[cisco-voip] Attendant Console available in CUCM 8?

Tue Jun 29 22:59:41 EDT 2010

For those who have been on this forum a while, I'm sure there's no surprise that I'm wading in on this topic. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm with Arc Solutions...

Firstly, to answer the initial question - NO - the old Cisco Attendant Console will not function in CUCM 8. There was a gradual end of sale process that started around 2 years ago now - firstly with the EOS/EOL announcement, followed by support up to CM 7.1 for customers upgrading from previous versions, but not for "greenfield" installations - brand new customers on CM 7.1. Then, with CM 8.0, the old Cisco Attendant Console will not FUNCTION - its not simply case that it isnt supported - it will not work at all. The reality is, this information has been out for a while and has been publicly pushed to the Cisco field and the partners (believe me - I've seen the feedback coming back in!) so this shouldn't be a surprise for any customers that have been on CUCM for a couple of years now - let alone new customers who were likely made aware of this at the time of purchase (or at least should have been)

The merits of this, and the reasoning behind this strategy has been discussed previously on this board, so I won't bore you with the details again (feel free to ping me directly if you want more info on that topic)

With regards to alternatives, there are the OEM versions - Cisco Unified Department Attendant Console (CUDAC), Cisco Unified Business Attendant Console (CUBAC), and Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console (CUEAC). These are often referred to as "CUxAC" as the suite. You then have Arc Enterprise Premium for more sophisticated customer environments. As has been mentioned, there are also other 3rd party solutions out there, and of course it would not be appropriate for me to discuss the pros & cons of each solution. The important thing to look at when evaluating ANY of the 3rd party solutions (including Arc) are:

 *   Does it support the latest versions of CUCM?
 *   is it "IVT Certified" against the CUCM versions? This is where the 3rd party goes through verification testing with an independent testing agency through Cisco, to ensure the product - a) does what its supposed to, and b) does not have a negative impact on the Cisco UC infrastructure. This is extremely important, as if you have a non-certified app on the CUCM, Cisco TAC can refuse support on the CUCM until the 3rd party application is REMOVED, or upgraded/downgraded to a compatible version (i.e. If it has only been tested on CM 6.0 and you have 7.0, you either need to downgrade the app or remove it from the equation). I have seen this scenario happen. This is NOT just for attendant console - this is true for any 3rd party products - such as call billing etc as well. This does require investment from the 3rd party, and therefore is something that only the serious 3rd party app suppliers engage in.
 *   Support - depending on your requirement, can the supplier offer the after-sale support you need - i.e. International coverage for multiple locations/countries, 24x7x365 support. Not valid in all scenarios but critical installations (such as hospitals) would certainly need this guarantee, as well as multinational organizations
 *   Future - is there a defined roadmap for the product, and is this integrated into Cisco's roadmap? We've had various situations where we've worked with customers who thought a product from a different company would support future CUCM versions (i.e. The IVT Testing etc), only to be disappointed. They have then had to delay or postpone CUCM & infrastructure upgrades, due to the lack of TAC support - meaning they're essentially "stuck" where they are
 *   Handset support - leading on from the above point, support for the new Cisco handsets as & when they are released is a consideration - as a lot of them have different internal architectures compared to the old 79xx range - including the future generation devices
 *   Cisco endorsement - do Cisco and the Business Unit endorse the products - are you confident that they have a future in the CUCM landscape

Of course, these above points are not specific to Arc, and depending on your requirements some of these may not apply or may not be too important. However, my experience in the field is that these are typically important factors for different decision makers and users within the user and partner communities.

With regards to feature set - again, there have been separate conversations around this previously on this thread. I know that the reality is that the CUxAC suite did not offer everything the old Cisco Attendant Console did in its first release (and there are reasons for that), however it also offered functionality that its predecessor did not. For example, CUPS/OCS integration into the console is something that most customers are interested in - Presence is definitely out there now, and if it is not already in place it is on most agenda's - so tying this info into the console is important. Directory functionality on CUxAC is far enhanced - having the ability to add more searchable fields that you could previously, having cellphones & external numbers tied to a contact, etc etc.

With the next version of CUxAC due out in a couple of months, you should find that the majority of the functionality is available - implemented in a way that TAC can support. If anyone wants more detail on this, your Cisco AM should be able to get it to you...

Now - for a shameless plug - although I'm with Arc, as with all software companies we recognize that nothing is perfect, and there's always room for improvement. I don't want to hijack this thread into a "whats wrong/right/missing/general feedback about CUxAC" - however I certainly would be interested in any feedback that you guys have based on your experience! Maybe just unicast that info to me if its easier?
Cheers

Bennie Grant
VP -Operations
Arc Solutions

--

________________________________
From: Kathy Tarkington <ktarkington at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:24:37 +0100
To: James Buchanan <jbuchanan at ctiusa.com>
Cc: <cisco-voip at puck.nether.net>
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Attendant Console available in CUCM 8?

Absolutely agree, ARC is nothing like the old Attendant Console.  I've been looking at third party apps and would really like to hear opinions regarding the options - ANDTek, VistaPoint, other recommendations?

Thanks!

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 10:02 PM, James Buchanan <jbuchanan at ctiusa.com> wrote:
One note of caution-the Cisco-recommended replacement, which is the OEM-ed ARC Console, is not anywhere near being like the old Attendant Console as far as call handling capabilities, speed dials, and other capabilities. So, make sure you look at this closely before jumping in.

ANDTek has some products that are similar to the old Attendant Console and come at a much more attractive price.

Thanks,

James Buchanan | Senior Network Engineer | South Region | Presidio Networked Solutions
12 Cadillac Dr, Suite 130, Brentwood, TN 37027 | jbuchanan at presidio.com <mailto:jbuchanan at ctiusa.com>
D: 615-866-5729 | F: 615-866-5781 | www.presidio.com <http://www.presidio.com> <http://www.presidio.com>
CCIE #25863, Voice

From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Eric Butcher
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 5:22 PM
To: Leetun, Rob; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Attendant Console available in CUCM 8?

The traditional attendant console that comes with CUCM is no longer available in version 8.  There are several licensed replacements based on the ARC console available from Cisco, as well as other 3rd party alternatives.  All of them have a price tag associated with them though.

Eric Butcher
Cisco Unified Communications Engineer
CDW Professional Services
11711 N Meridian, Ste 225
Carmel, IN  46032
( 317.569.4282 - IP Phone
( 765.744.1458 - Mobile
* eric.butcher at cdw.com
www.cdw.com <http://www.berbee.com/>

From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Leetun, Rob
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 6:14 PM
To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
Subject: [cisco-voip] Attendant Console available in CUCM 8?

Hi,

Is Attendant Console still supported in CUCM 8?  I heard that it is not??

Rob

Robert Leetun
Network Engineer
Boulder County Information Technology
2025 14th Street
Boulder, CO 80302
303 441-3866 (W)
303 441-3983 (F)
rleetun at bouldercounty.org <mailto:arees at bouldercounty.org>

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