Grand Unificat ion: Voice, Data And Fax In One Octel Communications Unified Messenger Octel Unified Messenger is probably the most complete unified messaging CPE product on the market. Octel started from the ground up in developing Unified Messenger. Initial decisions to not retrofit a current product and to leverage Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange Server helped it produce a solid product. By leveraging what Microsoft had done in messaging through Exchange, Octel simply added the voice component and produced a unified product. The Voice Mail Server, an executable that handles the telephony aspect, lets a caller leave a message for a calle d party. Rather than store the voice message in a voice store, the Voice Mail Server uses Microsoft's Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) to deposit it in the called party's Exchange mailbox. The user simply opens the Exchange Inbox on the PC desktop, and all messages are displayed. The Voice Mail Server provides the interface to the message store for message retrieval. After logging in, the user retrieves messages directly from the Exchange store to the telephone handset. Voice messages are read and e-mail is converted by a text-to-speech conversion utility. The user can save or delete messages easily from the handset. No store synchronization is needed. We decided to test this functionality. We displayed our user's inbox on the PC. From the handset, we listened to messages, saved some and deleted others. Instantaneously, the PC screen was updated. Octel did other slick work as well. The user's telephone password, greetings, profile and class of service are stored in a hidden fold er within the Exchange store. By setting things so, Octel has created a secure system for such sensitive data. Octel used the Exchange capability of using add-ins to extend Exchange's administrative functionality. It added a "Voice Mail" tab to the administrator's screen. The adminis trator creates a user's account that establishes his or her network and e-mail accounts. By clicking the Voice Mail tab, the administrator voicemail enables the accounts and establishes some of the initial settings. The new user has network privileges and a voice/e-mail inbox. No additional dance is done. Because the new user's account is established within the Exchange domain, the directory entry is replicated to other Exchange domains automatically. In no time at all, the new user can receive voice and e-mail messages. Octel leverages Exchange functionality as much as possible. In so doing, it is free to concentrate on the portion of the system it does best--telephony. The telephone interface handled message process ing easily. One area Octel has not implemented is handling fax messages from the telephone interface. If the inbox contains fax messages, the user can do nothing with them from the phone. The next release will permit the user to forward faxes and e-mail to a local fax machine. This omission was deliberate to help Octel deliver the first version in a timely manner. Offline message processing is supported because Exchange supports offline processing. Users are required to have a multimedia machine for voicemail processing. Otherwise, they must use the telephone interface to listen to voicemail. We commend Octel for leveraging as much of Exchange as possible. The single message store, single directory, and single administrative point help keep the cost of ownership low. Octel supports embedded systems by using its OctelNet product, which intelligently processes messages flowing through it. OctelNet connects two Octel voicemail systems, providing a message backbone between voicemail servers. P rimarily used for voice messages, OctelNet recognizes e-mail being sent to a voice-only recipient. It converts the e-mail to speech before delivering the message. The recipient can listen to the message and reply by voice to the originator. Embedded e-mail systems such as Lotus Notes and Lo tus cc:Mail are supported by the various Exchange connectors. Following its strategy of leveraging as much available functionality as possible, Octel Unified Messenger runs on Microsoft Windows NT servers and uses any supported network protocol, such as TCP/IP and SPX. Overall, we feel Octel has the best solution of the products tested. By combining Unified Messenger with other Octel products such as OctelNet, it has developed a product that can be used by corporations as they enter the brave new world of unified messaging.

Updated March 7, 1997