Notice: This material is excerpted from Special Edition Using Microsoft Exchange Server, ISBN: 0-7897-0687-3. The electronic version of this material has not been through the final proof reading stage that the book goes through before being published in printed form. Some errors may exist here that are corrected before the book is published. This material is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind.

31 - Implementing Third-Party Integration Tools

By now, we have discussed all the core functions of Exchange provided in the shipped version. Although Microsoft has an extensive array of features built into the application, they cannot deliver all the features that end users need in their environment.

Third-party developers are essential resources in the deployment of Exchange in your environment. You saw that Exchange is more than just a messaging system. Exchange is an application framework. Third-party developers can extend the framework to provide a wide array of solutions on top of your core Exchange architecture.

In this chapter, you learn about the following third-party enhancements to Exchange:

• Workflow technologies
• Document imaging strategies
• Information sharing resources
• Information providers
• Communications and gateways to extend Exchange

Using Workflow Technologies To Extend Exchange

Workflow was discussed briefly in Chapter 1, "Overview of Microsoft Exchange" as it pertains to the Exchange universal inbox paradigm. Workflow sometimes is confused with electronic forms and forms routing. Workflow consists of a strict set of rules to a process. It extends the function of group collaboration.

Workflow is composed of several other key technologies: e-mail, imaging, document management, and databases. The end result is that it should streamline business processes and reduce system costs by using workflow servers to perform tasks based on the business model(see fig. 31.1). These applications will be integrated with the Exchange client and provide an agent running on the Exchange Server to process and manage the workflow.

Fig. 31.1

Workflow framework and technologies.

The following is a list of Workflow technology solutions. Each product mentioned has a description of the components as well as integration with Exchange. The products include Exchange client software integration and data routing to external database sources, (see fig. 31.2).

• Action Technology—Action promotes their ActionWorkflow System. Together with Microsoft, they are working on the workflow API (WAPI). Action has numerous partners to include: Watermark Imaging, Saros, PC Docs, and FileNet. Action is a leader of the Workflow Coalition. This organization is promoting a common framework for workflow-enabled application. Action takes full advantage of Exchange’s Groupware and Universal to provide an interface to the workflow of the business.
• Action uses the Exchange In-box to start workflows and then receive status reports via e-mail. The Action Workflow Manager Server triggers the appropriate business rules with respect to the business model. The Workflow Manager can populate a database with the information or route a request by way of e-mail to a subsequent recipient. This takes advantage of the existing network.
• For more information: http://www.actiontech.com
• FileNet—FileNet also has a high-end workflow solution, named Workflo. FileNet and Action both work together and are competitors. FileNet, however, positioned themselves as the complete workflow solution. As mentioned previously, workflow includes e-mail, images, documents, and databases. FileNet has solutions to address all the components. The other components are discussed in following sections of this chapter.
• Both Action and FileNet are leader in the Windows-based workflow market.
• For more information: http://www.filenet.com
• Axonet Information Center—Axonet has a product named MegaFlow. This product is a simpler workflow manager. It doesn't have built-in support for the various workflow data types. However, it is extensible by way of OLE, and it supports RTF from the client side.
• For more information: http://www.tiac.net/users/axonet/

Fig. 31.2

Workflow business process.

Document Imaging and Management with Exchange

Document Imaging is the capability to take an object, scan it, and store the image for later use on the computer system.

Document Management is the capability to take existing data in a variety of formats--including scanned images, audio and video files, word-processing documents, and more. After the systems has stored the object in its system, the object is cataloged and managed for later use. This includes user-defined fields, object-file type conversions, object indexing, and security permissions.

Both of these two technologies are complementary and separate. Document imaging involves capturing the object from an external source: paper, fax, and so on. The image must be processed and stored. You then would store the image into a document management system, which will contain more than just this one kind of data object, (see fig. 31.3).

Fig. 31.3

Document imaging and document management with Exchange.

The following is a list of document imaging and document management technology solutions. Each product mentioned has a description of the components as well as integration with Exchange. The products include Exchange client software integration and server connections to external image repositories.

