COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND METHOD FOR STORING MESSAGE DATA IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

A communication network ( 1 ) having a number of server units ( 12, 14, 16 ) connected with each other on the data side, to each of which a number of terminals ( 20 ) is connected in a local environment, each server unit ( 12, 14, 16 ) including a data storage area ( 22, 24, 26 ) for saving message data, shall enable user access to the user-specifically saved message data from each of the local environments in a reliable and quick manner, even in case of limited data transmission capacity between the individual server units, maintaining at the same time an appropriate flow synchronization between the partial networks. For this purpose, each data storage area ( 22, 24, 20 ) comprises, according to the invention, a first partial storage area ( 42, 44, 46 ) for saving user data and a second partial storage area ( 52, 54, 56 ) for saving control data. During operation, the user data are stored on all server units ( 12, 14, 16 ) in a synchronized manner.