Table Of Contents

Introduction

Cisco Unity Features

Introduction

---

Cisco Unity Features

Cisco Unity is a Windows 2000-based communications solution that brings you voice mail and unified messaging, and integrates them with the desktop applications you use every day. Cisco Unity works with IBM Lotus Domino to deliver and store all messages—voice, fax, and e-mail—giving you the ability to access all of your messages by using Lotus Notes, a touchtone phone, or a browser.

Cisco Unity is the unified messaging component within the Cisco family of AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) offerings, and it integrates with Cisco CallManager, the call-processing component of Cisco AVVID. Although designed for a Voice over IP environment, Cisco Unity also integrates with several traditional, circuit-switched phone systems. When you are ready to transition to Voice over IP, Cisco Unity allows you to do so in stages, by setting up a dual phone system integration with both the circuit-switched phone system and Cisco CallManager.

Cisco Unity features include the following. (Your system may not include all of these features.)

Intelligent Voice Mail

The Cisco Unity voice messaging capabilities allow subscribers to listen to their messages, send voice messages to other subscribers, and customize settings such as personal greetings. With Cisco Unity you can set up an automated attendant that serves as an electronic receptionist that answers and routes incoming calls.

Cisco Unity Administrator

The Web administrator allows you access to the Cisco Unity server via an intranet and remotely. Use the Cisco Unity Administrator to create or modify subscriber accounts, configure messaging options, assign classes of service, record greetings, and run reports.

Cisco Personal Communications Assistant

The Cisco Personal Communications Assistant (PCA) is a website that subscribers use to access the Cisco Unity Assistant.

Cisco Unity Assistant

The Cisco Unity Assistant is a website that gives subscribers the ability to customize personal settings—including recorded greetings and message delivery options—on their workstations. (Note that in version 3.1 and earlier, the Cisco Unity Assistant was known as the ActiveAssistant, or AA.)

IBM Lotus Domino Unified Communications (DUC) for Cisco

IBM Lotus Domino Unified Communications (DUC) for Cisco lets subscribers listen to and record voice messages from their IBM Lotus Notes Inbox by using VCR-style controls.

Multiple Languages

With multiple languages installed, you can change the language in which Cisco Unity plays system prompts to subscribers and callers. You can also choose one or more languages with which to display the Cisco Unity Administrator pages and the Help files.

Text to Speech

The Text to Speech feature allows you to listen to your e-mail over the phone. Cisco Unity reads the text portion of e-mail messages and provides additional information such as the name of the sender (if the sender is a subscriber), and the time and date that the message was sent.

Third-Party Fax

Cisco Unity supports fax servers that have dedicated fax lines set up to the fax ports on the fax server. When a third-party fax server is used with Cisco Unity, the administration of the fax server is controlled by the fax server software.

A list of officially supported fax servers that you can use with Cisco Unity can be found in Cisco Unity System Requirements, and Supported Hardware and Software, available at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/voice/c_unity/sysreq/40_sysrq.htm.

Digital Networking

The Digital Networking feature allows messaging among multiple Cisco Unity servers that access the same subscriber directory.