• Watermark Imaging—They are the primary NT-based, Exchange Server-enhanced, document-imaging solution. Watermark was recently acquired by FileNet to provide the complete workflow solution, as described in the previous section.
• Watermark can distribute scanned papers or faxes throughout the organization. This capability leverages the Exchange e-mail topology. Watermark provides the capability to e-mail a pointer into the storage system, to limit the amount of data transferred across the network and to avoid duplicate copies.
• For more information: Phone: (617) 229-2600
• Unisys—Unisys has recently announced a solution integrated with Exchange’s groupware function. The product is Unisys InfoImage Folder. The name indicates its positioning in the Exchange Universal in-box. InfoImage Folder will compete with the Watermark imaging system.
• For more information: http://www.unisys.com or http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/

There are several document management solutions, which are described in the following list:

• Saros—Saros, recently acquired by FileNet, provides a document-management solution, Saros Mezzanine. This product has a library metaphor for storing documents and data objects. The data objects are checked in and out. Mezzanine manages this procedure. Saros integrates with Exchange--a user can an e-mail a document or object into the Saros library without having the client software installed on the PC. Users also can e-mail pointers to files inside of Saros without having to check out a document and e-mail the entire file to the recipients. This setup eliminates multiple copies of files. Saros has both the client e-mail integration and an NT server product as the library.
• For more information: http://www.saros.com
• FileNet—In addition to leveraging the acquisition of Saros, FileNet has acquired Greenbar Software to provide a Computer Output to Laser Disk (COLD) solution. FileNet will use this application as tool for distributing printed reports. The reports will originate from their Workflo System, which provides FileNet two document management solutions, one for documents and one for system reporting.
• For more information: http://www.filenet.com
• PC Docs—PC Docs provides a set of electronic tools for publishing documents and accessing the information through the Exchange In-box. From within Docs Open, you can publish a document to a public folder, and then allow users to interact and discuss the document. Docs Interchange for Exchange consists of two agents, distribution and mail. The distribution agent will replicate by using the Exchange replication technology. It also allows for seamless integration between the Docs Open library and Exchange. Documents can be easily replicated into the Exchange folders. The mail agent allows Exchange client users to e-mail a query to the Docs Open library and access the Docs Open database. This doesn't require a user to have the Docs open client on their workstation, just Exchange. Users can request documents be e-mailed back to them from the Docs open library by way of the Docs Exchange Interchange.
• Watermark imaging is an imaging partner with PC Docs. From Watermark, you can send the scanned images into Docs Open.
• For more information: http://www.pcdocs.com
• Common Ground—Common Ground was recently acquired by Hummingbird Communications. Common Ground for Exchange provides a publishing and document management solution. Users can share access to documents by way of the Exchange network. Users can directly access the Common Ground Digital Papers directly from their Exchange client.
• For more information: http://www.commonground.com

Information Sharing

Information sharing is the capability to have group discussion forums with threaded conversations about a document, topic, or project. This capability is similar to an Internet News Group. This technology is the basis for groupware. Groupware provides a central repository for threaded conversation. The paradigm is activity that is classified as one-to-many. In this way, a user can write to one place, and then many people can access and comment on the information. Groupware is a base feature of Exchange. However, in this first release of exchange, there is little support for threaded conversation, (see fig. 31.4).

Fig. 31.4

Groupware: one-to-many conversations.

• Mesa—Mesa has a product named Conference Plus. This application is an add-in to the Exchange client. Another folder appears in the Universal In-box, representing Mesa. After you click to open this folder, you can access the information with the threaded conversations.
• Mesa writes their information to the MAPI v1.0 Exchange data structure. Mesa was one of the first third-party developers who worked on Exchange solutions by using MAPI. Their MAPI Message store runs as another Exchange service, taking full advantage of the rich administration and replication tools.
• From the client, Mesa allows direct access to Conference Plus folders by way of the Exchange In-box as a root-level folder. Mesa then provides an Exchange Interchange that provides two-way replication between Conference plus folders and Exchange Mesa message stores to address existing users of Mesa. Finally, a migration utility is included to assist with converting folders from Conference Plus to the Exchange MAPI message store architecture.
• Mesa is currently working on an Exchange Interchange for Internet News Groups, Lotus notes, and other Interchanges as needed in the marketplace.
• For more information e-mail: info@mesa.com

Understanding Information Providers

Information providers comprise a content-driven focus of Exchange. Exchange is more than just an e-mail system. This technology demonstrates the power of this client-server application framework.

Several companies provide intelligent agents, running on the Exchange Server to retrieve information of a given subject, (see fig. 31.5). This technology can parallel what is known as a "web crawler" on the Internet. These agents are given a specific topic and poll their respective information feeds.

