Universal Messaging supports the concept of a federated namespace, where realm servers may be located in different geographical locations but form part of the same logical namespace. A Universal Messaging name space can contain one or more Universal Messaging message servers, each one containing many topics or queues.

Each Universal Messaging server is aware of others that have been added to the namespace and each one can redirect clients automatically to the required resource thus providing alternative routes when network outages occur. There is no single point of entry to a federated Universal Messaging namespace and it can be traversed in any direction from any point.

The entry into a Universal Messaging name space or server is via a custom URL called an RNAME (see Communication Protocols and RNAMEs). The RNAME provides the protocol, host and port required to access the Universal Messaging server. Universal Messaging clients can be passed an array of RNAME's. Should a connection fail to one of the realms the Universal Messaging client automatically moves onto the next.

The remote management of either clustered or federated realm servers is enabled via the Universal Messaging Enterprise Manager or administration API. There is no limit placed on the number of Universal Messaging Realms that can be managed from the Universal Messaging Enterprise Manager or using the Universal Messaging Administration API.