Patent ID: 7231022

Claim:
A messaging architecture comprising: first and second messaging systems coupled to respective first and second telephony switches; the first and second telephony switches being coupled to respective first and second pluralities of subscriber terminals; the first and second messaging systems having respective first and second pluralities of subscriber mailboxes associated therewith; wherein the first messaging system is configured to access not only the first plurality of subscriber mailboxes associated with said first messaging system but also the second plurality of subscriber mailboxes associated with the second messaging system; wherein a call received in the second telephony switch from the switch, the call originating from one of the first plurality of subscriber terminals coupled to the first telephony switch and having as its destination one of the second plurality of subscriber terminals coupled to the second telephony switch, is directed from the second telephony switch to the first messaging system via the first telephony switch if messaging services are needed for the call, so as to allow the first messaging system to provide the messaging services for the call using one of the second plurality of subscriber mailboxes associated with the second messaging system; and wherein the first and second messaging systems collectively comprise respective front-end systems and a common centralized message store system shared by the front-end systems, the front-end systems being remotely located from one another and from the centralized message store system, the centralized message store system being adapted for communication with said front-end systems over a network.