Planning Your Migration to Unified Messaging

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You've likely heard a lot about Unified Messaging, which integrates voicemail, e-mail, and faxes into a single inbox that can be accessed from nearly anywhere.  It was an exciting part of the Exchange Server 2007 release, and Service Pack 1 brought even more powerful features to Exchange UM.

We covered deploying Unified Messaging in the December 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine. In the July issue, Jeff Goodwin delves into a more specific scenario: migrating your voicemail system to Unified Messaging. The key here is to minimize any disruption that end users may experience because, after all, communication is mission critical for your business to continue operating. Granted, migrating your legacy voicemail system (or systems) to a unified messaging platform can be a challenging task, but it is manageable with a good strategy and solid plan in place. 

Not surprisingly, we've also had a lot of questions from readers regarding Unified Messaging, and we've answered many of these in the Exchange Queue & A column.  In fact, the January 2008 installment was dedicate to Unified Messaging questions:

  • I've heard that Exchange Unified Messaging does not offer high availability or clustering. Is that true? (Answer)
  • Can I set up voice prompts for my company's public phone number with Exchange Unified Messaging? (Answer)
  • How do I know if my Private Branch eXchange (PBX) is compatible with Exchange Unified Messaging? (Answer)
  • Do I need to add any special hardware to my phone system to use Exchange Unified Messaging? (Answer)
  • How does Unified Messaging provide fax support? (Answer)
  • I have a Nortel CS1000 IP/PBX and want to use Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2007. But I don't know how to bring these two systems together. Can I use the Nortel CS1000 IP/PBX as the gateway or are only Intel and Audio Codes supported as gateways? I also need the Exchange system to authenticate at the CS1000 Server. (Answer)

So if you're excited about Unified Messaging but have been hesitant to start the migration, check out these articles. And if you still have any questions, feel free to let us know (just send a message to exqa@microsoft.com).

Cheers,
matt