VoIP Insider

Cisco Callway – So Easy Even a Caveman Can Do it..

A 2 part series

As the Product Manager for Cisco at VoIP Supply I was recently challenged with getting VoIP Supply Cisco Small Business Telepresence Certified.  Of course I passed all of the exams with flying colors (Yay! We are Certified!) but as many people in the IT industry know passing a test and being able to use that knowledge are two very different things. So I set out to install and use Cisco Callway myself to determine if it is really user friendly and a viable alternative to premise-based video conferencing solutions.

Part 1 – What is Callway?

Part of the Cisco SB Telepresence offering is a hosted video solution called Callway. If you have ever looked into setting up an IP video conferencing solution for your office you no doubt have been overwhelmed.  

You can do point-to-point which is pretty easy but are you really going to see a fast ROI on that steep investment?  For example, maybe you were quoted $8K for a single room system but then you’re going to need a friend for that room system to talk to.  So, $16K later and some messing with your firewall and all you have is the ability to talk to your other location.  You will get ROI from that but how long before you see ROI on $16K? 

To really get the most from your video system you are going to want to:

(1)    Allow for multipoint video meetings – Do you have a 3^rd location?  How about customers and partners?  Wouldn’t you like to talk with more than 1 of them at a time?

(2)    Assure that each worker that is out of the office has access to a video meeting- Do you have remote personnel? Salespeople on the road?  Work from home employees?

(3)    Share data from your PC with everyone on the video call – standing at a white board isn’t always the best solution. Video of a presentation on a projector will not give you the quality that you need to be effective.

If you want or need this functionality you would have to invest in expensive infrastructure for your server closet and have someone qualified to maintain it. An MCU, multipoint bridge, and  firewall traversal server are expensive, complex, and usually puts a fully functioning telepresence plan out of grasp for most small businesses.

Using hosted telepresence brings all this functionality back into the realm of the SMB. With a hosted telepresence plan, like Cisco Callway, Cisco keeps and maintains  the infrastructure.  You simply connect.

Callway is sold like a cell phone subscription.   

(1)    You choose your cell phone. In this case, you are going to choose your video endpoint. It may be a big room system connected to a 55in plasma display or it may be a webcam and speakerphone from your laptop.

(2)    You choose your service package.  Callway offers three levels of serve: Standard, Premium, and Jabber.

• Callway Standard – offers 720p30 top resolution occupying 1.5Mbps of bandwidth.
• Callway Premium – offers 1080p30 top resolution occupying 4Mbps of bandwidth
• Cisco Jabber – ideal for desktop/laptop users – offers 448p30 resolution while using 768kbps of bandwidth
• Add on your upgrades – If you want that multipoint experience that I mentioned above, you will need to add on a MeetMe bridge which allows either 6 or 12 parties to meet together on a video call from unique locations.

(3)    Activate your service – you agree to a one year contract and sign an electronic service activation. Sounds just like something you have done at the Verizon or AT&T store doesn’t it?

(4)    Once your Callway service is activated you can call anyone using the H.323 video standard including endpoints using Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, or Aver.

Did you notice what was missing?  You will not have to have a technician come onsite and install your servers.  If you are using a desktop system or Jabber there is no waiting for your IT guy to come connect you. If you are using Jabber from a laptop equipped with a webcam and microphone, literally you just sign your activation agreement , install the client from the email you receive from Callway, and then you are making calls.

Advantage of Cisco Callway

The advantage of using Callway is the speed to deployment. You can decide on video conferencing in the AM and be using it company-wide by lunch time.  Another advantage of Callway is cutting-edge backend  technology and hardware. Maybe your server closet isn’t in great shape or maybe your network needs a little upgrading before you can think of deploying video conferencing. Well guess what, Cisco’s doesn’t!  If there is one company in the world that I would trust to host my video network it is Cisco.  If you have a high speed internet connection you are equipped to connect to Cisco’s industry-leading video infrastructure and take advantage of its global reach. Call any standards-based video endpoint anywhere in the world.

The timing was perfect when Patton dropped by the VoIP Supply office last week for a visit.

A webinar is airing on Tuesday, May 22nd that explains the symbiotic relationship between Patton gateways and 3CX VoIP phone systems.  Or, rather, how to get started with a VoIP.

So with the event right around the corner, it was a great chance to bluntly ask Tyler Delin, Patton’s Product Manager, “Why should customers choose Patton?”   And instead of a canned response that their stuff “just works” (Well, he did say that but, more eloquently and with a deeper explanation), Delin told me more about the company than I thought I wanted to know.

The wealth of information he provided about Patton gateway performance should be a great resource in your VoIP solution search.   Delin also highlights Patton’s fierce commitment to customer service and support.

Don’t forget to register for the Complete Turn-Key IP PBX Solutions webinar.

VoIP Supply: What does Patton do, and Where is Patton located?

