Integrated Communications
Description
People use many forms of electronic communication: E-mail, file storage, cell phones, desktop phones, voicemail, group calendars, Web pages, task lists, fax, etc. Why do we need to interact with most of these systems as isolated entities? Commercial integrated communications products or unified messaging systems integrate some subset of these, but really just address part of the problem. In addition, they are typically proprietary-centric, expensive, and do not scale well for Penn State.
In an ideal world, one open-system, open-source, standards-based, distributed, extensible, and multi-platform approach to integrating communications would exist. This is probably not feasible due to the massive scale of such a system, the large established base of component systems and the individual allegiance to some of these components. However, pursuing open interface standards and working out the details of integrating components that meet these standards ultimately may be feasible.
Publications
N/A
Resources
Internet Engineering Task Force Session Initiation Protocol
Open Source Implementation of the H.323 Teleconferencing Protocol
The OSAF Candler Personal Information Manager
AVST Unified Messaging Product
Primary ET Contact
Phil Devan PhilDevan@psu.edu
Collaborators
This initiative is broad in scope and will require a number of domain experts drawn from various units. It also will involve people outside of the University.
Expected Deliverable(s)
The early stages of this initiative will define the objectives of such a system and test subsets of the interfaces with existing systems in order to nurture domain expertise. The initial deliverable is a relatively high-level system definition document.
Level of ET Involvement
It is expected that ET will act as a catalyst and facilitator with a relatively high level of attention to this initiative.
Initiative Start Date
November 2003