Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

It’s the networks fault #2

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network_cable_by_tootallEthernet Routing Switch 8600 Software Release v7.1.3.1

Avaya has released software v7.1.3.1 for the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600/8800.

  • L3VSN default route was not correctly installed in the RTM when it was received via ISIS. As a result L3VSN traffic that needs to use the default route was being dropped. This problem is specific to L3VSN only. It did not affect GRT default routes via ISIS. (wi00996566)

Please refer to the release notes for all the details.

Avaya IP Softphone 2050 Release 4.3

Avaya has released the IP Softphone 2050 Release 4.3.081 for Microsoft Windows.

There is specific mention of support for 64bit versions of Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows Vista;

Important Note : It is strongly recommended to install the next updates for Microsoft Windows 7 to the PC
including the specific updates noted below. Failure to install these Windows 7 updates may cause the
2050 IP Softphone to crash or not work as intended.
KB981679 (part of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7)
KB979303

The following issues are resolved;

  • wi00715416 External – Improved robustness of Licensing Server in releasing licenses, if IP Connection drops
  • wi00903652 External – Issue with node-locked licensing not working with CS1000 R7.5 and 2050 R4.2
    wi00906095
  • wi00867565 External – Error message when starting IP Softphone on Windows 7™
  • wi00908928 External – Graphics issue on Windows 7™
  • wi00896132 External – Dual stream recording does not work properly with 2050 after a call is transferred to the 2050
  • wi00951184 External – 2050 reverts to PC speaker and soundcard instead of USB device when PC is restarted
  • wi00889263 External – SR 1-1462175541: IP Softphone trace route shows only final destination, not intermediate hops.

Please refer to the release notes for all the details.

Cheers!

Avaya IP Softphone 2050 Release 4.0

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Avaya  has released the IP Softphone 2050 Release 4.0 (Build 008) for the Microsoft Windows PC.

The following enhancements are now available;

  • Support for BCM 50, 450
  • Rebranding
  • Node-Locked Licensing
  • Secure Signaling using DTLS
  • Secure Call Recording
  • Incoming Call Pop-up Enhancements

The following issues have been resolved;

  • (091210-67218/091216-70624) 2050 is not marking QoS values in packets (see Technical Advisory Section)
  • (091030-43866) IP Call Recording stops working after retrieve call from Hold
  • (091203-63291) Unable to configure annotation feature keys in Expansion Module.
  • (091008-30561) i2050.exe process does not release GDI Objects
  • (100224-05132) 2050 IP Softphone on CICM: Delay when hanging up from a call
  • (100310-13208) Configuration tool does not support customized skins
  • (100312-14320) Configuration tool errors when applying Node/TN info. The configuration tool will now allow empty values for any parameter in the config.ini file and will not overwrite the registry entry if it is blank. This allows customers to upgrade to new configuration settings without changing selected values such as the Node/TN information that may already be set in the registry.
  • (100405-25547) Inconsistent behavior of IP 2050 Settings for first launch if ConfigurationTool
  • (090812-96650) GN Netcom 8110 USB adaptor does not work on the docking station
I would suggest anyone interested review the release notes and the product bulletin.
Cheers!

Nortel IP Softphone 2050 Release 3.4

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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

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ip_softphone_2050_317x4741We 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 “counted.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

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I’ve talked about telecommuting myself from time to time and it seems like a lot of people are talking about it these days. And while gas prices have come down considerably from the records set during the 2008 summer the economic woes are really massing to drive both companies and workers to seriously look at home telecommuting.

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!

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