NetCraftsmen Staff Blogs
Our blog space holds articles on a variety of technical topics.
Category >> Unified Communications
Posted by: William Bell
on Mar 12, 2010
 In the recent past I was helping one of our customers with some special SRST configuration requirements. The customer had several key DIDs that were associated to a site that were not assigned to IP Phones on the site. For example, a hunt pilot that would ring a group of operator lines or a UCCX trigger, or an automated attendant. When a site transitioned to SRST mode, calls to these special services would have no place to go and callers would get a fast busy. The customer wanted some solutions that could be applied to redirect calls to ephone extensions as well as hairpin calls to the PSTN. I wanted to capture some of the ideas and features I reviewed and tested in the lab. Just in case someone else finds themselves in a similar situation.
Posted by: William Bell
on Mar 6, 2010
 As a departure away from my standard "how to" blog style, I wanted to touch on a topic that I think many of IT professionals take for granted. I am talking about the need for operational discipline, particularly in large enterprises where being unprepared could impact a large amount of folks who are unwitting victims. I also want to discuss a concept NetCraftsmen calls "lower environment validation". By "lower environment", I don't mean a "test lab". I am talking about an environment that hosts production users running the latest and greatest technology before you roll it out to the whole organization.
Posted by: William Bell
on Mar 1, 2010
This is one of those blogs where I am wondering if I should open this can of worms. Despite my reservations I am going to post it anyway. I see a lot of folks in various forums asking the question: "How can I push a background image to a Cisco IP phone without selecting it from the phone itself?" I even had a few customers ask about the same topic. Basically, the problem is that admins want to control what is pushed out to a phone display. More often then not this desire is realized after phones are already deployed which means that admins need a tool that they can use to push images out to production IP phones. This capability isn't built into the CUCM but there are options for those who wish to pursue this. I stumbled across one option that may be used to solve this problem. It is just a concept, but I have tested it out successfully. Curious?
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: William Bell
on Feb 4, 2010
 Around a week ago I posted a blog about setting up 3rd Party SIP phones in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CallManager). I received a comment about whether it was possible to use X-Lite with the UC-520. Well, I haven't used the UC-520 myself but I believe it is basically Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CUCME). I happen to have one of those hanging out in my lab so I figured it would be interesting to test X-Lite on CUCME.
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: William Bell
on Jan 27, 2010
So, this blog started with me looking for something to break up the heavy design documentation I have been doing for what seems like forever. Like all tangents I undertake I find that I want to touch every button and turn every dial. Some would say I am a glutton for punishment. Of course they are right -- I mean here I am at 3am writing this blog. But enough of that, let's talk about how to add CounterPath's X-Lite SIP softphone to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM).
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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