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Oracle9i Application
Server
Unified Messaging |
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Product
- Q. What is Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging?
A.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is a highly scalable, open standards-based
messaging solution which allows companies to provide high-performance
messaging services to an unprecedented number of users.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging uses the Oracle9i database as a
single message store for email, voice mail, and fax messages, taking advantage
of Oracle's core competencies in providing access to, storing and managing all
types of information. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging provides message
delivery, standards based client access (IMAP4 and POP3), telephone
applications, wireless notification, browser-based clients (both web and
wireless), and administration utilities.
- Q. What are the different components of Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging?
A. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging consists of
the following components:
- Message Store
Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging message store stores all messages information (email, voice mail,
and fax) in the Oracle database server. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging
message store delivers the full power of the Oracle's multithreaded
database, providing parallel processing, high availability, and rapid
response time for thousands of simultaneous users.
- Email Scalable Protocol Servers
The Scalable
Protocol Server (SPS) is the key to Oracle9iAS Email’s scalability
and performance. SPS uses multithreading, load balancing, and database
connection sharing to reduce resource requirements and increase the number
of IMAP4 and POP3 clients that can be concurrently serviced.
- SMTP Server
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging
supports the SMTP Internet protocol, which allows users to exchange messages
worldwide via the Internet.
- Voice mail and Fax applications
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging Telephone applications are built
on the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum (ECTF) standards.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging provides a basic DTMF voice mail
interface with the ability to change user preferences through the telephone
interface. As Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is a single store
solution, actions taken on a message or account preferences through the
voice channel are visible through all channels. Voice mail and faxes are
stored directly in the users' inbox as industry standard MIME-compliant
messages with .wav (voice) or .tif (fax) attachments, allowing easy
rendering of messages through GUI clients.
- Oracle Software Developers Kit (SDK)
PL/SQL and
Java programmers can create custom application interfaces to integrate
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging with other applications.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging Application Programming Interfaces
enable applications to directly manipulate stored messages as well as create
MIME-standard outgoing messages. Combined with server side rules,
applications integrated with Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging have a
powerful means to efficiently process and manage an increasing number of
messages.
- Web Based Calendar
Oracle Web Calendar provides
web based calendaring and scheduling for enterprises and service providers.
Oracle Web Calendar leverages components of Oracle9iAS and the Oracle
9i database to provide a scalable, reliable calendar solution. This
approach provides users with full calendar functionality from any web
browser and a single source of information for PDA synchronization.
Organizations and individuals gain additional peace of mind knowing that
their schedule and other personal information is stored in a secure,
reliable Oracle 9i database.
- LDAP Directory Support
Today's widespread
acceptance of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is rapidly making
this protocol the de facto standard for directory services.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging supports LDAP-compliant directories,
such as Oracle internet Directory (OiD). OiD delivers unrivaled
interoperability with support for any LDAP directory, providing the
comprehensive address access needed in today's environments. For more
information on OiD, go to the Oracle Internet
Directory section of the Oracle
homepage and to the Oracle Internet Directory
section of OTN.
- Integrated Administration
Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging simplifies administration and management by integrating
with Oracle’s Enterprise Manager, allowing consolidated, web-based
management of the total Oracle environment as well as integration into
existing system monitoring infrastructures. For the hosting market,
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging 9.0.2 supports multiple domains with
delegated administration on the same system. Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging also supports Simple Network Management Protocol MIB’s for system
monitoring and alerts.
- Q. Does Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging provide a means of
migrating users on one email system onto Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging?
A. Yes. Oracle provides an email migration tool, and
strongly recommends that any customers who wish to migrate their email system
work with Oracle Consulting to plan and implement this migration.
- Q. Why Use the Migration Tool?
A. Email migration is
usually a tedious and intricate process. It requires migrating accounts,
preferences, rules, folders, e-mail messages, distribution lists, shared
folders, and public aliases, as well as changing the SMTP routing. Migrating a
large e-mail system with minimal downtime is a challenging task.
