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Guided By JAGRUTI PATEL

Submitted By KAJAL PATEL

C.U.SHAH COLLEGE OG ENGG. & TECH. WADHWAN CITY 363 030

WADHWAN CITY DIST : SURENDRANAGAR

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. / Ms. ______________________ Mr. / Ms. _____________________________________is / are studying in Sem VI of B.E. Information Technology having Roll No. _______________________ has / have completed his / her / their seminar on the following topic successfully. Topic Name : ________________________________________________

Staff Incharge

Head of Dept. (Miss Saroj Bodar)

Date : ___________

CONTENT

I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................2 WHY UNIFIED MESSAGING.4 BENEFITS OF UNIFIED MESSAGING..4 THE INTEL SERVEY ON UNIFIED MESSAGING8 IMPLEMENTATION.10 LATEST UPDATES ON UNIFIED MESSAGING..15

VII. PITFALLS OF CONVERGED NETWORK . VIII. CONCLUSION17 IX. REFERENCES..20

I. a. overview

INTRODUCTION.

The rapid increase in worker mobility, accompanied by the dramatic rise of mobile devices, has caused the ability to stay in touch anytime, anywhere, via any device, to take on new meaning. People are inundated with messages and communications, both realtime and non-real time, necessitating a better way to reduce messaging chaos and manage all of the voice mail, e-mail, text, and fax messages workers receive every day. The solution is Unified Messaging (UM), the integration of voice mail, fax, e-mail, allowing users to access any of these messages,anywhere, anytime, from any terminal of choice. Unified Messaging (UM) has the promise of central, unified management of multiple services and brings the ability for existing providers to offer new offerings such as email, fax, one-number and other services to lock in existing subscribers. It also introduces several new challenges and opportunities for service providers - with traditional lines between phone numbers and services blurred. This paper examines the paradigm shift from traditional messaging systems and explores successful strategies in implementing Unified Messaging

b. What is unified messaging? Defination:


Unified messaging is a technique which integrate all the messaging services like, e-mail, voice mail, faxes, sms into a one box solution. UM takes all of the users messages, stores and manages them consistently, and presents them in a given context. Among all definitions of UM, these points go to the essence of UM. Unified messaging is a personal agent for the individual user. It can help send and receive messages, whether they are voice, e-mail, or fax. It also will notify the user whenever mail arrives. The concept of notification is becoming a large part of messaging. Some people want to be reached at all costs, anywhere, at any time. Whether they are at home or on vacation, they want to be notified of messages. Others are more protective about their privacy. They do not want to be reached when, for example, they are sleeping or having dinner. Unified messaging technology provides the power to reach people almost anywhere, at any time and the flexibility to allow people to control when they can be reached. This is based on a concept of "your time" communications, where subscribers can interface with messages how and when they want. Unified Messaging offers subscribers the ability to manage several communication media such as phone, fax, email, voicemail, and messaging, through a central message manager. In addition, multiple access methods are available to the central 4

message manager - web, voice enabled email; voicemails and faxes from a single place and choose the disposition action for forwarding, copying, archiving etc. i.e. this technique takes all the messages as input , store it and mnage it according to users contact. The service is targeted at busy, mobile professionals who are challenged with the need to be constantly in touch with all methods of receiving and sending messages. Take the busy sales professional as an example - he or she probably has an office land line number, mobile phone number, two voicemails, a fax number, an email address and a pager. Traditionally, this individual would separately check voicemails, emails, faxes and pagers using three or four different devices - each with different interfaces. With a Unified Messaging account, a user can log on to a central site and view/play back all messages at once. For professionals on the road, emails, voicemails and faxes can all be listened to through voice reproduction technology saving time and frustration. Probably the bigger advantage is the ability to easily find the busy professional - instead of trying two phone numbers, paging and sending an email, unified messaging can also provide a 'one number service where your business card only has to have one number for all messages, faxes and emails. Each message type is distinguishable by an easy to read graphical icon. The integration with these already-familiar email systems practically eliminates the need to train employees to use unified messaging technology because they are able to manage all messages just like an email. When out of the office or on the road, users can also access and manage all of their messages from any telephone worldwide. Unified messaging provides unparalleled flexibility by giving users the ability to access their messages 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year from almost any location. so, from this user is in complete control of routing of their messages according to his convenient. This device has become a very useful transaction terminal. People can use it for banking transactions, brokerage transactions, and even to order a book or a pizza. On the other end of the network, a pizza restaurant, for example, would have a small database of users on a $1,000 PC. Customers call in and enter the data mode. Their calling number is recognized immediately as a previous customer, and they can order their pizza with choices presented to them on the phone's display. The caller's address and telephone number is then retrieved from the database. This application is an example of technology yielding business solutions

concept of unified messaging II. Why Unified Messaging?

