Unifying user-to-user messaging systems

Unification of user-to-user messaging systems facilitates message exchange independent of time, place, protocol, and end-user device. This article describes an approach to unification that is based on introducing a middleware layer instead of employing gateways. It entails a single system that provides common services such as email, fax, and short messaging, but that can also enable novel services that current messaging systems can´t support. The authors also describe how the model can be efficiently implemented on a global scale.