thing to do when you want to reach a live attendant. Anything else causes confusion. The Telecom Handbook * 107 VOICE MAIL & AUTOMATED ATTENDANT Some Voice Mail systems integrate with the PBX through a standard RS-232 link. One thing to remember when adding a Voice Mail system to a PBX is that there may be additional hard- ware and software required for the PBX. Networking Voice Mail Among Multiple Locations Just as PBXs in different geographic locations can be con- nected in a network and appear to work as one system, SO can Voice Mail systems be networked. Messages left in a Voice Mail system in New York can end up in a Voice Mailbox in London if the two systems are networked. Some of the challenges of networking Voice Mail systems include: Maintaining directories of users and systems for each system on the network SO that they are all updated with changes and additions at the same time. Providing service and support for the entire network. Coordinating global administration of access circuits used to network the voice mail systems. Networking is done best with systems that are all from the same manufacturer. However a new proposed standard for Internet messaging called VPIM (see box) will allow disparate systems to exchange voice messages over the Internet. If your organization already has a WAN (Wide Area Net- work) in place with permanent physical connections among sites for connecting the computer network, you may be able to use these circuits to immediately transmit Voice Mail messages left in one location to a Voice Mail system at another location. In this case, the message is sent in a digital form over the circuit and the Voice Message is reassembled at the distant end. This 108 The Telecom Handbook CHAPTER 5 VPIM - Voice Profile for Internet Messaging VPIM is a proposed Internet messaging protocol to allow disparate voice messaging systems to auto- matically exchange voice mail over the Internet. VPIM also will allow a voice messaging system to communicate with other such systems outside the or ganizat