Posts Tagged SOFTPHONE
Nortel IP Softphone 2050 Release 3.4
Posted by Michael McNamara in Nortel, VoiceOverIP on November 1, 2009
Nortel has released the IP Softphone 2050 Release 3.4 (Build 3.4.003) for Windows PC.
The following enhancements are available;
- Support for Microsoft Windows 7
- Log file improvements
The following issues have been resolved;
- (090304-89596) IP Softphone 2050 freezes when calls are answered on Nortel USB Headset
- (081009-83319) IP Softphone 2050/3.3 One-way speech path
- (090903-09977) IP Softphone 2050 getting double DTMF tones on CS2100
- (090317-99855) New Call Voice Notification fails to say the CLID properly
- (090526-47034) Translation error in GUI – correct word “Release” in French, German and Spanish
- (090515-40414) Agent voice is recorded on IPCR after Mute key is activated
- (090510-36664) IP Softphone 2050 Logs have no limit in size
There were some qualifications that should be mentioned. The release notes specifically indicate that 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 are not supported although it doesn’t mention that they don’t work. The release notes also make mention that while the IP Softphone 2050 may run in VDI (Virtual Desktop Interface) from both VM Ware and Citrix Xen Desktop, neither are supported. I couldn’t imaging the potential issues of running a softphone in a VDI configuration but I guess someone has been toying with the idea.
We have about ten Contact Center users utilizing the IP Softphone 2050 v3.x with Contact Center 6 on a Nortel Succession 1000 4.5 Call Server. These users work out of their home and are connected across a Juniper SSL VPN SA4000 appliance utilizing Juniper’s Network Connect client software. We provide them an HP NC6900 laptop with all the software and they connect to their home network and Internet broadband. It’s been very successful so long as the Internet broadband connection remains stable.
You can find the complete release notes here and here.
Cheers!
Nortel IP Softphone 2050 Licensing Server
Posted by Michael McNamara in Nortel, VoiceOverIP on April 5, 2009
We recently started deploying the Nortel IP 2050 Softphone v3.x for our work-from-home Contact Center agent pilot. With software release v3.x or higher you need a licensing server somewhere in your network. That means that yes you need to purchase licenses for all your concurrent 2050 users. It’s my understanding that Nortel has licensed various technologies in the 2050 that required it to deploy a licensing server as set forth in the licensing agreements with the various third parties.
We chose to deploy the Nortel IP Softphone 2050 Licensing Server on the same server that where we had the Nortel Enterprise Management System (NMS) application and the Nortel Enterprise Switch Manager (ESM) application already installed.
If your testing out the solution there’s no need to worry about needing a licensing server on day one as each installation of the 2050 comes with a 30 day demo/evaluation license.
After you have installed the License Server you’ll need to replace the file “couted.lic” in C:\Program Files\Nortel\IP Softphone 2050 Licensing Server (or where ever you’ve installed the software) with the license file you received from your reseller.
You can issue a “lmstat -a” from the installation director and it will output the number of total licenses installed and the number of available licenses. When you add licenses you just need to replace the file “counted.lic” and then restart the “Nortel IP Softphone 2050 Licensing Server Service” service.
Cheers!
Home Telecommuting
Posted by Michael McNamara in Juniper on March 29, 2009
Within my organization we’ve been testing different technologies and solutions over the past 6 months. We broke the all the options down into two basic classes. The first was an all hardware solution while the second was an all software solution. A standard leased laptop was necessary to provide the end user (call center agent) access to the back-end applications necessary to-do his/her work. We also didn’t want to involve any home personal computers for the purpose of security and regulatory compliance.
All Hardware
- Nortel Business Secure Router 222
- Nortel 1150e IP Phone
- Standard leased laptop
All Software
- Standard leased laptop
- Nortel i2050 IP Softphone
- Juniper SSL VPN Client (Network Connect)
When you factor in all the ISM licensing costs the all hardware solution starts to get very pricey but will provide the best possible quality and stability. On the flip side the all software solution will be more cost effective but could provide less quality and depending on the applications being run could by less stable over an 8 to 12 hour shift (call center agent).
We’ve had about 5 users (2 all hardware, 3 all software) deployed over the past few months with great success. We’ve had a number of issues with the local cable provider (Comcast Cable) going up and down occasionally but those problems were resolved when a cable technician replaced a splitter at the pole.
The other issue we needed to tackle was how to provide remote control support for our Help Desk and Engineers over the Internet. We turned to Ultra VNC and are using it’s Single Click solution in conjunction with it’s repeater add-on. It provides a great cost effective solution to using a commercial solution such as WebEx or GoToMyPC.
Cheers!
Nortel IP 2050 Softphone and Windows Vista
Posted by Michael McNamara in VoiceOverIP on August 11, 2008
Nortel has just released a support bulletin documenting a problem (CR Q1863946) between the Nortel IP 2050 v2 (and v1.4) and Windows Vista that can affect the audio quality. Nortel is advising users to modify the audio quality within the IP 2050 Softphone application (File -> Settings -> Audio) to a setting of 4 or higher. Nortel IP 2050 v1.4 users must also use the Vista Service Manager to disable QoS on the desktop/laptop. There is no mention of the IP 2050 v3 Softphone in the bulletin so I would guess that version is not affected.
We’ve been using the IP 2050 v2 for connecting to our Nortel Succession 1000M Call Servers with very good success. It’s very reliable and the audio quality has been excellent. I should point out that we lease our corporate laptops with a 24 month refresh so we always have decent hardware to work with. And it doesn’t hurt when you have a Gigabit network backbone from Nortel of course.
We’ve held off deploying the IP 2050 v3 because of the new licensing server that is required although we can’t fault Nortel for moving towards such a solution. While we’ve been very honest in our purchasing and deploying of the IP 2050 softphone I can only guess how many others out there haven’t been so honest. If you’re interested in the Nortel IP 2050 just don’t forget that you’ll need to purchase a copy of the Nortel IP 2050 software along with an Internet IP User ISM (license) for each user.
You may also want to evaluate Microsoft Office Communications Server before you deploy the IP 2050 in any large numbers. We’ve started testing OCS in our lab and we’re hoping to start evaluating it’s voice and video conferencing capabilities in the next few months. You’ll probably still want to use the Nortel IP 2050 Softphone for any Nortel Contact Center (Symposium) agents but for basic voice, instant messaging and video conferencing OCS looks very promising.
Cheers!
About Me
network architect and security professional, excited about helping folks make the most out of what technology as a whole has to offer.
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