[cisco-voip] Torn apart by choices - old or new solutions?Simplyspeaking: CM5.0 or CM4.x

Thu Apr 13 11:57:17 EDT 2006

That, and you have a great SRND for v4.x but not sure if there is one for 5.0.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A.
Network Analyst (CCS) * University of Guelph * Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1
(519) 824-4120 x56354 (519) 767-1060 FAX (JNHN)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Sanity First : Number of days with fewer than
50 messages in my inbox at the end of the day:   buffer overrun
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Voll, Scott 
  To: Lelio Fulgenzi ; netfortius at gmail.com ; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net 
  Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 11:54 AM
  Subject: RE: [cisco-voip] Torn apart by choices - old or new solutions?Simplyspeaking: CM5.0 or CM4.x

  I will echo Lelio.

  Go with CM 4.2.  I don't know if CM 5.0 even has a IPCCx version yet.  4.x is very stable and works very well.  I tend to be a little too bleeding edge and I would not start with 5.0 unless you have to.  I really like the upgrade/patch process of 5.0 but I don't think it's worth the TAC calls just for that or SIP.  

  IMHO go with 4.x and upgrade in a year or so to 5.x after they have had enough time to test it out in the real world.

  Scott

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Lelio Fulgenzi
  Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 8:38 AM
  To: netfortius at gmail.com; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
  Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Torn apart by choices - old or new solutions?Simplyspeaking: CM5.0 or CM4.x

  Personally speaking, I'd go with 4.2. 4.x is a more mature product than 5.0 and I'd never install a "dot oh" of anything. 4.2 has a very large feature set (more than 5.0) so you have to weigh what you would be losing if you don't go with 5.0. SIP is a big one for sure. Appliance model is another. There may be others. The biggest thing you want to look out for when migrating is not so much new features but existing feature replacement and of course stability. I think you would get that with 4.2, not sure about 5.0. Look at upgrading in two years to 5.1 or 5.2 when you're not the guinea pig.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A.
  Network Analyst (CCS) * University of Guelph * Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1
  (519) 824-4120 x56354 (519) 767-1060 FAX (JNHN)
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
  Sanity First : Number of days with fewer than
  50 messages in my inbox at the end of the day:   buffer overrun

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Netfortius 

    To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net 

    Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 11:33 AM

    Subject: [cisco-voip] Torn apart by choices - old or new solutions? Simplyspeaking: CM5.0 or CM4.x

    You may have already gotten used to my last string of questions here, which - 
    I am not hiding it - are part of my attempt to gain info from the more 
    experienced people, on this subject, regarding a project I am working on for 
    deployment of multi-site IPT & VoIP. I have gone into some details, for some 
    questions I had, but now - reading tons of material every day, I have become 
    very worried about the full blown solution chosen, vs. what is being promised 
    just "around the corner". Here is where I would appreciate any comments, of 
    any nature, thoughts, experience, "what-if" - anything you can share about 
    this subject:

    Scenario: multi-site deployment of Cisco CM, with the following objectives in 
    mind:

    1. Replacement of existing old telephony solution, Nortel-based, consisting of 
    PBX in each location, with Cisco-based IP-based communication systems (and 
    not only one-to-one replacement of phones, but also steps toward unified 
    communications)

    2. Installation of Cisco solution consisting of:
    a. CM 4.x (advised by Cisco) at the HQ + Unity integrated with Exchange 2003 
    and a handful of IP phones (major testers of the technology) and integration 
    with existing Nortel PBX at the HQ (PHASE 1)
    b. IP phones in the remote location (complete replacement of everything old, 
    including PBX) + SRST + standalone (storage-wise) Unity (PHASE 1)
    c. Unified messaging at the HQ, in the "pilot" group, to the best of the 
    abilities and availability of products around CM 4.x (e.g. PA, among others, 
    as an example of what I am getting at) (PHASE 1)
    d. Experience from c> ==> full implementation of unified messaging at the 
    first remote ("upgrade" of the standalone Unity into an Exchange-tied one - 
    is this even possible?!?) (PHASE 2)
    e. remote site used as template fro all other sites (PHASE 2)
    f. full upgrade at the HQ (PHASE 2), with the exception of Call Center
    g. Cisco IPCC replacement of the existing Nortel Call Center, after the 
    entire VoIP and IPT has proven reliable to sustain a Customer Service (PHASE 
    3)

    3. The unified communications (including messaging) will eventually adddress 
    various business needs, primarily focused on mobility and real-time 
    communications and sharing

    Having said all of the above, here are the issues I am struggling with:

    - I have (and nobody in my network geeks group) no real experience with Cisco 
    VoIP/IPT;
    - the suggested solution, from Cisco, revolves around a CM 4.2 and, gradually, 
    as explained above, updates to the point of full unified messaging - still 
    4.2-based
    - I am getting conflicting messages from our Cisco group - they advise us to 
    do the install with CM 4.2 (which would end up as a cluster of multiple 
    servers, at the HQ), not CM 5.0, but:
    - I am reading and reading, and it appears to me that some features associated 
    with CM 4.2 are dying (e.g. PA), while CM 5.0 seems to open the door for much 
    more, but not everything backward compatible with 4.x
    - tons of features are being advertised as related to CM 5.0, only, but are 
    not ready yet, and are to be released this year (majority in second quarter)

    Bottom line - I am struggling with one major question (with no easy answer - 
    thus appreciating any comments this list may have): should I move ahead as 
    started, with the one site + pilot HQ, on CM 4.2 (PHASE 1), then go over all 
    phases, then analyze what would need to be upgraded to a 5.0 environment, if 
    certain additional features would become available and needed, and not 
    backward compatible
    OR
    should I just put a stop to the CM 4.x analysis and planning, and redo 
    everything (with the delay caused by various products availability) around CM 
    5.0?

    As I said - any $0.02-$64K comments will be really appreciated. I will try to 
    consolidate this type of info, in something useful, if enough data warrants 
    it.

    Thanks,
    Stefan
    _______________________________________________
    cisco-voip mailing list
    cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
    https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-voip
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-voip/attachments/20060413/3fd906a8/attachment.html 