This function is configured in a manner similar to other server-based rules on Exchange. The end user access the rules policy from the client workstation with the Exchange Universal In-box and tell the agent what information to gather. At this point, the agent on the server executes the request and is not dependent on the client to be connected. The agent returns the information and resources to the users’ post office information store.

Fig. 31.5

Information providers for Exchange Server.

• Fulcrum—Fulcrum Search Server is a high-performance text-indexing and retrieval engine, offering rapid access to vast amounts of corporate information stored in documents or databases. It supports ODBC connections to data sources. Users in a workgroup-computing environment have flexible access to large amounts of data.
• "Fulcrum Find" provides content-based indexing and retrieval of information in public folders, attachments, or e-form data. The server-based component is an Intuitive Searching engine, which is used to return specific subjects of content to the user. The search can be performed across multiple servers or on the desktop. The result set is a hierarchical list with most number of hits at the top of the list. The user then can select the information source and read the content. Additionally, Fulcrum Find supports SQL statement calls to optimize the performance of a search query.
• For more information: http://www.fulcrum.com
• Verity—Verity Topic agents compete with Fulcrum. Verity goes beyond the corporation to provide a rich, integrated search and retrieval engine that can be directed to external data sources such as Reuters and the Public Internet. Similar to Fulcrum, Verity has a server process that runs on the Exchange Server, which gets configured from the client PC, running Exchange. The server automatically notifies the user when the information needed is located. The agents also can poll specific data sources and when new information is found, automatically retrieve this data for the user.
• The user can configure the agents remotely from the client or can e-mail an agent or a query to be processed. The user can configure several agents to execute from the desktop, or the server with flexibility of the output format and location. Verity also can transmit the output of a query via fax, pager, e-mail, or public folder. Verity Topic can access data sources that include Exchange folders, attachments, ODBC data sources, Lotus notes, and Acrobat Catalogs.
• For more information: http://www.verity.com
• Lexis-Nexis—Lexis-Nexis is similar in features to Fulcrum Find and Verity Topic, however, it applies only to the Lexis-Nexis data services. Lexis-Nexis is an information-service bureau with thousands of new bits of information daily for the Entertainment, Legal, and Medical professions.
• The user agent is configured to connect with Lexis-Nexis, execute the query, and return the "hit-list" to the user. The user then can download the information that is needed. The product for Exchange is Tracker. Tracker searches across an index of 2,400 newspapers, with over 100,000 new articles each day. Users can customize Tracker as needed.
• Lexis-Nexis also has PubWatch, which is similar to the polling feature of Fulcrum and Verity. PubWatch polls Lexis-Nexis for new information on the subject entered by the user.
• For more information: http://www.lexis-nexis.com
• SandPoint—SandPoint Hoover is the final search and retrieval engine currently developed for Exchange. Hoover can search across data from multiple media, live news feeds, online databases, and corporate information in ODBC data sources or Exchange public folders.
• Hoover seems mainly targeted for its integration with external data sources. The user configures all queries from within the Universal In-box. The agent can search across over 5,200 data sources, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Dow Jones, Business Week, and more.
• For more information Phone: (800) 775-4442

Communication and Gateways for Exchange

Communications and gateways provide ways to extend Exchange in legacy systems or to provide new functionality from the In-box. These technologies include wireless access to Exchange mail servers, X.25 support for international message transfer, and public and private network and systems. For Gateways, several third-party developers will extend Exchange with paging servers, fax servers, voice message servers, and connections into legacy mail systems, including Profs and All-in-One.

Communication Support for Exchange

Communications gateways and service providers for Exchange provide the backbone for accessing the Exchange message stores by way of wireless networking protocols, (see fig. 31.6), from a client PC or the technology to allow standards-based transmission of Exchange messages over x.400 and x.500.

Fig. 31.6

Wireless Networking Services for Exchange Server.

The process follows this scenario: a request is made from the mobile user on their PC with the Exchange In-box. The message is encapsulated in a message and transferred by way of the wireless network to a server-based agent. The agent then de-encapsulates the messages and performs the action dictated in the message. At this point, it communicates with the Exchange Server to send or retrieve mail, change a server-based rule, or perform another Exchange task.

The key standards for wireless technology are: ARDIS, CDPD, GSM and Inmarsat. The following list breaks down the technologies and service providers for wireless communication.

