Cisco IP Communications is a comprehensive system of enterprise-class solutions - including IP telephony, unified communications, IP video and audio conferencing, and IP contact center - that improve operational efficiencies, increase productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction to deliver measurable return on investment (ROI). Cisco Unity - an integral component of the Cisco IP Communications system - is a powerful unified communications solution that provides the advanced, convergence-based communication services your company needs on a platform that offers the utmost in reliability, scalability, and performance. The Cisco Unity server architecture is truly unified with your data network, minimizing installation, administration, and maintenance costs. Built on a platform that can scale to meet your organization's needs as it grows, Cisco Unity also uses streaming media and an intuitive browser-style system administration interface that makes life easier for the people who install and support your system, ultimately lowering your organization's total cost of ownership.Designed for an IP environment, Cisco Unity plays a central role in the migration of your telephony infrastructure from TDM to IP. With IP, it is less expensive for you to deploy a comprehensive communications solution because you have a single network for both voice and data. Cisco Unity interoperates with your legacy voice-mail system and supports both Cisco CallManager and leading traditional telephone systems - even simultaneously - to help you transition to IP telephony at your own pace and protect your existing infrastructure investments. In addition, Cisco Unity's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) integration provides native support for SIP proxy servers, designated SIP phones and clients, and SIP-enabled access gateways, to give SIP users access to the full array of benefits Cisco Unity delivers. Cisco Unity complements the full range of IP Communications solutions - such as Cisco CallManager, Cisco Personal Assistant, and Cisco IP Contact Center - by providing advanced capabilities that unify data and voice. Also, because it is enabled by Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) and designed for a converged network, Cisco Unity provides a solid foundation for rolling out future convergence-based communications services.
The components of Cisco Unity extend the power of your Microsoft Exchange server. This eliminates the inefficiencies and limitations imposed by multiple and "integrated" messaging systems, and simplifies the way you access and manage your system. Cisco Unity uses Microsoft Exchange message store and directory services to unify your system administration, collecting all messages in a single store and providing you with a single address directory service. By sharing a single directory with the data network, Cisco Unity eliminates the redundancy of user account information maintained by various applications - such as e-mail and voice-mail systems. Cisco Unity also saves you hours of time in initial installation with a feature that imports the Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Exchange accounts directory to create subscriber lists automatically. With the Cisco Unity approach, all messages are centrally stored, administered, and controlled, dramatically reducing the amount of time spent on support and maintenance, and minimizing the traffic on your LAN. At the same time, Cisco Unity also uses the Cisco Unity Message Repository (UMR) to safeguard message store integrity if Microsoft Exchange goes offline. Cisco Unity UMR enables Cisco Unity to continue taking new voice messages when the e-mail system or network is offline. System subscribers can also retrieve these messages, minimizing service disruption. Cisco Unity takes full advantage of such powerful Microsoft Exchange features as digital networking, automatic message replication, message rules, foldering, and inbox assistant support. Through Microsoft Exchange e-mail gateway services, Cisco Unity can also work with e-mail clients that support Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), and Internet Message Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4).
Cisco Unity features an award-winning graphical interface that gets users operating as quickly as possible, resulting in greater productivity for your organization. Moreover, Cisco Unity simplifies system administration with its embedded Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), single message store, and single directory service, providing superior performance and reliability. In addition to housing data in a central store, administration tasks can be handled conveniently from a Web-based system administration console that IT staff can access from any networked PC using Internet Explorer. The Cisco Unity system administration console minimizes the complexity of Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Exchange so you do not have to be a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) to administer the system. This interface integrates with Microsoft Windows 2000 through the use of snap-in HTML, and allows Cisco Unity to be configured and monitored from anywhere on the Internet using Internet Explorer instead of proprietary Windows-based interfaces.
Cisco Unity may also be deployed in a centralized configuration, supporting branch offices with multiple directory handlers. Although all Cisco Unity subscribers - regardless of whether they are located in a branch office or the corporate office - are homed on a centralized Cisco Unity server, outside callers to a branch office can press zero to reach the local branch office receptionist. And when the outside caller searches the directory, they will be presented with only those subscribers located in the local office.