providers are closely associated with, and integrated into, that vendor’s Voice over IP (VoIP) and IP Telephony (IPT) solutions. The three largest IPT providers today are Cisco, Nortel, and Avaya, each of which offers a unified messaging alternative. But the list doesn’t stop there. Most equipment vendors offer a solution, including 3Com, Siemens, NEC, Lucent, Fujitsu, and many, many others. Although they differ widely in detail, they all support the primary email clients and servers used today, and use establish Internet protocols for handling email.
From the application providers, the big three all have unified messaging solutions in place or in the works. Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 introduces unified messaging to the exchange server engine. IBM’s Lotus Domino gains unified messaging by adding the Domino Unified Communications package. Novell’s approach is to work with authorized partners, and there are several packages from several different partners, including CallegraInbox from CallWare Technologies and TOPCALL. But the market is filled with unified messaging solutions from any number of software vendors. Some of these are also beginning to integrate SMS and IM capabilities.
Unified Messaging Services
Unified messaging does not have to be deployed as a premises-based solution. It can be provided as a service in the wide area. When it is provided this way, there are essentially two directions to turn. One is to partner with a carrier, most commonly the carrier that provides voice and/or data services to the organization. Most of the major carriers have some sort of unified messaging service offering. Most of them unify voice services and email. The major carriers that have companion cellular services can provide unification between wired and wireless telephony as well as email.
Examples of carrier-based unified messaging include Verizon’s iobi service, AT&T Unified Messaging, and Sprint Unified Messaging. Although these services differ in detail, they have similar characteristics. Verizon’s iobi service, for example, provides voice service management from either a telephone, Web browser, or dedicated laptop/desktop client application. It supports the integration of cell phones, business phones, and residential phones into a single system that offers call management, unified messaging, and contact management. Calls from certain numbers can be directed automatically to voice mail; others can be forwarded to a cell phone. iobi customers can receive incoming call information for all phones in the service, any time, any place; customers are notified via a dedicated client application on their laptop or desktop system, or via messages on their cell phone. Incoming calls can be managed remotely. Finally, iobi users can point and click and pick up incoming calls on either their home phone, their mobile phone, or their business phone. iobi also integrates with the local email application.
A whole host of Internet-based unified messaging providers has also emerged, including onebox, CallWave, and RingCentral, to name a few. Most of these services have both individual products and business-scale services. Most tend to be targeted to the SMB market, but several claim enterprise-scale capabilities.
A Unified Messaging Example
The visual details the servers, processes, and user portals that are part of a unified messaging system. As the name implies, unified messaging is the combination of messaging services to allow users to access their messages in a variety of ways. The normal email functions of messaging, conferencing, and calendaring are unified in this example. Add to this the input from the Web server(s), the voice system (in this example an IVR/PBX), and a management system. The servers in the system can be accessed via a variety of devices through portals. A portal allows users the ability to access information on any of the servers using the various access devices. For example, a user can access his/her voice mail via a Web browser. The portal opens access to the voice mail system using a different device. Also via unified messaging, users can use a telephone to send an email to a contact. Users call the unified messaging system and ask to send an email. The message is dictated and emailed to the contact as a wav file attachment to the email.
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