Voicemail was added as a core component to Exchange 2007 with its release, but there were not many organizations that chose to implement Exchange 2007Voicemail. With the release of Exchange 2010, more Unified Messaging servers are being implemented, the reason being that core features are included in the Exchange update.

In terms of technology, the voicemail of Exchange 2010 provides all the capabilities as any of the voicemail systems in the market. Thus the Exchange 2010 is ‘as good’ in technology as anybody else in the market. However there are a couple of reasons which make Exchange 2010 Voicemail stand ahead of all others and why organizations are implementing it:

• Conversion of Voice to Text: a new polished feature of Exchange 2010 where your voice messages are automatically converted to text and saved with the voice message in the form of text. So if you receive an attachment containing a voice message, you also get its transcription in text with it. This feature is extremely useful when you are out, you will not have to give back a call to the voice mail system for listening to your voicemail and you can just read the text message present along with it.
• Redundancy in Voicemail: another reason being that exchange mailbox is being followed for the user by Exchange Unified Messaging Server. There are new Database Availability Groups with the new Exchange and an organization can maintain up to sixteen copies of mailbox of a user for the purpose of fault tolerance and high availability. There is a need thus for voicemail system to know the location of the mailbox. Exchange 2010 does provide this facility whereas a lot of third party voicemails do not.

Thus with having all the similar features as of any voicemail system and the above two added advantages, the Exchange 2010 voicemail is getting increasingly popular.

Following are the steps to install Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging. :

First you have to install the Unified Messaging Role-

• Go to control panel
• Select Programs and Features
• Select Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
• Click on the Change button
• Enter Exchange Maintenance mode.
• Click Next.
• Select the check box stating Unified Messaging Role
• Click Next.
• Readiness checks are performed by installer.
• Click on the Install button
• Unified Messaging server role will get installed.
• After the successful completion of installation, click Finish.

After the installation of Unified Messaging Server Role, complete the following post-install configuration jobs for basic installation:

• Form a UM dial plan.
• Associate with it subscriber access numbers.
• Create a gateway of UM IP.
• Associate the dial plan with the UM server.
• Form a UM Auto Attendant.
• Form the hunt groups.
• Enable the mailboxes for UM.
• Test the functionality.

The new feature is definitely worth working with and getting familiar with.