nected to the Voice Mail system. When they log onto the system with their laptop, the Voice Mail responses they've left will be sent to the recipients. Unified messaging not only provides you with the opportu- nity to sort out the many pieces of information and communica- tions reaching your desk every day, but enables you to assign priorities to them. Unified Messaging lays out all of your voice mail, faxes and electronic mail on your desktop computer screen. It integrates with other programs spreadsheets, word processors, etc. The el- ements needed to accomplish this include a Local Area Network, a voice processing server that includes various communications- medium resource hardware (voice circuit board, fax circuit board, etc.) that hooks into e-mail and closely integrates with the PBX and client software running at the desktops. Unified Communication applications (sometimes part of the Unified Messaging software) can help you to respond to in- coming calls. This lets you know who is calling and gives you the option of answering the call, answering the call after a slight delay where the caller will hear a delay message ("This is Michael Berezein; I will be with you in just a moment."), or rerouting the call to Voice Mail or to someone else in your of- fice. This may tie into a "find me-follow me" application, enabling calls coming into your office to be forwarded to your cell phone, if you have provided the system with the instruc- tion to do SO. Unified Communication has been described as "your very own electronic personal secretary." It accesses a database on the communications server. The Telecom Handbook - 167 CONVERGENCE OF VOICE & DATA While Unified Messaging and Unified Communication have been around for quite a few years, they have not been widely adopted. However, the concepts on which they are based have been rolled into newer web-based applications that enable more flexibility in a more distributed environment. (applications and databases can be on different servers in different locations). These 