Would it make your life easier to have any of the following? Receive faxes in your email. Listen to your email over the phone AND reply over the phone. Have a messaging service answer your telephone calls in your name. Have your emails sent to your pager or Texted to your mobile phone. Have emails sent to my fax machine. Be alerted when you receive a message. Forward all your e-mails to your phone via Text message Have all your messages in one central, always accessible store. Have your calls forwarded to any phone you choose (Follow Me)

Have your calls locate you via a series of numbers (Find Me) Have an automated system which announces the caller before answering Send all types of messages from one central in-box. Broadcast Fax, E-mail or SMS Text messages from the web

If the answer is yes to any of the above, Messagepoint is for you. And the best part is that It also does much more. For example , suppose you are at home and any fax is arrived at your office in your fax machine then there is no means to get that fax instantly or even you arent aware of incoming of the fax. So, UM gives you the solution of this problem . you can read your fax from PC or mobile or any communication device which you want and also it will notify you for coming of the fax. The goal of a Unified Messaging system is to simplify and speed up communication processes to achieve time and cost savings for companies and/or individuals. Unified Messaging makes it easier for users and system administrators to manage the influx of messages, while providing enhanced voice mail and fax capabilities. Unified Messaging enables users to access voicemail, email, and fax messages from a single user interface, making messages accessible via telephone, wireless device, or Web interface. It can be premise-based, using a server to bring together the applications, or it can be offered by a service provider as a network-hosted service. Unified messaging makes possible PC-based voicemail and fax retrieval, telephone access to email and fax messages, and instant Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) notification of incoming messages. UM uses a common graphical user interface to greatly enhance and simplify the ability to retrieve, organize, and review messages. And as the number and type of communication devices increases, UM ensures continued anywhere, anytime, any-device access to all messages. UM cuts administration costs by eliminating infrastructure redundancy. It also provides advanced productivity features such as: 1 Text-to-speech conversion for cross-interface message retrieval and delivery 2 Fax integration 3 Speech-to-text conversion for flexible message creation (future) 4 Speech recognition 5 Live Reply features to automatically re-dial the person who left the voice message.

III.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF UNIFIED MESSAGING

Ultimate Mobility UM can deliver your messages to you on the move - via phone, e-mail, pager, fax or SMS capable cell phone. You can also log onto any Internet enabled computer and access your messages. For example, read your messages from an Internet cafe, hotel, library or airport world-wide. Special software is not essential as you access your messages via any web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Let Your Messages Chase You, Not The Other Way Around All messages can be forwarded to you wherever you are.... and not where you're not. You're in complete control of the routing of your messages - tell us where you would like them delivered, and by which method and we'll organize that for you. And even if your computer or mobile phone is switched off we can still get your messages to you when you're on the move - the messages are stored until you switch on again. Clear And Simple The UM system is simple and fast to use. Faxes are received with digital quality so they will always be clear and easy to read. Voicemail is recorded with CD quality, so not only will you be able to hear clearly what your message is, you'll also find that lost messages through full or broken answering machine are a thing of the past. Quick Set Up UM delivers your voicemails, faxes, telephone messages and e-mail messages straight to your own unique routing rules meaning no more lost messages, and no need to worry about sensitive documents or faxes. With UM all messages are encrypted. Because of this a fax transmitted via UM will be more secure then using the public telephone network. Messages come to you, and follow you to your exact location. Faxes need not go to a hotel reception, nor messages be handled by anyone except yourself. There is no need to rely on staff to get your messages to you - UM delivers them to a specified location according to your instructions.

