One objective of the design process is ensuring the network has enough capacity to handle voice traffic. In this post, we’ll do a short example to illustrate the process involved. Let’s say you’re involved with planning a unified communications deployment for the Hokey Pokey Bottled Water Company. Their headquarters are located in Rochester, NY, and […]

One feature which could get a lot of use in your organization is call park. If you’re not familiar with this feature, here’s a quick overview: User presses the Park softkey CUCM selects an available slot and “parks” the call there CUCM displays a message on the LCD informing the user which slot the call is […]

When customers go beyond the basics and utilize applications like CUPS and UCCX, they really begin to unlock productivity and achieve the highest returns on their UC investment.

Most businesses that deal with the public have a need, from time to time, to block certain calls from coming into the network. For example, you may have a former customer making threatening calls to your office. There are a few ways to handle this problem. Option 1  —  H.323 and SIP Gateways If you have an H.323 gateway, […]

(This post is a continuation of a previous posting on What Annie and Alleys Have To Do With 9−1−1. I recommend at least skimming that post before taking on this one.) In a campus environment, the ALI records associated with your service usually reflect the location where the service is physically terminated by the telco. In one […]

Designing for emergency calls is an important part of implementing a Unified Communications system.  In Canada and the United States, a system has been implemented to assist Emergency Telecommunicators (“dispatchers”) handling emergency calls. The system is called Enhanced 9−1−1 (e911).  This system allows dispatchers to identify where the emergency call is originating from.  For the […]

If you’ve taken a Cisco Unified Communications Manager course with me, then you’ve heard me say 80% of your CUCM problems can either be created or solved with partitions, calling search spaces, and translations. Let’s put that axiom to the test by addressing two common feature requests: system-wide and group speed dials. To start off, let’s […]

Perhaps as exciting as tile and grout cleaning are conference calls which drone on and on for hours.  (If you’ve been on one with me recently, I assure you I’m not talking about that call.)  It’s easy to see how details can be overlooked and simply forgotten while you’re updating Facebook, er, uh, “temporarily distracted.”  […]

More than a third of small business are using desktop IP phones today. If you want to join them, make sure you know your company’s answers to these seven key questions: 1. Is HD voice important? High-definition voice is clearer than older VoIP or landline calls, and has become a standard feature in business-class IP […]

Unified Communications (UC) systems have done a lot to enable teleworking.  While physically located at someone’s residence, an IP phone can be logically connected to the corporate network and therefore place and receive calls as it were in the office.  Some organizations are able to obtain quantity discounts which make it possible to have MPLS […]