PSTN-Based Voice Mail

Summary

In this chapter, you learned about several external voice mail options you can use with your Cisco CME system if you choose not to use the integrated voice mail application provided by Cisco UE.

The Cisco Unity unified messaging system provides a very good voice mail alterative, especially if you have a multisite network that has a larger location with several smaller locations, and you want to centralize voice mail for all locations at one site.

Non-Cisco voice mail solutions, such as Stonevoice, provide voice mail applications that integrate via H.323 with Cisco CME. Another alternative to integrate with some popular voice mail systems, such as Octel and Active Voice Reception, is to use analog connectivity and DTMF interaction between Cisco CME and the voice mail system. Using PSTN-based voice mail is also an option.

This chapter covered the trade-offs of the different methods and provided brief configuration information on how to set up your Cisco CME system to interwork with external voice mail systems.