Travel Light No need to travel with laptops and pagers and mobile phones and personal organizers. Instead of carrying around cumbersome communications equipment, have all your messages sent to one location where you can view and respond to them. Similarly, your contacts can reach you on one number, first time, instead of chasing you for hours. High scalability: PBX systems max out at a certain number of users, requiring expensive system upgrades or add-ons to increase capacity. Converged networks, on the other hand, are as easy and efficient to scale as any data network, with the ability to seamlessly provision additional capacity for infrastructure, services, and applications on demand Instant Notification UM can provide notification to your pager or SMS capable cell phone or e-mail account to alert you that new messages have been received and are waiting for your attention. There will be no more wasted time logging on to find that no messages are waiting, and no more time and expense spent calling back to the office to see if perhaps there are messages waiting for collection there. Notification can be provided for all message types, so even when you are on the move you can still keep right in touch. A notification tells you the time of message receipt and the number of the caller (if available) so you can then choose the urgency of your response . Real-Time Call Management The heart of unified communications is real-time call management it ensures that people maximize their time and productivity and gives control back to the user by enabling them to prioritize calls. How does this work? Callers dial the universal number and give their name to the system, which then calls multiple userspecified numbers simultaneously office phone, car phone, home office, pager, meeting room, or even a customers office. Because callers are announced, users now have the flexibility to take the call, send it to voice mail, redirect it to another colleague, or even initiate a conference call with additional parties. Recall that in the absence of unified communications, fewer than 25 percent of business calls reach their intended party. If 75 percent of business calls are not reaching the intended party, one result is an overabundance of messages waiting for that party at the end of the day. So, what does real-time call management really mean for a user? It means that the user is able to exercise judgment over which calls to take, which calls to forward to someone who can address the callers needs, and which calls to send to voice mail to deal with later. The 9

result is better time management and prioritization of work. There are fewer messages to return at the end of the day because the user has routed each call appropriately as it came in throughout the day. Enterprise Integration A truly unified communications service for business cannot force users to check messages in more than one mailbox. It must allow messages to be routed and stored wherever the business or user chooses either in the systems own mailbox or by integrating the unified communications system with an existing corporate voice mail system. This decision often involves a cost-benefit analysis of the merits of keeping an organization standardized on a single voice mail platform versus a typically richer feature set offered in the unified communications mailbox (such as one-touch call return, message forwarding to others outside the system, Web access to voice and fax messages, etc.). Return on Investment The increased productivity, time savings and flexibility of unified messaging translate into valuable cost savings. A recent industry study published by Comgroup, an independent telecommunications consulting firm, and AVT Corp. measured unified messaging's effects on time savings and productivity. The study found that by utilizing unified messaging, mobile users experienced a time savings gain of 70 percent when compared to the traditional means of checking messages. While some IT managers worry that they cannot afford to deploy unified messaging within their company, the study found that an average size system pays for itself in 68 business days. The following example illustrates a 200-user system with 20 remote/traveling employees.

Number of employees Time-savings (in hours/day) Average hourly salary cost Savings per day System cost Payback in days

Office-based 180 0.25 $12 $540 $45,000

Remote/traveling 20 0.4 $25 $200 $5,000

Total 200

$740 $50,000 67.56

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IV.

THE INTEL SERVEY ON UNIFIED MESSAGING

Intel conducted an 18-month unified messaging research and development project. This included a seven month usage trial, in which we sought to determine the best approach to UM deployment and to establish a framework for understanding our return on investment (ROI). Prior to the trial, Intel surveyed many of our business groups to determine the demand for unified messaging and to establish usage preferences. We also surveyed external companies to better understand UM trends, product maturity, and product offerings. Intels UM team used the survey information to form a solution that meets user needs, with minimal impact on the existing messaging infrastructure. The usage trial involved 100 participants drawn from Intel campuses in Folsom, CA; Chandler, AZ; New Mexico; Oregon; and Santa Clara, CA. We used the existing Folsom PBX, and installed a dedicated Intel-based UM server at the Folsom campus. Participants were surveyed during the trial and again upon its completion. The survey data further aided our understanding of UMs impact (pros and cons) on day-to-day productivity and helped identify areas for improvement. Although we did not seek to identify or recommend any specific UM product during the usage trial, the surveys generated enough data to suggest a general approach to implementation. Every companys needs are unique, but the information gathered by Intel can benefit any business, whether large or small, that is considering a move to unified messaging. User satisfaction Eighty-six percent of the trial participants responded to the post-trial survey, praising the saved time, increased message responsiveness, enhanced mobility, and improved communication that unified messaging provided. Assigning absolute dollar values to subjective benefits is difficult, but the users response paints a clear picture of overall satisfaction with unified messaging; ninety-two percent of respondents felt that UM met or exceed-ed their expectations. Interface preference The ability to use an email client with the graphical interface of their PC-based, email office application provided an appealing alternative to phone-based messaging. Of the users surveyed, 98% overwhelmingly preferred their PC email application as their messaging interface (rather than a telephone or PDA). These users estimated that once UM was in place, they accessed voice messages using a desk or cell phone only 1% of the time. That is why this particular solution works so well in this environment Productivity Survey respondents cited mobility, responsiveness, and saved time as significant unified messaging benefits. While only 6% cited improved communication, that number will likely increase as users become more UM-proficient, taking advantage of new capabilities such as the ability to combine voice and text in the same message. Figure 3 depicts the productivity benefits reported by usage trial participants. 11

