Hailey's Amazing Blog
My blog is primarily focused on Unified Communications topics; however, I reserve the right to make fun of Bill Bell sometimes too.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Aug 24, 2010
 I understand that many UC Engineers may look at this blog subject and write it off as an old topic; however, I assure you that my experience has shown me that the introduction of the CFA CSS Activation Policy to CUCM is still a commonly overlooked and misunderstood topic. If I had to guess, I’d say that this seemingly minor change is most often overlooked when upgrading CCM 4x systems to most any newer version of CUCM. I’d also be willing to guess that this oversight has bitten at least some of the most seasoned UC Engineers during Day 2 (post-cutover) support.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jul 6, 2010
This was my first time attending Cisco Live (aka, Networkers) and I had a great time. I started my week off with an all day CCIE Voice Lab techtorial that was really good. From there, the week continued with a number of technical sessions on a variety of topics. Aside from the technical sessions, there was a lot of "networking" going on as well. I made it a priority to be at the NetCraftsmen booth as much as possible. I was able to talk and have discussions with a number of peers, existing customers, potential customers, and even catch up with some old friends. I was impressed to find that many of you keep tabs on our Staff Blogs which is great to hear. I also received several congratulations on my recent appearance in Telecom Reseller's "Meet the Expert" article. To add to the great press NetCraftsmen has received lately, I was finally able to meet the folks at Telecom Reseller at Cisco Live as well. In fact, I took a few minutes to talk a bit more about Chesapeake NetCraftsmen via a live podcast from Cisco Live 2010.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jun 24, 2010
I've been pondering this for a while. With so much emphasis being put on Cisco's Unity Connection product, what does the future hold for Cisco Unity? If you're active in the UC space, you know that Cisco and Microsoft are direct competitors in the UM space. In fact, recent changes to the MAPI protocol in Exchange 2010 certainly caused a few headaches for Cisco given that MAPI is a cornerstone of Unity's integration with Exchange.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jun 23, 2010
Hello all, I'm taking a short break to share some good press that's come about for NetCraftsmen this month. I've recently been featured in a Meet The Expert article in Telecom Reseller. Telecom Reseller covers a wide range of communications products and topics and they often highlight experts in the Unified Communications field.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jun 4, 2010
There is a lot of focus on Cisco Unity Connection these days. In fact, my opinion is that it has become the lead voice messaging solution in Cisco's portfolio and is being positioned ahead of Cisco Unity unless Unified Messaging is an absolute customer requirement. With that said, I've spent a lot of time coming up to speed on Unity Connection and; in particular, the process of migrating over from the Windows-based Unity platform to the Linux-based Unity Connection appliance. I recently gave a long presentation about Unity Connection, the COBRAS migration tools, and also why customers are choosing to "upgrade" from Unity to Unity connection.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Feb 23, 2010
Earlier this year I started my "Potentially Infinite Series" on What It's Like to be a NetCraftsmen. As promised, this won't be a one and done top ten list. A fair amount of time has passed since my original blog, so it is now time for Installment 2 (aka, Part Deux):
- We live in "virtual reality". NetCraftsmen is unlike most companies you may have come across. We are a "virtual" company in that we do not have an office or offices that we report to everyday. Instead, we work from home when we can or, based on client preferences, at a client site. Some folks have FTE positions so they see a client office on a regular basis. Some of us (like the majority of the UC team) do project-based work so we see a mix of both. Currently, I'd say Bill and I are enjoying a nice stretch of working from home as we are collaborating for a large client on the west coast (which requires that we work remotely unless an onsite visit is requested/arranged). So that's the "virtual" part of our company. The "reality" part is that NetCraftsmen is for real. We've built a solid reputation with our partners and clients and we have real contracts, have solid financials, and (from my perspective) have more than weathered the "recession" many companies have been hurt by. We're selective but we're seeking strong candidates with strong skills across several disciplines.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Feb 20, 2010
I've been surprised recently by how many people have asked me about the WebEx  Meeting Center for iPhone application. It's not only clients inquiring but also just the "Average Joes" (neighbors, friends, etc). A good example is that not too long ago, I was hanging out a neighbor's house toward the end the day on a Friday and I remembered I had to hop on a WebEx meeting and I did...via iPhone. Long story short, this aroused a number of questions and just "cool factor" comments from the small crowd of non-technical bystanders. This is when I realized that for every person I've assumed knows about this application already, there is at least one person that doesn't and should.
Some of the typical questions/comments I've received include:
"You use that app? Is it any good?" - Yes, I use the app. Yes, it's good.
"Was it worth the money?" - Yes, it's FREE. As in, no cost, no obligations, purely FREE, FREE.
"I heard such and such about it so I didn't bother with it." - Varies depending on what was "heard" but typically my answer is, "Actually you can do that" or "True, but you can still do this....".
"At my work, most people don't even know how to reserve a conference room and here you are talking and viewing the presentation on your phone from your recliner." - That's called, "work smarter, not harder".
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jan 29, 2010
Tagged in: WeePhone , VoIP over 3G , SIP VoIP Phone for iPhone , SIP Clients for iPhone , iPhone SIP Clients , CUCM , Communications Manager , Cisco CallManager , AT&T , Apple iPhone , Acrobits Softphone , 3G
Just recently, I wrote a blog about SIP clients for iPhone and provided my review of two client applications based on testing of their integration with Cisco CUCM. If you've not yet read that blog, you can find it here:
SIP Endpoints in Cisco CUCM - Acrobits Softphone and WeePhone for iPhone
Well, one of the questions I received was about whether or not any of these iPhone applications work over 3G or will they ever work over 3G...and my initial thought was "yeah, but probably not anytime soon". So, call it coincidence or just impeccable timing but today I happened to run across some interesting news articles. Apparently, my expectation of "not anytime soon" translates to "today" at Apple as the title of this first link is pretty self-explanatory:
Apple Now Allowing iPhone Apps to Make VoIP Calls Over 3G Networks
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jan 27, 2010
Tagged in: WeePhone , SIP VoIP Phone for iPhone , SIP Clients for iPhone , iPhone SIP Clients , iPhone , CUCM , Communications Manager , Cisco CallManager , Apple iPhone , Acrobits Softphone , Acrobits
I guess I'll have to add another thought to my "What It's Like to Be a NetCraftsmen" series and that is that sometimes being a NetCraftsmen is funny. At times, I feel like the UC team shares a collective brain because I had already sketched out a blog on how to use your iPhone as a 3rd-Party SIP device with CUCM and then I suddenly see that Bill Bell did the same thing (in the wee hours of the morning as I did) but instead he focused on a desktop client called X-Lite. If you haven't seen Bill's blog, it's good as usual so make sure to check it out here: SIP Endpoints in Cisco CUCM - X-Lite As an Example. At first I thought, "Oh well, he beat me to that one" but then I realized that this was a good opportunity for cross-blog collaboration and to point out some key behavioral/configuration differences I've seen with the iPhone applications I've tested as compared to the X-Lite desktop application.
Posted by: David Hailey
on Jan 22, 2010
You know sometimes I like to write lists. Not shopping lists or "to-do" lists but lists that help me decide on or better define something in particular. For example, before I got married I sat down with pen and paper and wrote down everything I liked and didn't like about my future wife. Deep down, I already knew my decision but seeing the overwhelming list of "Pros" vs. the nearly non-existent "Cons" in front of me really sealed the deal. So what's my point? Recently a little birdie (actually a rather important little birdie that happens to be the President of our company) hinted that he'd like to see someone write a blog about what it's like to be a NetCraftsmen. I thought it was a good idea myself and figured I may as well jump start the concept and give it a go.
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