Cisco Unity Connection 8.5 Installation Woes

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Aug 27 2011
It’s been brought to our attention that there are a number of issues relating to a new installation of Unity Connection 8.5. Various problems have been reported including the installation DVD failing a media check, the installation process hanging for 30 minutes or more, and various other crashes being reported.

We are currently trying to define a process for a smooth installation and will post back here when we’ve finished our testing. It may be worth going straight to the newest release – version 8.6, rather than going with 8.5.


This link gives a few more details.

Barry Hesk

Cisco EoS Announcements

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Aug 2011

In recent weeks, Cisco Systems have announced a slew of End of Sale (EoS) notices including the entire Unity voicemail line (as predicated by Intrinsic in an earlier post)

Unity is now officially EoS with Unity Connection being the recommended replacement product. Cisco Speech Connect, which provides Speech Recognition services to voicemail deployments is also EoS as a standalone product, as it has now been integrated into Unity Connection 8.5.

Also subject to EoS are the Cisco 7921 wireless handset (replaced with the more expensive 7925 version) and a couple of Gigabit models of the 2960 switch which are replaced with 2960S versions. Cisco 7911 handsets are also now EoS with the recommended replacement being the 6921.

Barry Hesk

Cisco Identity Services Engine Announced

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20 April 2011
Cisco Systems announced on 19/3/2011 their new Identity Services Engine (ISE) platform which is the one of the main components of their over arching Trustsec architecture.

The full product brief is here:
Cisco ISE

ISE according to Cisco will tactically replace the existing NAC Appliance deployment model. NAC appliance will still be supported by Cisco and isn’t end of sale at the time of writing, however according to Cisco┬áall new┬áinstallations should be delivered on ISE once it is shipping.

The ISE platform, according to the Cisco product release material, also seems to be targetted as a replacement for Cisco Secure ACS and migration part codes are available. Some ACS configurations do however require version 2.0 of the ISE software to become available before migration should be attempted.

AIM2-CUE in 2900 Series ISRs

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18 April 2011:Another little gotcha for you.

The AIM2-CUE modules do NOT work in the new 2900 series ISR G2 platforms. They’ve been around (and are still shipping) for the 2800 series platforms, however they will neither fit nor work in the 2900 series units.

The replacement part code is ISM-SRE-300-K9 which will need CUE 8.x loading on it.

Also, licensing in CUE 8.x has changed and you now no longer receive any port or user licenses as standard (you used to receive 6 port licenses and 12 mailbox licenses as part of the AIM2-CUE bundle). The part codes that now need to be ordered are:

L-FL-CUE-PORT-2=
L-FL-CUE-IVR-2=
L-FL-CUE-MBX-5=

 These are the VM port licenses (in blocks of 2), IVR (including database access again in blocks of 2) and mailboxe licenses (in blocks of 5). 

The Version 8.x GUI has now changed radically as well, and you can no longer use it to configure CUCME.

´╗┐

Blackberry MVS 5.0 Generally Available

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At long last, Research in Motion (RIM) have released Blackberry MVS 5.0.

MVS 5.0 builds on the existing 4.6 version and adds a major number of new functions including enabling WiFi support on the handheld. This means that your Blackberry Smartphone can now communicate with your IP PBX through native WiFi connectivity in the office. Calls made outbound from your Smartphone can be routed through the IP PBX allowing you to take advantage of lower, centralised tariffs. Calls to internal users make use of WiFi and are free. The handheld also supports VPN software from a number of vendors including Cisco and Checkpoint, allowing it to automatically connect when in range of any Internet service (such as a WiFi hotspot).

Blackberry MVS 5.0 for Cisco

Intrinsic Communications has tested MVS 5.0 on Cisco Unified Communications Manager and it works extremely well. There’s a host of other features worth noting as well including the ability to be able to transfer calls to and from the Smartphone onto an IP desk phone. It also supports dial by office and single number reach. All in all, it’s a sophisticated solution which should really assist businesses that have deployed Blackberry alongside IP PBXs. There are definitely cost savings to be made, particularly for mobile workers who are often away from the office. The WiFi support alone makes it a serious contender for many organisations.

Please feel free to comment or contact us on the main Intrinsic Communications web site for any further information.

Cisco Unity Connection 8.5(1) Announced

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Cisco Systems announced version 8.5(1) of Unity Connection on 25 March 2011.

A number of features have been added in version 8.5(1) including being able to full synchronize the Connection inbox through to Exchange. This is something that has been available in Unity Unified Messaging for a long time, so it’s great that it’s finally made it into Connection as well. I do however wonder where this leaves Unity as a strategic platform moving forwards however.

A major word of warning however, Unity Connection 8.5(1) has higher disk and memory requirements than previous versions of Unity Connection – specifically over and above versions 7.x and 8.0.

A minimum of 2 x 160 Gb drives is required per server and 4 GB of DRAM is also recommended in some configurations. This is higher than some older MCS hardware platforms which only shipped with dual 80 Gb drives and 2 GB of DRAM. Also some older MCS platforms (e.g. MCS-7852 I2) hardware cannot run version 8.5. Full details are available here.

Any questions please post a comment here, or contact us at our main web site

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express 8.6 Announced

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On the 25th March 2011, Cisco Systems announced Communications Manager Express version 8.6. CUCME 8.6 runs on their Integrated Services Router (ISR) platforms and provides sophisticated telephony support for small to medium sized offices.

Version 8.6 is the latest version of what used to be called IOS Telephony Services (ITS). This release adds a number of new features and services including:

  • Support for iphone and iphone touch softphone client (providing telephony over WiFi)
  • Extension mobility support for SIP phones
  • Increased number of rules per translation rule (goes from 15 to 100)
  • Support for 7926 wireless phone (wireless handset with barcode scanner)
  • Support for native SSL VPN connections from some handset types including 7945,7965 and 7975

CUCME 8.6 doesn’t seem to be posted on CCO yet, so we’re not certain which version of IOS it will be aligned to. As soon as we have this information, we’ll post back here. Any queries, please either post a comment here, or contact us via the main www.intrinsic-comms.co.uk web site.

Update: CUCME 8.6 is aligned to IOS version 15.1(4)M.

Cisco Cius availability

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Cisco System announced their android tablet device – the Cius – getting on for a year ago. Since then, there’s been a lot of anticipation as to when they would start shipping. Particular interest was around the tight integration between the tablet and Cisco Unified Communications Manager which allows it to becoming a voice and video endpoint.

As of 6th April 2011, it looks like the general release is getting closer.

CRN report that the Cius is going to be made available through Cisco Master and Advanced Unified Communications partners first. According to the article, pricing is meant to be targeting sub $700 for volume purchases.

Details on the specification of the Cius are available here

We’ll do some more digging and let you know about concrete dates as soon as we can. We’d love to get our hands on a couple!

Cisco Systems – New Comms Manager Business Edition Bundles

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Cisco Systems have launched new Communications Manager Business Edition Bundles.

Business Edition 3000: Support for up to 300 users. Includes Comms Manager 8.x, Unity Connection 8.x and also has 2 x ISDN PRI ports (T1 or E1) as standard. No need for separate ISR Gateways.
Business Edition 5000: Support for up to 500 users. Includes Comms Manager 8.x. and Unity Connection 8.x on a single appliance.
Business Edition 6000: Support for up to 1000 users. Includes Comms Manager 8.x, Unity Connection 8.x, Contact Centre Express 8.x and Cisco Presence 8.x. on a single appliance.

Business Edition 5000 is a rebranding of the existing server. The other two bundles are new. No shipping dates as of yet, however we’ll update you when we know more.