April 1998

BY JORGE R. BLANCO

Voice messaging, fax, and email will never be the same. For the past two decades, there have been clear demarcation points between these three technologies. The pursuit of new collaboration models sparked the innovation processes that created the Internet, and more importantly, its enabling technologies, applications, and protocols. The Internet and its continuously evolving open standards have redefined the possibilities for the convergence of open communications and computing networks. Universal messaging is its most powerful consequence. Universal messaging eliminates the barriers and, for the first time, enables users to communicate using the right media, the right device, and the right connection.

IT’S ALL IN THE STANDARDS
The Internet, as we know it, finds itself in a constant state of change. The emergence of this global open network has created a wild frontier of innovation. Yet, its inherent bandwidth, performance, reliability, security, and maintainability challenges have kept many from fully embracing its benefits. In fact, many industry observers and professionals have consistently predicted the network’s demise. The solution to these issues is, in fact, one of the Internet’s most significant contributions: its standards.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) has become the pervasive standard for data communications. And in the past few years, its potential has been extended to real-time voice and video. TCP/IP has enabled existing and emerging devices with the ability to communicate seamlessly across private and public networks, eliminating the barriers of time and space. The ability to connect disparate computers remained at the core of local and wide area private networks in the early 1990s. Today, the ability to connect is simply one of the many expectations of every computer user.

Standards organizations like the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have aggressively built on the power of TCP/IP. They have sponsored the evolution of standards associated with almost every emerging aspect of collaborative communications and computing. The result is a powerful suite of technologies sharing common elements capable of coming together as components of higher level solutions and applications designed to take full advantage of their network of residence, whether private or public.

INTERNET DIMENSIONS
The Internet has grown into a multidimensional communications environment at an unprecedented pace. The applications that have led to the Internet’s explosive growth are the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic mail . By employing Internet technologies, enterprises all over the globe have migrated from proprietary networks to Internet-based infrastructures known in the industry as intranets. As a result, corporations of all sizes have been able to cost effectively disseminate and share information with entire user communities almost instantaneously.

In the past few years, innovative companies have begun to take advantage of the Internet’s infrastructure by enabling the process of secure transactions via the WWW. Moreover, communications companies have further legitimized the infrastructure as an alternative for real-time voice and fax transmissions.

THE NEXT INTERNET DIMENSION
So far, we have discussed the Internet’s strengths and potential. Yet, it is important to note that, up to this point, the power of the Internet has been constrained by its inherent computer-centric access, connectivity, and media handling models. The elimination of these constraints sets the tone for the emergence of universal messaging as the Internet’s next dimension.

Universal messaging applications and solutions do not rely on an exclusive network infrastructure. Instead, they simultaneously take full advantage of all networks connected to a particular enterprise, such as: the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), private voice and data networks, PBXs and routers, and the Internet (or perhaps an intranet). Consequently, users are able to migrate from a device centric to a dynamic communications environment, where every access mechanism is equally enabled.

THE RIGHT MEDIA
Media is typically associated with a particular device. For example: the telephone and voice, the computer and text. However, universal messaging dramatically changes these historical associations. The universal messaging model defines media in terms of a user’s specific communications capabilities and requirements at a given point in time. In other words, if a user’s choice or situation presents a telephonic device for access to a text message, the universal messaging solution activates the necessary media conversion engine and delivers the message in the most appropriate format. In this particular case, that format would be via text-to-speech. Many other choices are available today, and the scope of media conversions and even language translations is growing daily.

THE RIGHT DEVICE
Device independence is another critical and powerful feature of universal messaging solutions. Users are in full control of their communications environment and are capable of taking full advantage of an available communications device. Consider a nonmobile user with a desktop computer. The need is consolidated access to all messages: voice, fax, and email. A universal messaging solution enables a standards based client — browsers, email, or voice mail clients — to request all relevant messages which are in turn delivered by the universal messaging servers.

THE RIGHT CONNECTION
Almost all experienced voice mail users have come across at least one situation when they would have liked to forward a voice message to a nonsubscriber, such as a customer or a supplier. Successfully accomplishing this would have been practically impossible prior to the wide adoption of Internet technologies and universal messaging. By taking advantage of existing Internet standards, such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (SMTP/MIME), universal messaging solutions enable high-fidelity mixed-media communications between individuals and groups, regardless of the nature of their respective backend services.