• Inmarsat—This standard a satellite network provider, with world-wide capability. Inmarsat is perhaps the largest provider world-wide, serving 50,000 users on land, on sea, and in the air. They provide both narrow-band and ISDN connections. They have worked closely with other wireless providers, AT&T, Vodafone, and Ardis, to create a set of standards for wireless networking. The goal was to split client and server functions from the network-layer transports.
• Inmarsat, (see fig. 31.7), developed a solution to give the user a common interface to messaging--Exchange client viewer. They extend the MAPI interface with a wireless interface to provide ease of future development efforts over wireless networking. The technology is known as Inmarsat Wireless Messaging. The technology is composed of enhancements to the client, a middle-layer agent and a server component. The technology interpolates with other wireless networking standards, ARDIS, CDPD, and GSM.

Fig. 31.7

Wireless networking technology by Inmarsat.

• The key elements to the user interface are remote copy of message headers, remote copy of messages, remote deletion of messages, remote forwarding of messages, and remote configuration of user rules and filters. The server request manager interfaces with the Exchange Server. The purpose is to process client-side requests from the mobile agent. It performs this process by using standard MAPI transport providers.
• The mobile agent interfaces with the client and the server request manager. The mobile agent is responsible for interacting with Exchange on behalf of the mobile user. The agent handles authentication, server-based rules and filters, logging NT server events and providing NT performance counters.
• For more information: http://www.worldserver.pipex.com
• Vodafone Group—Vodafone and Paragon Software have an Exchange Middleware messaging solution for wireless networking. Vodafone follows Inmarsat’s wireless messaging technology to provide users with wireless access to Exchange around the world. Vodafone has or 40 GSM roaming agreements to provide world-wide coverage. GSM is an organization who provides a standard for wireless communication, which is growing at the rate of 10,000 new customers each day. Based on the number of GSM agreements, Vodafone is a leader in wireless communication.
• Paragon provides Precis Link, which is a MAPI-based remote access standard for Exchange. Precis Link provides similar functionality to Inmarsat, with off-line message processing, to include rules, filters, forwarding, and deleting.
• Vodafone Networking uses advanced mobile communications of Short Message Server (SMS) and high-speed circuit switched data by way of their digital cellular networks. Precis link leverages these communication methods to allow users to access Exchange servers over satellite, digital cellular, and mobile-radio systems. Precis provides an easy interface for developers to leverage wireless networking, without needing full knowledge of the transport.
• For more information: http://www.vodafone.co.uk
• AT&T—AT&T wireless services provides wireless access for users into Exchange servers. AT&T relies on the communication standard, CDPC, or Cellular Digital Packet Data. Currently, CDPD is deployed only in the United States. CDPD makes wireless data communication ready for end users. It's based on the TPC/IP protocol. This offers easy integration with existing infra-structures. CDPD offers transfer rates of up to 19.2 kbps, enhanced security, and the capability to support voice and data. 47 of the top 50 cities in the US already have CDPD service available.
• AT&T’s service hopes to provide a cost-effective solution for the workgroup model by allowing filed sales and support personnel to easily connect to resources.
• Similar to Inmarsat and Vodafone, AT&T allows users to download headers before retrieving messages, remote administering rules and filters, and configure support for attachments. It provides server-based agents to perform tasks for the client.
• The rough cost of the AT&T service depends on data transferred per month. A sample rate is 500kb per month for $50. Please contact AT&T directly for current pricing information.
• For more information: http://www.airdata.com
• Eicon—Eicon provides WAN services for the NT operating system. This is useful for the x.25 transport protocol support necessary for some x.400 and x.500 connections to value-added networking providers.
• EiconCard for NT extends the TCP/IP stack included with NT over x.25, frame relay, and PPP and ISDN connections. It offers a high-capacity, robust implementation of x.25 for Exchange servers. As illustrated in figure 31.8, NT now can be extended as a WAN IP router. EiconCard can take full advantage of the Microsoft backoffice remote access support.

Fig. 31.8

WAN service for NT by Eicon.

