System and method for unified messaging in inter/intranet telephony

A network telephony system, for operation with a data network, providing unified messaging services comprising:

• at least one user agent operatively coupled to a data network;
• a signaling server operatively coupled to the data network, the signaling server maintaining a registration database of network addresses of user agents;
• a messaging server operatively coupled to the data network and responsive to the signaling server;
• at least two media servers operatively coupled to the network, the at least two media servers being responsive to the messaging server, each media server including computer data storage media for storing and retrieving message files, the media servers being accessible to the at least one user agent to store, manage and retrieve message files.

A network telephony system including unified messaging services comprising:

• a digital data network;
• a gateway server computer interposed between a public switched telephony network (PSTN) and the digital data network;
• a signaling server operatively coupled to the digital data network;
• a messaging server operatively coupled to the digital data network and responsive to the signaling server;
• a media server, the media server being responsive to the messaging server, the media server including computer data storage media for storing message files;
• and
• a DTMF translator, the DTMF translator being interposed between to the gateway server and the media server.

A method for providing messaging services in a data network telephony system, comprising:

• receiving a call request from a first user agent to a second user agent;
• generating a call request to an address for the second user agent and to a messaging server associated with the second user agent;
• establishing a connection between the first user agent and a media server in the event of a message condition to provide for message exchange with the media server;
• terminating the call request to the messaging server if no message condition occurs.