The
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging Migration Tool makes it easier for
administrators to migrate an existing e-mail system to Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging by providing the migration planning guidelines and by
transparently performing these tasks.
- Q. Who is the Email Migration Tool For?
A. The Migration
Tool is designed specifically to handle the requirements for the following:
- Corporate installations which generally have a few thousand to hundreds
of thousands of users with large mailboxes (tens to hundreds of megabytes)
- Internet Service Providers which generally have a large number of users
(millions) with small mailboxes (a few hundred kilobytes)
- Q. Does Oracle use Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging internally at
Oracle?
A. Yes. All Oracle employees worldwide use
IMAP4 clients to connect to a single instance of Oracle9iAS Email (the
previous version of Unified Messaging) to access their email. Oracle employees
can also use the WebMail client which allows access to their corporate email
accounts from any computer with a standard browser. Oracle's
consolidation of 97 email servers throughout the world into this single
instance of Oracle9iAS Email has saved the company over $13 million in
costs the first year, and $11 million annually thereafter. Read more about
this in the "Cost Savings on
Electronic Mail Through Consolidation" White Paper.
Additionally, over 1000 Oracle employees in multiple locations use
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging voice mail and receive all messages
(email, voice mail, and fax) in their corporate mail inbox. Oracle saved
over $100,000 by implementing Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging voice mail
and fax capabilities at the new Burlington Office (opened September
2001). The rollout of Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging voice mail and
fax is currently being planned for Oracle locations around the world.
Availability
- Q. What is the latest version of Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging? What are the new features being offered?
A. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging will be available with the
Oracle9i Application Server Release 2. New features in Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging 9.0.2 include:
- Single Store Unified Messaging for Email, Voice Mail and Fax
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging 9.0.2 provides true
unified messaging by storing all messages -- including email, voice mail,
and fax -- in the same Oracle9i database. This eliminates the need to
synchronize message stores and the chore of administering multiple stores
that each contain different message types. Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging users can access and manage all messages from the interface of
their choice, including a web browser, phone, PDA, and fax.
- Voice Mail and Fax Applications
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging provides a basic DTMF voice mail
interface with the ability to change user preferences through the telephone
interface. As Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is a single store
solution, actions taken on a message or account preferences through the
voice channel are visible through all channels. Voice mail and faxes are
stored directly in the users' inbox as industry standard MIME-compliant
messages with .wav (voice) or .tif (fax) attachments, allowing easy
rendering of messages through GUI clients.
- List Server
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging
9.0.2's new secure list server provides a means of integration with other
messaging services (secure or not) for applications such as sending out
bills or marketing coupons aimed at specific persons. The secure list
server sends and receives signed and encrypted messages, and provides
external callouts for mail merge.
- Enhanced Server Side Rules
Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging 9.0.2 extends the server side rules previously available
in Oracle9iAS Email 5.2. Rules now execute additional actions
and can be applied to a wider range of mail events, including sending,
relaying, deleting, and expunging a message from the system. Server
side rules also provide integration with Oracle 9i's Advanced Queue
to mail-enable even more scalable, sophisticated e-business
applications.
- Tight Integration with other 9iAS Components
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is a component of
Oracle9iAS and benefits from being fully integrated. The product is
tightly integrated in the installation process for Oracle9iAS and
into the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure LDAP server. The web client is
tightly integrated into the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure Single Sign-On
server. As a component of Oracle9iAS, Unified Messaging and other
Oracle9iAS components are easier to integrate and simpler to
administer. They run on a common technology stack under a common
architecture
.
- Enhanced Administration
Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging simplifies administration and management by integrating
with Oracle’s Enterprise Manager, allowing consolidated,
web-based management of the total Oracle environment as well
as integration into existing system monitoring infrastructures. For the
hosting market,
Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging 9.0.2 supports multiple domains with delegated administration on
the same system. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging also supports Simple
Network Management Protocol MIB’s for system monitoring and
alerts.
