Chapter 10. Unified Messaging

When Microsoft released Exchange Server 2007, one of the coolest features included was Unified Messaging. For those who are not familiar with this, Unified Messaging, or UM (pronounced either as the two letters individually or as the interjection that speech coaches despise), is a role within Exchange that allows users to receive voicemail and faxes directly to their mailboxes! It will even let you dial a number and then play your messages, read your email, and dictate your schedule to you. This role also integrates with Microsoft Office Communicator Server to create one of the feature-rich IP voice systems to date. UM fills a very important niche because it allows IT departments to reduce the complexity of the infrastructure and enables them to retire aging voice mail platforms. For more information on UM please see microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/2007/evaluate/overview/default.mspx.

To get the most out of this chapter, you must have the UM role installed on a server (see Chapter 3 for installation information). It is also advantageous, though not required, to have a cursory understanding of how phone systems, PBXs, and audio encoding work.