Ease of use -

Because of its role in the acceptance of new technology, ease of use is a key factor in UMs success. As depicted in Figure 2, 92% of respondents found UM easy to use once it was in place. These numbers were based largely on users ability handle voice and email messages on their PC by using the same, familiar email interface.

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Time savings The survey results revealed significant savings of time. Nearly half (47%) estimated saving at least one hour per week; and 14% estimated over three hours saved per week. Figure 4 further breaks down the amount of time saved.

Mobility Unified messaging, especially when combined with wireless LAN, greatly enhanced user mobility for nearly three quarters (73%) of participants (Figure 4). Many users lauded the ability to receive, listen to (or ignore), and reply to incoming voice messages while in meetings or in the cafeteria. Telecommuters with a single phone line appreciated a single message interface that let them avoid disconnecting every time they needed to check voicemail. Help Desk benefit Help Desk personnel at Intel valued UM for the single, non-telephone interface that enhanced multitasking. They also appreciated UMs ability to forward voice messages with their precise meaning intact instead of first translating them into text email.

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Training Figure 5 reveals that 22% of respondents considered training to be essential, 48% deemed it nice but not essential, and 30% said it was unnecessary. That over two thirds considered training essential or beneficial underscores its necessity in any unified messaging deployment.

UM users report a wider mobility range, improved ability to receive and respond to incoming messages, and more efficient message management. These undeniable productivity gains make UMs universal acceptance inevitable. UM technology has already been deployed on many small- and medium-sized networks. The question network administrators must consider is not whether to add UM to their network, but how and when.

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V.

IMPLEMENTATION

The fundamental challenge of UM is combining two vast communications networks that until now have remained largely separate. First, the phone network: public phone systems, feeding corporate PBX systems, performing directory lookups, and feeding individual voicemail boxes on a central server, all done using telephony communication standards. Second, the IP network: public Internet routers, feeding corporate email servers, performing directory lookups, and feeding individual email inboxes on a central server, all done using data standards like Internet Protocol (IP). A true UM solution requires several key pieces. The first major piece is an object store, a server which can save voice, fax, and email messages. Domino already has the capacity to do this. The Domino Object Store can handle many kinds of data -- text, video, presentation files, images -- and it fits the bill as a voicemail server as well. A second component is a hardware connection to translate between the PBX system and the IP network. Our blueprint for UM right now uses a Dialogic network interface board to handle this duty, but other vendors will soon provide alternatives. These first pieces, however, are largely transparent to the knowledge workers who actually take advantage of UM. The piece most visible -- or audible -- to them is of course the user interface. AVT Corporation provides CallXpress, the TUI (Telephone User Interface) which fits seamlessly into Notes and Domino to provide access to voicemail, and provides considerable capabilities for managing email through the phone. Once all of these pieces are in place, and the UM system is running, all of a user's incoming messages collect in one central inbox. With some estimates putting today's information worker at an average of 200 messages a day sent and received, users who can access those messages with whatever device is right for them at the time save time and aggravation. No one can be at the computer all the time, or be on the phone constantly-the key is that it's up to your discretion as to how you'll stay in touch. Message handling capabilities through the phone are just as flexible. After you dial in to your mailbox, CallXpress lets you know how many emails, voicemails, and faxes are waiting. It reads subject lines and senders to you, and you choose which messages to listen to. You can listen to shorter messages in their entirety and send a quick voice response with one touch of a button. Longer messages that need more careful reading can be saved, forwarded to other email addresses, or even sent to a nearby fax machine for immediate access. Again, it's up to you to decide how to handle each message: the Lotus UM solution simply provides the tools for any situation. This new offering also helps with prioritizing messages, based on message senders, priority flags, or whether a message is voice, email, or fax. It can send you a page whenever a voicemail is received. Or just voicemails from the boss. Or just urgent voicemails from the boss. All of this is easily configurable in Domino. Soon, the control

