Link: https://nets.uvic.ca/telephony_renewal_unified.html

According to the Network Services site, Microsoft Exchange subscribers at UVic can now take advantage of a service called unified messaging, described as "a single in-basket for email and voicemail."

The University's new voicemail system allows the merging of e-mail and voicemail in-baskets: your voicemail messages are delivered directly to your Exchange inbox, allowing you to manage all messages from a single location using your e-mail application (Outlook, Entourage, etc). Your mailbox number does not change, and you can still dial into 721-7000 to manage voicemail messages the way you always have.

Voice messages appear as e-mail messages with audio-file attachments, and in most cases, the caller's phone number is identified in the Subject line of the message.

The site contains a useful note about the social implications of this new technology, warning potential users that voicemail can easily be circulated online, beyond the intended listener.

I like the cautionary note; I'd have added, perhaps, the additional stress caused by workplace expectations that we're available (by unified or other messaging) 24/7.