Abstract: There is disclosed a method and apparatus for initiating a call in a mobile telephone system, comprising the steps of: comparing a current location of a mobile terminal to at least one predetermined location; and, responsive to a location match, initiating a call from the mobile terminal to a predetermined number associated with said at least one predetermined location.

Abstract: A method of configuring Internet telephony services for a private branch exchange includes providing the requirements for the private branch exchange to an Internet telephony service provider, establishing, at the Internet telephony service provider, configuration data for the requirements, providing the established configuration data to the private branch exchange, and processing the established configuration data at the private branch exchange.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method of routing a call in a communication system, comprising: defining a set of availability modes for at least one user, each mode including at least one identifier identifying at least one originating telephone number; defining a routing rule for each of said modes; and routing a call for the at least one user in dependence upon the routing rule associated with an active availability mode of the user and the originating telephone number of the call.

Abstract: There is disclosed a unified messaging system in which a voice mail domain object comprising a plurality of fields is provided. At least one of such fields is selected to be defined as an open field such that it is accessible to an administration application of the system. The open fields are preferably stored as a voice mail domain summary in the e-mail directory of the unified messaging system.

Abstract: There is provided a messaging system comprising at least one distributed front-end messaging system and a centralized data store associated with said at least one distributed front-end messaging system, in which system the centralized data store includes means for storing data associated with users of the at least one distributed front-end messaging system, the at least one distributed front-end messaging system further including a respective at least one cache means for storing at least a portion of the centralized data associated with users of said at least one distributed front-end messaging system such that at least one messaging function can be provided to users of said at least one distributed front-end messaging system in dependence on the data stored in said cache means. A centralized messaging system provides access to all stored data associated for all users associated with at least one distributed front-end messaging system.

Abstract: A messaging architecture including at least two messaging systems, each messaging system being associated with a telephony switch connected to at least one messaging system subscriber and a mailbox for providing voice messaging services for calls to said at least one messaging system subscriber, the mailboxes for each of the at least two messaging systems being accessible via each messaging system, wherein each telephony switch is adapted to selectively route a call for a subscriber mailbox to one of the messaging systems for access to the subscriber mailbox.