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will be fine enough to create rules such as, "If people on the Client list call over the weekend, transfer the call to my home; if it's after 10:00 P.M. on Saturday send it to my cell phone instead." The integration of voice technology with Domino messaging is just the first step in a larger change in the way people gather information. CallXpress already includes an interactive voice response (IVR) system through which callers can use the phone keypad to select documents to be read to them from a database -- a broad description which includes the unified messaging applications discussed here. But that's only the start. The potential exists for almost any existing Domino database to be voice-enabled, allowing any authorized user telephone access. For example, one popular Domino app is sales force automation (SFA). By adding the IVR system to an SFA application, a company could give their sales force the ability to dial in from wherever they are and listen to the daily reports, getting the day's bookings in one concise description. The report could also be sent as a voice message to the sales team's unified mailboxes. With some creative use of voice interfaces into Domino applications, mobile workers could gain a whole new level of connectivity. How unified messaging works? Unified messaging uses a UM server connected to both the IP network and the telephony network, typically through a Private Branch Exchange (PBX). An email server stores and distributes email, voicemail, and fax messages. Messages are stored and accessed using a single virtual inbox. This consolidation means that messaging is managed through a single PC inter-face (for example, a PC-based email and calendaring application), or remotely using a cell phone or PDA. User can also manage their messages through IVR (interactive voice response) menu selection, by entering in it and selecting type for message receiving, especially voice messages. Now, what the IVR does is, it accept input from either a telephone keypad or the callers voice and uses that input to send back synthesizes voice or pre-recorded messages offering callers choices on how they can complete their calls. this is often just information in response to a query or menu service provided by PBX systems . An IVR PBX would answer a phone call and prompt the caller to respond to its menu selections by pushing buttons on a touch-tone phone. An example Would be telephone baking. This is a key component in Computer Telephone Integration (CTI).

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Now What the PBX is? A PBX is a means of providing switched communication to a number of different users, usually within one or a group of buildings i.e. switching between the users. The PBX also acts as the primary interface to either public or leased networks via either direct connection or a series of gateways. A gateway is a computer controlled interface between a PBX and other network services .this could be a gateway to other computers; networks, such as packet switched network. Depending on the device or network being interfaced, the gateway can be either simple or complex. In a complex interface, the gateway might perform functions such as speed or protocol conversion. A PBX also contain the CPU for processing . which control and select the call routing it also has memory in that attached trunks identified numbers is stored. The present generation of PBXs are configured in a star topology, meaning that the PBX is a centre switching unit to which all devices are directly attached . A PBX uses as its transmission medium pairs of twisted copper wires that radiate from the switch to every extension , to which could be attached a telephone, PC, terminal, facsimile machine, printer and so on. Voice over IP PBX : A specialized server based PBX would be a VoIP PBX ,which we are using here. VoIP is simply putting voice over our data network, In this case, a LAN attached to a PBX user. One LAN wire would be used for both voice and data traffic. This can substantially save wiring costs. Further, a VoIP server-based PBX can route voice and data traffic across any high speed IP network or the internet . the VoIP PBX

