Benefits of Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging

When you deploy Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging, your users will have access to their e-mail and voice mail, messages from either Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or the version of Outlook Live included with Exchange 2010. Additionally, users will be able to use the following features:

Access to Exchange information To offer a seamless voice mail experience for the user, UM-enabled users can access a full set of voice mail features from Windows Mobile powered phones, Outlook 2007, and Outlook Live. These features include many voice mail configuration options and the ability to play a voice message from either the reading pane using an integrated Windows Media Player or from the message list using computer speakers.

Play on Phone The Play on Phone feature lets UM-enabled users play voice messages over a telephone. If a UM-enabled user works in an office cubicle, is using a public computer or a computer that isn't enabled for multimedia, or is listening to a voice message that's confidential, the user might not want to or be able to listen to a voice message through computer speakers. Alternatively, the user can play the voice message using any telephone, including home, office, or cellular telephones.

Voice mail form The Outlook 2007 voice mail form resembles the default e-mail form. It gives users an interface for performing actions such as playing, stopping, or pausing voice messages, playing voice messages on a telephone, and adding and editing notes.
The voice mail form includes the embedded Windows Media Player and an audio notes field. The embedded Windows Media Player and notes field are displayed in either the preview pane when users preview a voice message or in a separate window when they open the voice message. If users aren't enabled for Unified Messaging or Outlook 2007 has not been installed on the client computer, they view voice messages as e-mail attachments, and the voice mail form is not available.

User configuration A user who is enabled for Unified Messaging can configure several voice mail options for Unified Messaging using Outlook Live. For example, the user can configure telephone access numbers and the voice mail Play on Phone number, and can reset a voice mail access PIN.

Call answering Call answering includes answering an incoming call on behalf of users, playing their personal greeting, recording a message, and submitting it for delivery to their Inbox as an e-mail message.

Outlook Voice Access There are two Unified Messaging user interfaces available to UM-enabled users or subscribers: the Telephone User Interface (TUI) and the Voice User Interface (VUI). In Exchange 2010, these two interfaces together are called Outlook Voice Access. Subscribers can use Outlook Voice Access when they access the Unified Messaging system from an external or internal telephone. They can use Outlook Voice Access to access their Exchange 2010 mailbox, including their personal e-mail, voice messages, and calendar information. Users can listen to, reply to, create, and forward unread e-mail messages using the telephone.

Subscriber access The subscriber access feature enables dial-in access for your organization's users. UM-enabled users or subscribers who dial in to the Unified Messaging system can access their mailbox using Outlook Voice Access. Using a telephone, a subscriber or user can:

Access voice mail.

Listen, forward, or reply to e-mail messages.

Listen to calendar information.

Access or dial contacts who are stored in the global address list or a personal contact list.

Accept or cancel meeting requests.

Set a voice mail Out of Office message.

Set user security preferences and personal options.

Auto attendant An auto attendant is a set of voice prompts that gives external or internal users access to the Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging system. Users can use the telephone keypad or speech inputs to move through the auto attendant menu structure, place a call to a user, or locate a user and then place a call to that user. An auto attendant gives the administrator the ability to:

Create a customized menu for external users.

Define informational greetings, business hours greetings, and non-business hours greetings.

Define holiday schedules.

Describe how to search the organization's directory.

Describe how to connect to a user's extension so external callers can call users by specifying their extension.

Describe how to search the organization's directory so external callers can search the organization's directory and call a specific user.

Enable external users to call the operator.