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Understanding Unified Messaging Incoming Calls

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

This topic provides an overview of the call handling features included with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging (UM). Each section in this topic gives you the information required to understand one or more of the call handling features included in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging.

Contents

Overview

Voice Calls

Outlook Voice Access

Play on Phone Feature

UM Auto Attendants

Overview

Call handling is a term that describes how incoming calls are answered and handled by a computer running Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging. The types of incoming calls handled by Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging include the following:

  • Voice calls
  • Outlook Voice Access
  • Play on Phone feature
  • UM auto attendants

For more information about Unified Messaging message flow and routing, see Understanding Unified Messaging Call Processing.

Voice Calls

Voice call handling is used when an internal or external user leaves a voice message for a subscriber on the Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging system. Incoming voice calls are created as MIME messages and then submitted using SMTP from the Exchange 2010 computer that has the Unified Messaging server role installed to an Exchange 2010 computer that has the Hub Transport server role installed. The two server roles must be installed in the same Active Directory site. The SMTP message transport for incoming voice calls is not only site aware, but all voice messages are submitted to the Hub Transport server using SMTP, even if the mailbox resides on the same computer that has the Mailbox server role installed.

For more information about voice calls and message routing, see Unified Messaging Voice Call Processing.

Outlook Voice Access

Unified Messaging servers also process and route incoming calls that are received by Outlook Voice Access users. When UM-enabled users or subscribers dial a subscriber access number that's set on a UM dial plan to access their Exchange 2010 mailbox, they are presented with a welcome message and a series of Telephone User Interface (TUI) voice prompts. The voice menu system presented to the user is called Outlook Voice Access. These voice prompts help the user navigate and interact with the Unified Messaging system using touchtone or speech inputs.

Note

When an Outlook Voice Access caller uses touchtone inputs on a telephone keypad, the TUI is used. When the same caller uses speech inputs over the telephone, the Voice User Interface (VUI) is used.

For more information about the voice prompts found in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging, see Understanding Unified Messaging Audio Prompts.

Outlook Voice Access is the feature that enables UM-enabled users to access their Exchange 2010 mailbox using an analog, digital, or mobile telephone. By accessing their Exchange 2010 mailbox, they can perform the following tasks:

  • Listen to new and saved e-mail and voice mail messages.
  • Forward, reply, save, and delete e-mail and voice messages.
  • Interact with their calendar, including:
    • Listening to daily calendar appointments and meeting details.
    • Accepting or declining e-mail and meeting requests.
    • Sending an "I'll be late" message to meeting participants.
    • Replying to a meeting request using voice inputs to send a message to meeting participants.
    • Declining or canceling meetings.
  • Interact with global address list and personal contacts. These interactions may include:
    • Locating a person in the global address list or personal contacts.
    • Inputting a telephone extension number to leave a message for a person.
    • Sending a voice message to a person.
  • Change their PIN, spoken name, or greetings.

For more information about how to navigate the Outlook Voice Access menus, see the Microsoft Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging Outlook Voice Access Quick Start Guide. For a copy of the Microsoft Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging Outlook Voice Access Quick Start Guide, see the Microsoft Download Center.

For more information about Outlook Voice Access message routing, see Unified Messaging Outlook Voice Access Call Processing.

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Play on Phone Feature

To enable the Play on Phone feature for UM-enabled users, the Unified Messaging server must first answer and then correctly route a call when it's placed by a user who is using Microsoft Office Outlook Web App or Office Outlook 2007. If UM-enabled users are in a location that's not private or the voice message is confidential, they will likely not want to play their voice message over their computer speakers. The Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging Play on Phone feature lets UM-enabled users listen to a voice message using a telephone instead of playing it over their computer speakers or headphones.

For more information about Play on Phone message flow, see Unified Messaging Play on Phone Call Processing.

UM Auto Attendants

To enable the UM auto attendant feature found in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging, Unified Messaging servers must correctly answer and then route the incoming calls received from internal and external anonymous or unauthenticated users.

To enable a UM auto attendant to answer incoming calls, you must first create and configure a UM auto attendant. Creating and configuring UM auto attendants is an optional feature in Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging. However, auto attendants help internal and external callers locate and place calls to company users or departments that are in an organization.

A UM auto attendant is a set of voice prompts that callers hear instead of a human operator when they place a call to an organization that has Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging. A UM auto attendant helps callers navigate the organization's menu system using dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) (also known as touchtone) inputs or voice-activated inputs that use Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) so that they can locate a user or department in an organization and then place a call to that user or department.

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