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must be configured with IP addresses of the remote facilities for it to route VoIP tyraffic to those remote facilites. Requirements for the Unified Messaging. In UM applications, the UM server often needs to communicate to a PBX instead of being directly connected to the network.One way this connection can be established is via the Q-Sig protocol. Q-Sig is a standard protocol that is used for the connection to a PBX. By using a communication adapter that supports the Q-Sig protocol, the UM server can easily communicate to a PBX via a common standard. The UM server needs to support all low-level protocols for the transmission of messages. In addition to the basic requirements UM systems also need to support Voice Over IP (VoIP). While Unified Messaging can exist without voice over IP, VoIP protocols make integration of these two services easier. A communication adapter can also be able to serve as a gateway connecting the PSTN and the IP network working with an ISVs gateway software, providing the underlying physical hardware to transmit the data. Therefore, in addition to the functionalities , there are specific requirements must be provided when operating in an IP network. RTP packaging provided on the adapter handles the transformation of PSTN voice streams into IP packets and vice versa. If bandwidth is critical on the IP network, Voice compression helps to compress voice data so that the voice packets take up as little bandwidth as possible. The communication adapter should offer different options and let the application choose if and which voice compression will be used. Voice activity detection (VAD) is especially important in IP networks, as this avoids sending empty packets over the network, thus conserving bandwidth. This VAD (also called silence suppression) can be enabled to monitor signals for voice activity so that when silence is detected for a specified amount of time, the application informs the Packet Voice Protocol and prevents the encoder output from being transported across the network. In an IP network, the individual packets associated with one connection often produce delays of varying size. A continuous stream of voice packets therefore cannot be guaranteed. Dynamic Anti-Jitter Buffering, an anti-jitter technique that is provided by the communication adapter, stores received packets temporarily in an internal buffer, from which they are continuously read out in a separate process. A continuous output of the data stream is thus ensured, while the input continues to wait for the next packet. This process can, however, generate additional delays, depending on the intermediate memory. The greater the potential deviation in the delay between the packets (jitter), the greater the capacity of intermediate memory required .High-quality systems are able to monitor the jitter effects and adjust the size of the intermediate memory dynamically to keep the buffer as low as possible and as high as necessary.

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VoIP VoIP is a voice carried between telephony clients using the IP. In IP telephony, VoIP represent the networking hardware and software components for managing delivery of voice communications using IP. This covers transmitting voice in digital form in discrete packets rather then over circuit-switched connections in the PSTN. VoIP uses the IP and Real-Time Protocol(RTP) to delever voice and video packets. Now the internal approach is deploying VoIP gateway devices to convert between VoIP and traditional telephony. These gateways are deployed internally to provide external interfaces to both private IP networks and the internet as well as the PSTN. The external approach integrates VoIP technology into the enterprise PBX, making it the focal point for VoIP communication Both approaches provide enterprises the opportunities to save significantly on telecommunication costs and to integrate voice and data communication into a single unified network. A PBX may send some connections to the VoIP router/gateway and others to PSTN. Calls to non-VoIP-equipped facilities are sent to the VoIP routre/gateways. The VoIP router/gateway would pocketsized the voice calls and connect them to the target VoIP router/gateway servicing the destination PCs or VoIP telephones, and cause it to ring, indicating an incoming call. Telephony switches that encode voice calls in IP packet and route them over the internet to identical switches in remote locations are the key component in the external approach to VoIP networking that we are using in our UM systems. The VoIP PBX must be configured with IP addresses of the remote facilities for it to route VoIP traffic to those remote facilities. So ultimately the VoIP connect both IP network and telephony network which we desired in our UM. So it will convert our telephony calls numbers in to IP packets. Here in fig VoIP PBX configuration is shown . B. Retrofit existing messaging Most corporations have made a considerable investment in their messaging resources so the idea of re-lacing a complete, functional voicemail system and its familiar interface and features might be difficult to justify. But a case can be made for salvaging a legacy voicemail system (providing the existing voicemail server supports it) by integrating its output into each email client. Salvaging messaging hardware already in place offers a client-side retrofit solution that is simple, fast, and cost-effective. As shown in Figure (Client side integrated messaging), a retrofit solution maintains the current voicemail, while software installed on each PC.

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Client enables message retrieval directly from the voice-mail server. Calls still enter through the existing PBX ; if unanswered, they are routed to the voicemail server just as before. The client-based software then retrieves messages from the voicemail server as .wav audio file attachments that are decompressed and played. i.e. not only calls but also all the types of messages are stored in voicemail server and from the voicemail server user can access their messages from their workstation. This client-based approach to retrieving and interpreting voice messages is better termed integrated than unified, because it bypasses the email server and can be accessed only by the users workstation, not by other devices. Email cannot be accessed by phone, pagers cannot notify that new messages are waiting, and advanced server functions (such as serverbased rules or filtering) are unavailable. Message access may also require an alternate interface such as a Web browser (rather than the primary email interface). Retrofitting does provide limited integration of email and voicemail, allowing workstation access to voicemail. But to enjoy the full productivity benefits of unified messaging, companies need a different approach.