Tyler Delin, Patton Product Manager: Patton is a family-owned-and-operated business that was started in 1984 by the three Patton brothers while students in college.  Patton’s niche was making modems and connectivity products for the telecommunications industry. Over the years Patton has taken those simple beginnings and expanded into a manufacturing company that today employs more than 170 people and provides over 1,000 products, with a focus on VoIP and Ethernet extension technologies.  Today, Patton equipment is up-and-running in carrier, enterprise and industrial networks all over the world. We are headquartered right outside of Washington DC in the famous “technology corridor” and we have regional offices in strategic locations across the globe, with training and technical-support centers in Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, India and Vietnam.

VS: Where are your gateways made?

TD: We are proud to say that all of our SmartNode Gateways are manufactured right here in the USA. Our manufacturing plant is here in our Washington DC headquarters.  Our Smartware software, on the other hand, is actually developed by our team in Bern, Switzerland. So we can boast both Swiss Precision and Made in the USA. Doesn’t get much better than that Nathan!

VS: Why Patton? Can you tell us a little about what separates Patton from other gateway manufacturers?

TD: Our customers aren’t quiet about why they chose Patton. There are other great gateways out there, but time and time again they rave about the quality of this SmartNode product and our customer support.  Our customers will tell you they choose our gateways because they just work. Set it up. Forget about it. It just keeps working.

On top of this, I have to say people choose SmartNode because of our customer support team. These guys are absolutely phenomenal! They go above and beyond what they are called to do.  And by the way, customer support here at Patton is FREE for all of our channels, resellers and end users. Our customer support is truly unrivalled by any player in the industry.

Read more

There’s a known issue for the line of Cisco SPA5xx phones.  If you’re an administrator/receptionist using this phone you’ll want to be aware of this.

Turns out there’s some trouble when you try to transfer one phone call while an additional phone call is coming in on another line.  The context sensitive soft key “transfer” no longer displays for the initial call because the second call coming in takes precedence and overrides the soft keys.

From the Cisco Support Community forum:

While the second call is ringing, she can no longer hit the “transfer” soft key to send the 1st call to Person B. She has to wait until the call stops ringing for the button to appear.

Again, this is a known issue, not sure if there will be a resolution, but it’s a good thing to note.  There are some workarounds suggested in the support thread.

There’s a great read I’d like to share about the myths of hosted VoIP service from Ben Rife over at the Invoip Hosted Voice Blog.

The 5 Myths of Hosted Voice and VoIP debunks misunderstandings about hosted VoIP and should relieve any anxiety small businesses owners may have in switching to a hosted solution.

Here are the myths Rife hears about on a near daily basis:

1. VoIP means my calls are “free.”
2. If my internet is down, my phones are down.
3. Any internet connection will work.
4. VoIP is not reliable and sounds b-r-o-k-e-n.
5. T1’s and Analog POTS lines are here to stay.

Click here to read the full article.

If you’re interested in hosted VoIP, click here for up to five no obligation VoIP service quotes from industry leading VoIP providers.

Via Invoip Hosted Voice Blog

Start your Friday morning off right with a fun trip to the Zoo.

Virtually.

Courtesy of the Virtual Field Trip Extravaganza from LifeSize, a full schedule of visits will be hosted this morning, May 18th, across the country.

All of the field trips will be streamed live on this LifeSize Virtual Field Trip page.

Here’s the schedule:

• 9:00 am CDT:   Houston Audubon Society- “Birds of the Wild”
• 9:45 am CDT:   Dr. Cindy Joffrion- “Obtaining Video Conferencing Grants for Your School”
• 10:00 am CDT:   Indianapolis Zoo- “Adventures with Animals”
• 11:00 am CDT:   Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas- “Adapt to Survive: Animal Weather Predictors”

LifeSize had such a great response to their first virtual tour that they decided to host one more before school lets out.

You don’t need anything but your computer.  You can chat with the presenters if you have a video conferencing endpoint by dialing this bridge number on a first-come, first-served basis:

• 64.47.41.102##1024.

Enjoy your trip.

Via LifeSize

Connecting Google Voice on an old analog land line phone is comparatively easy compared to using Google Voice on a VoIP Phone.

You could simply follow the Google Voice: a cheapskate’s guide to cheap VoIP and use an adapter and connection service from Obi.  Or, in the old days you could pair something like the Cisco PAP2T internet phone adapter with the now defunct Gizmo5 phone service to get connected to Google Voice.

For some reason, Google Voice doesn’t connect to IP phones as easily as you might think they should.

However, if you ever wanted to connect your VoIP phones to Google Voice, you need to read this recent article by Voxilla that explains the problems and the solution.

New Google Voice Gateway for VoIP Phones

Voxilla highlights Bill Simon’s free SIP-to-XMPP Gateway that is a “very easy way to get Google Voice on your IP phone that doesn’t require additional dedicated hardware.”

Voxilla tested this Google Voice Gateway on a CloudTC Android VoIP Phone with a few hiccups but, they got it to work with a small amount of latency that was “not enough to affect a typical telephone conversation” and reaching the conclusion that this solution would be “an excellent home solution for all but the heaviest users of Google Voice services.”

For more information about the Google Voice Gateway setup, tutorial, service and how it compares to the Obihai Obi devices read the full article at Voxilla:   Bill Simon’s Free SIP-to-XMPP Gateway Easily Puts Google Voice on Your VoIP Phone.

Via Voxilla and  Michigan Telephone Blog