35.7 UNIFIED MESSAGING

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35.7 UNIFIED MESSAGING

Technology has made it possible for us to communicate with anyone, anywhere, and anytime using different media—voice, data, fax, or video. However, the user has to use different devices to access different networks and call different numbers, depending on the location of the person called, and receives multiple bills for the different services. Unified messaging aims at solving this problem by providing an ability to access different networks using a device of one's choice. Also, it provides a single mailbox to access messages of different types such as voice, data or fax. The driving factor for this unified messaging is the demand of subscribers for simple, easy-to-use interfaces for meeting their communication needs.

Globalization of communication services is driving the telecom service providers to make the lives of their subscribers easier. To survive and grow in this immense competitive market, service providers have no choice but to provide unified messaging services. Providing enhanced services will ensure subscriber loyalty, and nowdays all service providers are focusing on providing unified messaging services.

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Unified messaging makes it possible to use a single mailbox for e-mail, voice mail, fax mail, and video mail. In addition, different services can be accessed by a subscriber through a device of his choice.

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35.7.1 Unification of Messaging Systems

With increased use of communication facilities, subscribers are demanding a number of services, such as:

  • Multimedia services such as voice, data, fax, graphics, and video.

  • One mailbox for all types of media, not different mailboxes for voice, e-mail, and so forth.

  • Access to different services from one device of their choice—the device may be a normal telephone, a mobile phone, a multimedia PC, PDA or a palmtop.

  • Simple, easy-to-use interface for accessing different services.

  • Single, consolidated bill for all the services, not multiple bills for different networks.

  • A single directory number to call a person, irrespective of the location of the person.

    To meet the above demands of the subscribers, the important requirements are:

  • Personal telecommunications number (PTN): A single number to reach a person, irrespective of the location. If the subscriber does not want to be reached, the calling person will be able to leave a message in the mailbox. The called person will be notified of the waiting message.

  • Single interface to access different networks: The subscriber must be able to access the PSTN, the Internet, a mobile network or a paging network using a single interface of his choice. The device can be a PC, PDA, palmtop, fixed telephone, mobile telephone, or a fax machine. Of course, depending on the device, the capabilities may vary.

  • Integration of different networks: Service providers or operators need to work out arrangements so that the various networks—PSTN, Internet, mobile network (PLMN), of paging network—are integrated together. This ensures that a single mailbox can be used by a subscriber for accessing messages.

As shown in Figure 35.8, a unified network provides unification of different messaging systems through a personal telecommunications terminal (PTT).

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Figure 35.8: Unified messaging: a futuristic scenario.

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The convergence of various networks and various services is paving the way for unified access to services.

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35.7.2 Applications of Unified Messaging

Based on the architecture shown in Figure 35.8, some typical applications of unified messaging are described below. As you can see, this calls for many technologies—IVR, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, SMS, and fax-to-text conversion.

Voice messaging: When a called party does not want to be reached or is not available, a voice mail message is left in the voice mailbox. However, presently the voice mailboxes are many—at the PSTN service provider, at the mobile service provider, or at the subscriber premises. Instead, a single voice mailbox can be provided that can be used for voice mails from PSTN or a mobile phone. The voice mailbox can be accessed from any telephone—fixed or mobile or through a PC.

E-mail: To access text mail, there is a separate mailbox (or multiple mailboxes if one has multiple mail addresses). The voice mailbox can also be used for storing e-mail. In addition, text mail can be retrieved through a telephone (fixed or mobile). When one accesses the mailbox, the text is converted into speech form (through text-to-speech conversion software) and played to the user.

Fax mail: Fax messages also can be stored in the mailbox. The fax messages can be retrieved from the mailbox using a normal fax machine, or they can be read through a telephone (of course with the limitation that the pictures cannot be read). This calls for special software that converts the fax text into normal text and then converts the text into speech form. Another possibility is to reroute a fax message to a mailbox.

Short messaging service (SMS): Whenever a mail (e-mail, voice mail, or fax mail) arrives in his mailbox, the user can be alerted through a short message. The user can program to receive the short message on his mobile phone or pager or on his PC.

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The various services that can be supported in the unified messaging framework are e-mail, voice mail, fax mail, and video mail, IVR, SMS, call forwarding etc.

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Call forwarding: Call forwarding is nowdays supported on many networks. A person can program his mobile device for forwarding all calls to a fixed line or vice versa. This allows a person to be in touch with office/home all the time, and the calling party is saved of lot of bother trying different numbers.

Voice dialing: To access mailboxes or to dial telephones, voice dialing is a boon. However, with the present technology, the user has to train his device for his voice to obtain good recognition accuracy.

Interactive voice response systems: Users can access information available in databases through IVR systems. Advanced IVR systems also facilitate receiving fax messages. The fax message can be routed to a normal fax machine or a message box.

Video messaging: Presently, video messaging has not caught on very well because the video occupies large bandwidth and, if low bit rates are used, quality is not good. However, with good video streaming technologies coming up, desktop video conferencing is catching up. Once the Internet backbone can support higher data rates, video messaging will be used extensively and will be an integral part of unified messaging.

With unified messaging, exciting times are ahead. Communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime using just one number and with any device of your choice—life cannot be better!



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Principles of Digital Communication Systems and Computer Networks
Principles Digital Communication System & Computer Networks (Charles River Media Computer Engineering)
ISBN: 1584503297
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 313
Authors: K V Prasad

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