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CHAPTER
2-1
Design Guide for Cisco Unity Release 5.x
OL-14619-01
2
Cisco Unity Concepts
• How Cisco Unity Works, page 2-1
• Characteristics of Unified Messaging and Voice Messaging Systems, page 2-2
• Hardware Components of a Cisco Unity System, page 2-3
• Software Components of a Cisco Unity System, page 2-6
• Where Cisco Unity Stores Data, page 2-6
How Cisco Unity Works
Cisco Unity is a unified messaging system that can also be a voice messaging system, and it requires a
dedicated messaging infrastructure. When Cisco
Unity subscribers are busy or away from their phones,
Cisco
Unity answers the phone and takes voice messages for them. The subscribers can retrieve their
messages over the phone, or by using IBM Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook, the Cisco
Unity Inbox,
Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, or an IMAP client.
When a call comes in for a subscriber, the following occurs:
1. A caller dials the subscriber extension. If the subscriber phone is busy or the subscriber does not
answer, the phone system routes the call and information about the call, including the subscriber
extension, to Cisco
Unity.
2. Cisco Unity answers the call, looks up the subscriber extension in the Cisco Unity database,
retrieves and plays the subscriber greeting (“Hi, this is Pat, and I am not at my desk right now...”),
and lets the caller leave a message.
3. When the caller ends the call, the message is temporarily saved on the hard disk on the Cisco Unity
server.
4. Cisco Unity gives the message to Domino or Exchange, which routes the message to the subscriber
home server and stores it in the subscriber mailbox. If the call is from:
–
Another subscriber, the message is identified as coming from that person.
–
An outside caller who has not logged on to Cisco Unity as a subscriber, the message is identified
as coming from the Unity Messaging System mailbox.
5. Cisco Unity informs the subscriber in one or more of the following ways that a message has arrived,
regardless of the source of the call. (This is unlike some voice messaging systems, which activate
message waiting indicators only when a message is left over the phone.)
–
If the subscriber has a phone connected to the phone system, Cisco Unity activates the
subscriber message waiting indicator (MWI).