C. Migration When migrating to a true unified messaging solution, you save the existing PBX but replace the voicemail server with a Unified Messaging Server (Figure A). Incoming calls still arrive at the PBX but unanswered calls are transferred to the UM server, which 20

connects IP and telephony networks. Messages are converted to compressed data files (three kilobytes per second) and moved to the email server, where they are treated exactly like any other email message. Once the message is transferred to the email server, the UM server deletes it. Now users workstation with unified messaging softwere is connected to UM server and the WAN. So , user can access their messages through UM server through any device . you can access calls through your w-mail because your workstation is connected to the ip network also. Although you can convert user connections from an existing voicemail system to a UM server system all at once, it is recommend converting logical blocks of users in phases. In this way you can communicate through any logical combination of devices that you can image. To ensure a smooth conversion and a scalable, extensible UM framework, one needs to establish: 1 2 3 4 Resource requirements prior to the transition The number of users Accurate estimates of the quantity of voice messages expected and The average message length

With this information, the amount of storage required on the UM server is calculated by applying this formula: Maximum storage = users * (number of messages + average message length). Because messages on the UM server are transient- that is, calls are deleted as soon as they are transferred to the email server- disk storage space is rarely a concern. Also consider the number of PBX ports connecting to the UM server. Fortunately, UM port requirements are roughly equal to the number of connections required for an existing voicemail server. However, if the PBX connecting to the UM server needs to play an expanded role - for example, if remote sites such as sales offices will be routed through it,

A. Typical UM Deployment With Centralized E-mail Server

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the number of ports may need to be increased. The resource burden on other UM hardware components such as the network, email server, and client workstation is less significant largely due to the compression of voice messages and the relatively low volume of voice messages a typical user will be able to receive. For example, transferring a compressed 30-second voice message from the Exchange server to a client would consume fewer than 100 kilobytes of network bandwidth and storage. Even heavy voicemail users rarely receive enough voice messages to burden the system. Of course a network that is at or above its bandwidth balks at the addition of voice messaging. To ensure a smooth transition, we suggest evaluating every part of the system touched by an upgrade to unified messaging. The fib. b gives the explanation of the large site .this is the another solution , which is given by intel for large site and very small remote site. Here at very small remote site PBX is directly interact with the WAN. And through WAN the call is routed to the unified messaging server again through another PBX located at large site. Then from unified messaging server message is again transferred to the e-mail server which is connected to the WAN. Now users workstation with UM software can access message from WAN entering in to the e-mail server. here the users workstation might be any device that user able to communicate. so, this is the scenario of the large site. In reality there are so many servers connected between them.

B. Remote Site Support With Centralised UM and E-mail Servers (PBX Networking Complex)

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D. Creative problem solving Handling remote sites is vastly easier when all calls are routed through the same PBX, Figure B depicts how each remote PBXs call forwarding capability to forward unanswered calls to the Folsom PBX. The Intel solution required caller ID to be supported and enabled. Caller ID allowed the UM PBX to distinguish between a remote-PBX forwarded call and a standard incoming call. It also identified the phone numbers of the caller and the recipient. When the UM PBX could not identify a forwarded calls destination mailbox, the caller was prompted with a generic (non-personalized) request for the recipients extension. Many remote trial users enjoyed complete caller ID capability. Intels approach demonstrated that cost-effective options are available without having to settle for anything less than true, server-based unified messaging system. And it underscores how preparation, planning, and innovation can be used to unify messaging in virtually every environment.

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VI. LATEST UPDATES ON UNIFIED MESSAGING


B. News Bulletin (India) Hutch announces unified messaging services
PTI [ THURSDAY, APRIL 03, 2003 04:28:55 PM ]

NEW DELHI: Cellular service provider Hutch announced on Thursday the launch of unified messaging services, which would allow its post-paid customers to access and manage three types of messages -- voice mails, e-mails and faxes. "Unified messaging will ensure that all messages can be easily received at a time, in one place by using a single command. Hutch subscribers can avail of this service without having to replace their existing handsets," Rajiv Sawhney CEO of Hutch Delhi said. The service would offer customers the option of listening to the e-mail messages using text-to-speech technology and respond to the e-mail with a voice message. It would also offer the option of viewing all messages, voice, fax and e-mails, when in office or on the move with the help of laptop or a computer. The services would be made available to Hutch customers from April 7 at a monthly subscription of Rs. 149