IMPLEMENTATION CHECKPOINT
The power of universal messaging is its inherent capability to broker the convergence of mixed networks and deliver the benefits of such a combination to the end users. By the same token, a rollout of universal messaging solutions must be carefully planned in order to maximize expeditious return on investment.

All enterprises are unique. Technology planners must develop a clear sense of their particular environment, and where they need to take it. The impact on legacy systems and applications must be assessed. In addition, the impact on the intranet and all of its enabling components, such as gateways, firewalls, and proxies must also be considered. More importantly, the needs of the user populations and communities of interest must be granted the highest level of priority. Like any other new high-impact technology, poorly implemented universal messaging solutions could have an adverse impact on their potential to deliver tangible benefits.

When deploying universal messaging solutions in your enterprise, it is important to consider the ramifications of Internet standards on your purchase decision. Choose vendors that are committed to provide you with products that fit your current and future infrastructure. A simple checklist should enable you to calibrate the current status of your information infrastructure and prequalify universal messaging products and solutions.

A UNIVERSAL MESSAGING ROADMAP
The first step is critical to the successful deployment of universal messaging solutions. Strive to understand the needs of the user population. Select a group of early adopters capable of providing measurable data during a phased implementation. The number of users selected for the initial phase depends on the size and nature of the enterprise. However, ensure that the users selected represent a cross-section of the full user population. Initial users should use multiple access devices to interact with their universal messaging inboxes. For example, listening to email over the telephone via text-to-speech can be incredibly productive, yet it is definitely a new communication experience for most users. In addition, consider recruiting selective types of users, such as field personnel or collaborative project managers. Universal messaging solutions do not have to be right for all users in order to get started.

The next step is to assess the current status of your enterprise. Client/server TCP/IPcompliance throughout the enterprise is the most appropriate place to start. If you are looking to take advantage of existing telephony applications, ensure that they are also TCP/IP compliant and are able to fit as components of the infrastructure. In addition, evaluate any existing email systems and their ability to support Internet standards, such as SMTP/MIME. Finally, understand the status of your client environment — desktop applications, operating systems and multimedia capabilities.

Once you have completed the technology assessment, you are ready to evaluate potential solutions. At this stage, you will be keenly aware of necessary upgrade, replacement, and additional infrastructure requirements. Do not stray from the themes established during assessment. Consider solutions that support the suite of standards that match the needs of your infrastructure. Discard those that do not. Even if your assessment determined that the infrastructure is not fully ready, the deployment of a basic messaging system based on Internet standards is a step towards infrastructure alignment. In addition, understand each solution’s impact on bandwidth and performance.

Begin to plan full deployment as soon as your initial rollout is under way. This is particularly important in order to gain all the benefits that can be derived from mixed-media communications. Planning the full deployment early will enable you to institute valuable feedback loops from the initial rollout. As you plan for full deployment, you will understand what to ask and what to monitor. In addition, you will be able to establish measurable objectives and realistic conditions of satisfaction.

READY FOR UNIVERSAL MESSAGING
Universal messaging is a pure expression of computer telephony at work. Solutions in this powerful space take full advantage of existing voice and data networks, and bring them together into a common application space. Universal messaging users reap benefits by being able to communicate via the right media and the right device at the right time. They are no longer at the mercy of their particular infrastructure. Instead, they are in full control of their communications universe. In addition, administrators and technology planners have at their disposal a robust portfolio of solutions designed to work harmoniously in disparate communications environments through intrinsic support for open standards. Choices are the rule, not the exception, and people do their jobs and access the information and services they need with a unique blend of personalization, productivity, and convenience. This flexibility and enrichment will be the true legacy of the Internet.

Jorge R. Blanco is a product manager in the Octel Messaging Division of Lucent Technologies. Over the past two years, he has led Lucent’s efforts in defining the emerging universal messaging marketplace and the introduction of Internetcentric communications solutions. Octel Messaging Division was formed on September 29, 1997 through Lucent’s acquisition of Octel Communications Corporation. The division is a worldwide leader in providing voice messaging equipment and services to businesses, governments, educational institutions, telephone companies and cellular service providers in over 90 countries. Lucent Technologies designs, builds, and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems, and microelectronic components. Bell Lab is the research and development arm for the company. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.lucent.com.