• For more information: http://www.eicon.com
• Sprint—Sprint provides Sprint Message Xchange service for Microsoft Exchange. SMX currently is used to link together various mail systems over Sprints’ private network services. SMX now links Exchange LAN sites with other MS Mail, Lotus, and Exchange LAN sites. This method is effective to link LAN’s by out-sourcing some of the messaging backbone to Sprint.
• Sprints network extends to 140 countries, which is a tremendous benefit if a company has both U.S. and European offices and want to link together their Exchange LANs. Sprint acts as the Middleware network to support the connection, which is a huge cost savings to the companies because they can connect to Sprint in native Exchange formats without maintaining extra x.400 gateways. Sprint provides addressing templates for recipients on x.400, the Internet, fax, and telex.
• For more information: http://www.sprint.com

Besides Sprint, several other value-added networking providers are working on supporting Exchange backbones. Services in the works will provide companies with links from Exchange into legacy systems, Profs, All-in-One, and Officevision; into other LAN mail systems such as Lotus and Cc:mail; and into other forms of messaging, EDI, fax, telex, CompuServe, x.400, and the Internet. A good way to think about these public and private networks are as a way to out-source gateways and address/message conversion processes. By supporting native Exchange formats, the providers can allow easy integration from the corporate LANs into trading and business partners.

Gateway Support for Exchange

Gateways and Connectors, (see fig. 31.9) are used to extend Exchange into existing LAN-based mail systems or legacy hosts systems. They also can provide new types of functionality to enhance messaging within the organization. Besides new Exchange gateways, the existing MS Mail gateway is accessed from Exchange. You can access these through the MS Mail PC connector.

Fig. 31.9

The MS Mail gateways for Exchange Server.

• Attachmate—Attachmate is providing Profs and SNADS gateways for Exchange. These tools are used to extend Exchange into legacy SNA environments to link users with Profs and OfficeVision mail systems or use the SNA transport to communicate with other servers.
• The gateways are known as Zip! Office gateway for Exchange. These gateways allow users on VM/CMS hosts systems to share messages with Exchange clients, see figure 31.10. The gateway routes messages and status reports between Exchange and the host systems. Hosts users can use Profs, CMS Notes, or CMS Reader to read and create messages. This gateway also is used for processing SENDFILE or PUCH requests from VM to the LAN.

Fig. 31.10

ZIP! Office gateways for Exchange Server.

• Exchange manages the in- and out-bound message for the ZIP gateway. Exchange stores the out-bound messages in its MTS Out folder. The ZIP gateway polls this folders and, when it finds a message, processes the message. After the gateway has the message, it translates the message and attachment to be forwarded to the host system.

Due to message formats on the host systems, only one attachment can be sent in the body of a message. If multiple attachments must be sent to a host recipient, multiple messages must be used.

• The Exchange Server with the ZIP gateway running also must be able to connect to the host through an SNA gateway or be channel-attached to the host with SNA Server installed locally.
• Besides the messaging gateway, ZIP supports scheduling across systems, see figure 31.11. Schedule Plus and Profs Calendar Users can be part of the same calendar network. The gateway routes calendar requests between the two systems, including scheduling meetings between platforms, viewing free-busy times, and appointment data in each systems’s calendar.

Fig. 31.11

The ZIP! Office Calendar Gateway for Exchange Server.