caltiger.com, Indian ISP, Taps 3Com CommWorks for UM & FoIP 3Com says that Caltiger.com, the largest free private ISP in India, is using the 3Com CommWorks to drive new enhanced IP services to more than 300,000 current subscribers (a number the ISP hopes to triple by year end as it doubles its presence to about 100 cities). Unified messaging, IP-based fax and migration to IP-based telephony are among the services that will be enabled via the $15 million deal. Caltiger.com currently uses 3Com Total Control multiservice access platforms for dial-up Internet access for its subscribers. Now Caltiger.com will add the 3Com CommWorks 8250 unified messaging system (universal inbox for voice, fax and e-mail), CommWorks 8200 IP fax server for store-and-forward fax (including fax broadcast, fax-to-email and never-busy fax services), the Total Control 1000 platform to enable migration to VoIP, and Total Control 100 gigabit routers for IP backbone and gateway functionality. Caltiger currently offers e-mail services in Calcutta, Siliguri, Jamshedpur, Mumbai, Baroda, Surat and Guwahati

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Tata-Avaya to roll out Unified Messaging Service soon


[Economic Times - Apr 27, 2002]

Tata Telecom-Avaya, a joint venture between the $6.8-bn US-based provider of communication services Avaya, and the Tata Group, the countrys second-biggest conglomerate, is gearing up to roll out UMS (Unified Messaging Service) in India in the next quarter.

VII .

PITFALL OF CONVERGED NETWORK

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In light of all the benefits and the notable pitfalls of separate-network solutions why havent converged networks become the norm at most organizations today? To answer this question, one must consider some of the major technological challenges that convergence has had to overcome along the way: Quality of Service (QoS): The converged network must deliver the same QoS as the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); without it, video- and voice-over-IP are simply not viable. In an IP-based network, this requires handling data packets to reduce loss, latency and jitter with a QoS significantly higher than most data transmission networks are designed to support. Reliability and Availability: The converged network must provide redundancy and fault-tolerance with "five nines" (99.999%) availability. While this is the standard level for most voice systems, many data networks lack the infrastructure to deliver such high availability across the entire system. Bandwidth: The converged network must provide the necessary bandwidth to accommodate voice and video applications, which can demand considerably more than most data applications. While some efficiency schemes have proved useful in lowering the required bandwidth, most have been unable to effectively balance transmission speeds with voice and video quality. Security: In traditional IP networks, packets are transmitted across shared segments, where the possibility exists that someone could decode packets and access secure information. A converged network must provide a new measure of encryption and security for voice traffic. Desktop Power: Typical phones systems draw DC power from the PBX. IP addressed phones must provide an equally standard and convenient power solution this is an area that has not been an issue for traditional data networks. Clearly, supporting the unique demands of voice and video applications over IP networks that have traditionally been designed to optimize data transmission is not a simple, straightforward process. These challenges are compounded by the logical need for companies to protect their investments in existing PBX systems. To facilitate a smooth, sensible migration to a

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converged network, any solution must allow for integration with an organizations current phone sets, fax machines and other PBX-based equipment. One final obstacle has come from within the convergence technology industry itself. While some vendors have in the past supported various elements of the converged network, gaps in convergence hardware and software solutions have made enterprise-wide deployment an arduous process at best. Without an end-toend convergence network solution, it was difficult to gain the momentum among customers and establish a track record of success.

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VII.

CONCLUSION

Messaging is a critical piece of the portfolio for business and residential markets. Enhanced mobility, increased responsiveness, significant time savings and reduced administration costs are among the many compelling factors that ensure the inevitable acceptance of unified messaging. Unified Messaging is the next logical component in the evolution process. To reap the benefits of UM tomorrow, smart companies have already gotten the message by preparing today. The first steps to implementing a successful unified messaging solution are establishing a goal, formulating a plan, and choosing the right architecture to ensure a UM solution that grows and evolves. Market for unified messaging services is still in a very nascent stage in India, but heady growth of SMS and voice mail services point to a strong potential for Unified messaging services in the coming years

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VI.

REFERENCES

www.unifiedmessaging.com [1] www.bitpipe.com [2] www.iec.org [3] Intel Information Technology White Paper. [4] The telecommunication Survival Guide Pete Moultan [5] www.messagepoint.com [6] www.timesofindia.com [7]

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