Voice Mail System: Components and Functionality

The main task of a voice mail system is to store and retrieve messages.

There are both large and small systems available, tailored to different requirements. Large systems can support multiple locations, while smaller systems are often PC-based, integrated as cards within the telephone system. Major voice mail system providers include Cisco, Avaya, Toshiba, and Nortel. These vendors provide customers with support for both phone and messaging systems from a single source.

The latest voice mail systems frequently offer unified messaging capabilities, a concept that many manufacturers are actively promoting. Unified messaging systems allow users to receive email, fax messages, and voice mail through a PC or touch screen phone.

Figure: Components of a voice mail system

The diagram illustrates the components of a typical voice mail system, consisting of a CPU, codecs, software, cards, and storage devices, as detailed below:

• CPU: The CPU is the core of the system. It executes the application software and the operating system software, managing the overall operation of the voice mail system.
• Codec: A codec performs analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. It also compresses voice data, removing pauses and storing voice mail messages on the storage devices.
• Software: Various software applications manage functions like recording timestamps for different events within the system. This also includes automated attendant software.
• Cards: Various cards serve different applications, such as I/O cards, network interface cards, line interface cards, and telephone interface cards. Typically, each card has four ports, allowing one person to leave or retrieve a voice mail message per port. Some cards, along with supporting software, provide speech recognition capabilities.
• Storage: Hard disks and disk drives are used to store the voice mails and for backup purposes.

In addition to the components listed above, voice mail systems often include serial ports and high-speed data buses. Connectivity is established among different voice mail systems distributed across an organization.

Automated Attendant System

The concept of automated attendants has become widely adopted as an application of voice mail systems.

An automated attendant is programmed to answer calls and route them to specific telephone numbers, departments, etc.

The first such system was manufactured by a company called Dytel. Now, automated attendant features are commonly available as software within the voice mail system itself. When purchasing a new system, it’s important to check for this feature in the specifications. These systems can significantly reduce labor costs.