Oracle9iAS Email release 5.2 is available in in Oracle9iAS
release 1.0.2.2 CD Packs. Oracle9iAS Email release 5.2. patchset 1 is
currently available for download from ARU. The new features
in release 5.2 patchset 1 include:
- Oracle Calendar 1.0
Oracle Calendar provides a
web based calendaring and scheduling system for enterprises and service
providers. Oracle Web Calendar leverages components of Oracle9iAS and
the Oracle Database to provide a scalable, reliable calendar solution.
Organizations and individuals gain additional peace of mind knowing that
their schedule and other personal information is stored in a secure,
reliable Oracle Database.
- Oracle9iAS Email 5.2 certification on the Oracle9i Server
- Extensions to Server Side Rules
- Updates to the WebMail client
- Various bug fixes
- Q. When will Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging be available to
customers?
A. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging version 9.0.2
will be available to customers with release 2 of the Oracle9i
Application Server (Oracle9iAS version 9.0.2).
Oracle9iAS Email version 5.2 is available with the Oracle9iAS
1.0.2.2 CD Pack and patchset 1 is available via ARU.
- Q. Is Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging Year 2000
compliant?
A. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging 9.0.2
is Fully Y2K compliant. Oracle9iAS Email release 5.0+ is also
fully Y2K compliant.
- Q. What platforms are supported by Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging?
A. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is
developed on Sun Solaris and Windows NT (telephony components are only
available on Windows 2000). For availability on other platforms, please
check with the product line that supports the platform in which you are
interested. You can also check which versions of an operating system
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is certified against, by going to the Certify
site.
Mail Client
- Q. Since Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging does not come with a
messaging client, which email client should I use?
A.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging provides a web client, which allows users
to access their messages through a web browser, without the need for a "fat"
client like Netscape Messenger or Microsoft Outlook. Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging also supports any Internet Message Access Protocol version 4
(IMAP4)- or Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3)-compliant client, such as
Netscape Messenger, Microsoft Outlook Express, or Eudora Pro Lite. This
enables individuals to use any standard messaging client of their choice. By
supporting both IMAP4 and POP3, Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is able to
work effectively in environments where individuals need to manipulate messages
in the message store, such as when using a personal digital assistant, and
where they need to manipulate messages "off-line."
- Q. What is Oracle’s thin client (web) strategy?
A.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging comes with a web client that enables end
users to access their email using a standard web browser instead of a full
"fat" email client like Netscape Messenger or Microsoft Outlook Express.
Oracle’s thin client strategy is to provide value added services to Internet
Service Providers and large enterprise customers. With Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging's toolkit approach, customers can create custom mail
interfaces, as well as integrate other custom web applications and services.
Oracle’s Web SDK is a full HTML and Java based development environment.
Calendar and Scheduler Support
- Q. Does Oracle provide a calendar with its email product?
A. Yes. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging web client includes a
web-based calendar and resource scheduler. Users can view the availability of
multiple meeting attendees, send meeting reminders, and synchronize their
calendars with their Palm based PDA's, among other features.
- Q. Is the calendar integrated with Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging?
A. Yes. A Unified Messaging user is also a Calendar user. Users can
send appointment notifications and reminders when they schedule meetings and
resources through Oracle Calendar. End users access Oracle Calendar through
the Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging web client interface.
- Q. What standards does the Oracle Calendar support?
A. The industry is in the process of defining standards for
calendar clients and servers. Once those are defined and made standard, Oracle
will support them allowing any independent third party calendar client to
access an Oracle9iDB
configured to hold calendar and schedule information. In the interim,
Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging exposes calendar functions through our web client.
- Q. Does Oracle's calendar solution support Microsoft Outlook
clients?
A. No. Outlook clients communicate with servers using
a protocol that is proprietary to Microsoft. Oracle intends to support
Internet standards -- those defined by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task
Force).
- Q. With what devices can I synchronize my appointments,
contacts, notes and todo's (PIM information)?
A. The current
release will synchronize your calendar and PIM information with the native
applications on Palm based PDA's.
Email and Other Oracle Products
- Q. What is the difference between Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging,
Oracle9iAS Email and Oracle Internet Messaging?
