Patent ID: 7051114

Claim:
A method for integrating a voice and unified messaging application at a network device with different directory servers, the network device configured to perform directory services with the directory servers, the method comprising: storing in memory of the network device an attribute mapping table, the table mapping attribute names utilized by the voice and unified messaging application with corresponding attribute names used by the directory servers available to the voice and unified messaging application, wherein at least two of the directory servers have different schema and wherein at least one of the attribute names used by the directory servers is different from the corresponding attribute name used by the voice and unified messaging application; searching the attribute mapping table to identify the attribute name used by one of the directory servers corresponding to one of the attribute names utilized by the voice and unified messaging application; sending from the network device, a request containing the identified directory server attribute name to the corresponding directory server; and receiving information in response to the request, wherein integrating the voice and unified messaging application at the network device with different directory servers comprises integrating without modifying application code at the network device.