• The calendar look-ups happen in real time. A request is made from the Schedule plus client and communicated to Exchange. After the request is in Exchange, the Zip gateway translates the request into a native host format and forwards the schedule request to the host system.
• The Zip gateway is an NT service and is integrated with the Event Log, Performance Counters, and Process Viewer. Multiple gateways can be installed on the same server hardware. This is similar to the MS Mail PC MTA’s, which can run multiple instances of the MTA on a single NT server. The Gateway also comes with its own configuration utility, to set the configuration information for delivery, message translation, nodes, address space, and queue status.
• For more information: http://www.attachmate.com
• Alisa—Alisa Systems supports Digital’s All-in-One and Vmsmail mail systems. The Alisa Gateway is an NT service, running on the Exchange Server. The gateway supports messaging with attachments of documents and binary files. The DEC and Exchange directories will be synchronized and user names are mapped into the native format for the system. The gateway can be managed by using native Exchange and NT administration tools.
• For more information: http://www.alisa.com
• RightFax—RghtFax has a fax gateway solution for Exchange. This gateway runs as an NT service for integration with the NT directory services and Exchange. The fax gateway consists of a client and server set of components.
• From the client, a user can create an e-mail message. When defining the recipients, the user can specify users to receive the same mail message, by way of fax. The mail message doesn't need to be configured in any different manner. When the message is received by the Exchange Server and the recipient list is parsed, the server recognizes the fax recipient and routes the message through the fax gateway.
• On incoming faxes, RightFax supports DID lines for individual caller fax identifiers, which requires additional hardware to support phone-line trucks or direct connections to the phone systems coming in via T1 connections. One fax server can service over 700 DID lines. For a large organization, this capability allows every individual to have a direct fax line. When the fax server actually receives the incoming fax, it resolves the destination user recipient on the Exchange mail system by the DID identifier. The user receives faxes just as they do an e-mail message or other In-box application.
• The RightFax client becomes integrated with the Exchange In-box on the desktop. This client has numerous advanced features, including support for DTMF, OCR, Imaging letterhead, signatures, voice prompting, group send options, delayed transmissions, and support for complex graphics. Additionally, you can send document attachments by way of fax without doing the conversion on the client PC. The conversion is handled by the server gateway.
• For more information e-mail: dts@rightfax.xom
• Integra—Integra recently purchased WinBeep Software. WinBeep provides an NT server-based pager gateway for Exchange. Similar to the fax gateway, from the Exchange client a user can send a message with a destination recipient through e-mail, fax, or pager by using the WinBeep Exchange pager gateway.
• The Pager Gateway is being developed by WinBeep at Integra technologies. The paging gateway will plug into Exchange just like any other gateway or connector. It will be administered from the Exchange administration utility.
• The pager gateway also can be used in conjunction with server-based rules. One example is if you use an alphanumeric pager, you can set up your e-mail to be forwarded to your pager when you are out of the office.
• Because the paging gateway is a rich, tightly integrated NT service, you can configure SQL server to send reports and alerts by way of MAPI to the paging gateway to notify and administrator or manager of a situation.
• The Integra pager gateway works with several paging service providers: Ameritech, Comtech, MobileComm, PageMart, PageNet, Skytel, Southwestern Bell, Message Center, and USA Mobile. Additionally, it supports wireless communication through several protocols: ARDIS, DTMF, IXO, and TDP.
• For more information Phone: (800) 905-5062
• Octel—Octel developed a framework for voice messaging on top of the Exchange platform. The Unified Messaging Strategy consists of using the e-mail backbone for Exchange to connect to PBX phone switches and route voice mail directly to the desktop in the Exchange client In-box, see figure 31.12.
• Octel positions the phone systems as an extension to the messaging architecture of an organization. From within the In-box you may receive e-mail, faxes, documents, and now voice mail. Voice mail also can be accessed 24 hours a day by touch-tone phone. Voice mail has many of the same communication properties that e-mail uses. Voice-mail messages are stored and forwarded between users as needed. The messages also are routed by content or request.
• Octel provides a client component to integrate with the In-box so that the voice-mail messages appear as e-mail messages. The users simply open the message to play the voice mail. The user also can reply to the original message or create a new voice message from the same interface. Exhcange then handles the routing via mail or via the phone switches. The client also includes telephone dial-in support. The user dials into the Octel system to retrieve message information. The message information includes voice, fax, and e-mail messages. Voice message can be easily played back over the telephone. Fax mesages can be routed to an alternate fax number or forwarded to another user. E-mail messages can be read back to the user over the telephone via the text-to-speech hardware on the system.

Fig. 31.12

Octel Voice-Mail gateway for Exchange Server.

• The Octel Server provides in- and out-bound voice functionality. It acts as a voice-mail gateway to external systems. The user can create a voice-mail message from the desktop and have Octel route the message to the destination to be played back for the user. This Octel system can take advantage of multimedia PCs, but doesn't require them. If a user has sound capabilities on the PC, the voice-mail message can be played back from the PC. If the user doesn't have sound capabilities, when they open the e-mail note that contains the Octel message, Octel dials the user’s phone number from the PBX and plays the message back over the phone.
• The key to this strategy is that Exchange and NT will handle all the directory services for the enterprise. The Exchange account that originates from the NT Domain account also will be used for the voice mil system. A component of the user account includes the voice-mail system information. However, all the voice-mail data is stored inside the Exchange message, in a compressed format. Octel also plans to include faxing as a functionality of this Unified Messaging Strategy.
• The Octel server supports voice, fax, text to speech, and voice recognition. This includes support for DTMF, DID lines, PBX connectivity, and open computer-industry standards for customization. The server is based on Windows NT and takes full advantage of the user accounts, NT registry, Event Log, performance monitor and all other NT management utilities. Octel provides additional management capabilities for the Octel server by way of Exchange’s Administration utility and a separate administration application.
• For more information: http://www.octel.com

This section described many of the gateways, connectors, and communication protocols support by third parties for the Exchange client and server.

