[cisco-voip] Exchange 2007 UM and CUCM

[Micah Bennett]

We are about to be in the same situation and here is what I found.
These are just some preliminary findings.  I welcome any confirmation or
comments from the group if something I said is incorrect.

 

We are CM 4.2.3 with CRS(IPCC) 4.0(5) for our call center.  We currently
have Unity 4.2(1).

 

For us, the differences between Unity UM and Exchange UM do not seem to
justify the change at this time. 

 

As you noted, it is not recommended for CM 4.x.  If we change to CM 5.x
or 6.x, this also means we have to change to a newer version of
CRS(IPCC) for our call center.  We have only been on the Cisco Voip
platform for a year and those changes are not something we want to take
on at this time.  Moving to Exchange UM means an upgrade of all of the
components in our cluster.

 

Moving to Exchange UM means no use for the Unity box and the licenses
that we just bought a year ago.  I am not ready to tell the execs that
we are going to toss that capital expense in the trash.

 

Third party for the MWI as mentioned below.  Not aware of a free one so
this is an extra cost and something else to manage (ever how cheap it
may be).

 

The UM part of Exchange 2007 appears to be additional licensing cost
above the licenses required for email functionality.  That means more
money spent to replace something that already works fine.

 

UM on Exchange moves the voicemail from the telecom group to the Windows
group.  The Windows group really does not like that idea.  

 

Full use of Exchange 2007 UM means you need to upgrade all clients to
Outlook 2007.  This means additional cost for licenses on the client
side.

 

We are still planning to move to Exchange 2007, but we are going to keep
the Unity UM and upgrade to Unity 5.x for integration with Ex2007.  Our
Unity upgrade is covered by our Cisco support and I will just have to
purchase some additional licenses for new users above my current
quantity.  In the grand scheme of everything we have going on right now,
this is the most efficient use of resources and time for us.

 

Hope some of this helps you with your decision either way.  Good luck.

 

Micah Bennett 
Telecommunications Admin 
Automated License Systems 



From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net
[mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Mayte Cantillo
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 8:20 AM
To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
Subject: [cisco-voip] Exchange 2007 UM and CUCM

 

Good morning,

We have been asked to look into Microsoft's Exchange Server 2007 Unified
Messaging for our environment.  We have two clusters, one with CUCM
4.2.3 and the other one CUCM 6.1.2

Has any of you tried to do this?  I see from Microsoft's own website
that with 4.2.3 it is not recommended because it does not do MWI.
Should we even consider it?  What other features will we lose?

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks!

-Mayte.

 

 

"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it,
requires brains" 

Mary Pettibone Poole, A Glass Eye at a Keyhole, 1938

 

 

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