White Paper
IP Media Servers and IMS in Voice Mail and Unified Messaging
Author: Garland Sharratt
Messaging is a fundamental requirement of modern-day communications, and voicemail, the decades-old service that launched the world's love affair with messaging, has been joined by other types of messaging including fax, email, SMS, MMS, IM, and videomail. Unified Messaging, or UM, integrates these messaging services into a single solution that gives users access to all types of messages on any type of terminal.
The richness of UM lets service providers address customer's increasing expectations and presents a large opportunity for service providers and their suppliers. And the general transition underway to IP and IMS and the related change from monolithic, proprietary architectures to decomposed, open ones will reduce service provider capital and operational outlays. A key component of IMS is the IP media server, also known as the Multimedia Resource Function Processor (MRFP). Media servers are the place where all media processing of audio and video streams is done. Already widely used for other services, media servers will see widespread deployment for IP voicemail and UM as well.
This white paper examines the various messaging and UM services and markets, the changes taking place in markets and technologies, the role of media servers, and the benefits of RadiSys' media server products. Readers will find this white paper useful whether they’re interested in simple voicemail, a full UM solution, or anything in between.