Various ISV Solutions

Several companies have developed third-party enhancements to Exchange. These enhancements include enhanced electronic forms, Visual Basic reporting, directory service providers, security, and more. The following products contnue to describe additional ways to leverage an investment in Exchange.

• Delrina—Delrina offers their FormFlow electronic forms designer package for use with Exchange. The package offers forms and data routing, using the Exchange topology. This forms package offers database connectivity, multi-platform support, printing, and scaleable architecture.
• For more information: http://www.delrina.com
• Crystal Reports—Crystal reports announced a reporting tool for use with Exchange that allows easy integration and access to the Exchange MAPI information store. Crystal Reports provides access to Excahnge reporting mechanisms, and data exporting from the information store. This added capability allows the user to query, print, and modify data from the desktop. The amount of data with in the information store is unlimited; it can be e-mail messages, e-forms data, system information, documents, voice mail, and more. Crystal Reports enables you to build interfaces to this information by using Exchange and Visual Basic. The information will be useful to both end users and system administrators.
• For more information phone: (800) 663-1244
• Nortel Entrust—Northern Telecom’s Entrust security technology provides the software-based encryption and digital signatures services. Security is important because it provides a wrapper around confidential or sensitive data. The content of the message is guaranteed by a digital signature. The digital signature ensures the identity of the sender.
• With Entrust’s security in Exchange, Exchange can be used for electronic commerce, electronic transfer of funds, or database transactions. Nortel provides a solution for large-scale management of cryptographic keys. The automated key management is invisible to the end user, yet provides privacy into a distributed computing environment.
• Entrust provides support for RSA, DSA, DES, and CAST security algorithms.
• For more information: http://www.entrust.com
• Hitachi—Hitachi has announced a directory synchronization system, Syncware, for Exchange. Syncware synchronizes Exchange with all other e-mail systems in the environment. Syncware is the server component that will provide the directory services function. Additionally, there is Agent@Exchange, which is the directory services agent that runs on Exchange to export the directory information to Syncware.
• Some features of Syncware include a streamlined user interface, enhanced rule mapping to convert names, and network monitoring and testing tools. A messaging administrator can tell at a glance the status of the synchronization thoughout the enterprise. It integrates with cc:mail, MS Mail, Quick Mail, Lotus Notes, Groupwise, Beyond Mail, Davinci, Officevision, and SMTP mail.
• The key benefit to this is the complex address translation that Hitachi has simplified for managing several directories. The conversion rules are built into the system, however can be modified for special use. The product consists of a server and agent model that is mail-enabled. Syncware agents are installed on each mail system, and the server is installed on a UNIX workstation. Each agent monitors which addresses get changed on the system. When a change occurs, it is forwarded via e-mail to the server. After the server is done processing the directory updates, it propagates the changes to the other mail systems. With this solution, Exchange can plan an active role in a mixed mail enterprise environment.
• For more information: http://www.hitachi.com

Electronic data interchange is discussed in Chapter 32, "Electronic Data Interchange and Microsoft Exchange."

Exchange provides the MAPI v1.0 API to use for application enhancements or custom solutions for Exchange. Beyond MAPI, Exchange SDK’s (software development kits) are available for developing custom applications, external gateways, or integrated applications.

We mentioned several third-party solutions for Exchange. This list is by no means complete. Please contact Microsoft for continued updates to the list of ISV’s developing third-party application for Exchange at the following Web page:

• http://www.microsoft.com/exchange

Exchange provides a robust messaging and groupware framework. Third-party developers are working to extend the framework with Workflow, Document Imaging, Document Management, Information Sharing, Information Agents, Communications connectors, Gateways to external systems, and more. Microsoft provides the MAPI 1.0 application programming interface to allow additional developers to leverage the Exchange framework as needed.

From Here...

This chapter explained how Exchange can be extended by using third-party applications. For more information, see the following chapters:

• Chapter 1 "Overview of Microsoft Exchange," describes the Universal Inbox paradigm.
• Chapter 32, "Using Electronic Data Interchange," explains how to use the Exchange Server for Electronic Data Interchange transactions.