A.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is the name of Oracle's messaging server
product. It provides standards based email and true unified messaging
capabilities (email, voice mail and fax) for anytime, anywhere, any device
message access. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging has been developed
to address the needs of large service providers, Email Response Management
Applications, and large enterprises in need of a scalable, reliable, and
flexible messaging platform.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is the new name of Oracle9iAS
Email and applies to releases 9.0.2 and up. Oracle9iAS Email was
the name of releases 5.1 and 5.2 of Oracle's messaging products while Internet
Messaging was the name of releases 4.2 and 4.3.
- Q. Does Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging offer Document Management
and Workflow capabilities similar to InterOffice?
A.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging is strictly a messaging server. Oracle
Workflow is currently available as a separate product and can be purchased
from Oracle separately. Oracle's document management tool, iFS, is a database
option and a separate component from Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging.
Standards Support
- Q. What are IMAP and POP?
A. IMAP stands
for Internet Message Access Protocol. It is a method of accessing electronic
mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail
server. In other words, it permits a "client" email program to access remote
message stores as if they were local. For example, email stored on an IMAP
server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at
the office, and a notebook computer while traveling, without the need to
transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers. If you are
interested in the written definition of the IMAP protocol, go to Internet
Request for Comments (RFC)
2060.
POP, Post Office Protocol, is a standard protocol that allows
workstations and personal computers to dynamically access mail from a mail
server. Once you have installed the service on your mail server, it is
possible for the PCs and workstations attached to the network to access the
mail folder provided you have an account on the system. RFC 1939 is the written
definition for POP.
Target Markets
- Q. Which companies are a good fit for Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging?
A. Oracle9iAS Messaging is targeted at three
markets:
- Large enterprises that want to establish a core communications
infrastructure by consolidating their messaging applications and supporting
Internet messaging standards. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging enables
large organizations to do this using a single, distributed platform.
- Service providers, including both telephone companies and
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), that offer carrier-grade Internet
services to enterprises, small businesses, and consumers. Oracle9iAS
Unified Messaging's highly scalable architecture is ideal for this market
segment because it enables service providers to offer additional value added
services and support their rapidly growing customer base with a limited
number of hosts.
- Email Response Management applications that service providers and
other large organizations use to interact with their customers. An example
of a customer in this segment would be a company that interacts with its
customers via email, by sending email notification of order receipt,
fulfillment etc. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging integrates with
existing workflow and business applications, making it easy to manage these
mission-critical customer communications.
- Q. What does Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging offer to these target
markets?
A. Our market research indicates that the customers in
our target market segments are looking for a highly flexible, scalable,
adaptable messaging platform that provides a high quality of service.
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging was developed to address these particular
needs, whereas no other company has yet to satisfy the requirements of all
three market segments. In particular, Oracle's provides a superior solution
due to:
- The Oracle9i-based message store provides unmatched data
availability, data integrity, low recovery time, and fault-tolerance
capability. Our competitors do not have message stores that provide these
capabilities.
- Unique distributed architecture allows Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging to support hundreds of thousands of users without loss of
performance or reliability. The competing products do not have such robust,
reliable architectures.
- The Unified Messaging capabilities of Oracle9iAS Unified
Messaging allow large companies and service providers to offer additional
services at a fraction of the cost of legacy voice mail solutions.
Services providers can leverage the convergence of the Internet and
telephony, thereby reducing customer turnover and providing value-added
services.
- The breadth and depth of Oracle’s products, solutions, and services
along with Oracle’s experience in building enterprise applications enable
customers to implement messaging as a mission-critical component of their
information infrastructure. Our competitors lack the completeness of the
Oracle9i platform and eBusiness Suite.
More Information
- Q: Where can I get more information on Oracle9iAS Email or
Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging?
A. You can find more
information on Oracle9iAS Email in the Oracle9iAS
Email Server and Unified Messaging section of the Oracle homepage and the Oracle9iAS Email
and Unified Messaging section of OTN.
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