asterisk users - Aug 2004 - Re: Asterisk-Users digest, Vol 1 #4901 - 10 msgs

----- Original Message ----- 
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Analog Phones with Status Light Indicators
> From: Adam Goryachev <mailinglists@websitemanagers.com.au>
> To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> Organization: Website Managers
> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:53:02 +1000
> Reply-To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
>
> On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 20:42, Steven Critchfield wrote:
> > On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 06:17, Jeremy Lowery wrote:
> > > I am currently a new asterisk user and new to telephony in
general. I
> > > have been looking around to implement a solution with asterisk
that
has
> > > many of the nice features of a proprietary PBX for a small
office. The
> > > features that I am looking for that I haven't been able to
find any
> > > information on are:
> > >
> > > - status light indicators for which incoming line in ringing
> > > - status light indicators for which lines are currently in use
> > >
> > > Basically any information on phones (analog preferred or hard
VoIP)
> > > which have status light indicator buttons that can be made to
function
> > > with asterisk.
> > >
> > > Is this possible, and has anyone set up a phone system with these
> > > features using asterisk? If so, what phones were used and what
kind of
> > > special configuration is required?
> >
> > You are looking for line occurences/apperances.
> >
> > Your problem is that in the analog world, to get those line apperances
> > you have to wire every line to every phone. Not very efficient, nor
> > practical, nor does it scale to a large number of phone lines. Plus on
> > some circuits, lines are not relavent, such as a PRI.
>
> However, it might be relevant to be able to:
>
> a) program 5 lights on each phone to display the status of the 5
> extensions of people in your 'group'.
>
> b) program a number of lights on each phone to display the number of
> people in a specific queue (ie, each light represents a 'position'
in
> the queue).
>
> > Under asterisk, you are encouraged to use extensions. Extensions are
> > flexible and scaleable. Your 3 line phone system now can scale up to 2
> > or 3 PRI without making major changes to user behavior. You will not
> > find a phone system with a T1 worth of indicator lights in a price
range
> > for every persons desk, You wouldn't want a phone with enough
> > lights/buttons to access 3 T1s worth of phone lines.
>
> Unfortunately I have this situation:
> Another supplier proposing an NEC phone system where the phones have 16
> programmable keys for Direct Station Selection (DSS)/Busy Lamp Fields
> (BLF) or Feature Access.
>
> AND
>
> The customer 'must have' a number of those DSS/BLF's, where
must have
> seems to be around 4 to 5. So, I would absolutely love to be able to do
> this with some VoIP hardware phone such as the polycom IP600 or even a
> cisco 7960.
>
> > So before you hamstring your small office into having unnecessary
> > growing pains as it expands at some time down the road, think about
the
> > nicer, larger PBX solutions.
>
> True, but would still be nice to see the status of the people around
> you/in your team. How can I offer any sort of comparable/competitive
> system without this??
>
> Regards,
> Adam
Adam-

As a reseller of both * and traditional proprietary systems I make this
comment to you:  Sure, with * you have some limitations with the terminals
that we have access to but the story you need to be telling is one of
flexibility and of feature richness.  In * systems the terminal is simply a
voice path for a user, there are applications available to give BLF that are
generously donated to the community that are way more flexible than anything
the NEC is going to provide to them.  If you can't or won't use these
applications then build a new one that works for you.  The deal with * is
that the features we are talking about are commodities and they belong in
the public domain.  The power of the system cannot be limited to the
terminals but in the applications that the users use (ask them how much it
would cost for ACD or Conferencing or DB based CDR records on the NEC, these
are all standard in the basic build of *) and also the story you need to
tell is what happens if your system grows?  Talk about total cost of
ownership not total cost of purchase.

In the end, * really isn't a good play for the 4x8 KSU in a dental office.
You need to find the thing that the customer wants to do differently than
the NEC's or Nortel's or the Avaya's are going to let them.

Jason Kawakami

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Kawakami" <jkkawakami@optellabs.com>
To: <asterisk-users@lists.digium.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 8:08 AM
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Re: Asterisk-Users digest, Vol 1 #4901 - 10 msgs

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Analog Phones with Status Light
Indicators
> > From: Adam Goryachev <mailinglists@websitemanagers.com.au>
> > To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> > Organization: Website Managers
> > Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:53:02 +1000
> > Reply-To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> >
> > On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 20:42, Steven Critchfield wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 06:17, Jeremy Lowery wrote:
> > > > I am currently a new asterisk user and new to telephony in
general.
I
> > > > have been looking around to implement a solution with
asterisk that
> has
> > > > many of the nice features of a proprietary PBX for a small
office.
The
> > > > features that I am looking for that I haven't been able
to find any
> > > > information on are:
> > > >
> > > > - status light indicators for which incoming line in ringing
> > > > - status light indicators for which lines are currently in
use
> > > >
> > > > Basically any information on phones (analog preferred or
hard VoIP)
> > > > which have status light indicator buttons that can be made
to
function
> > > > with asterisk.
> > > >
> > > > Is this possible, and has anyone set up a phone system with
these
> > > > features using asterisk? If so, what phones were used and
what kind
of
> > > > special configuration is required?
> > >
> > > You are looking for line occurences/apperances.
> > >
> > > Your problem is that in the analog world, to get those line
apperances
> > > you have to wire every line to every phone. Not very efficient,
nor
> > > practical, nor does it scale to a large number of phone lines.
Plus on
> > > some circuits, lines are not relavent, such as a PRI.
> >
> > However, it might be relevant to be able to:
> >
> > a) program 5 lights on each phone to display the status of the 5
> > extensions of people in your 'group'.
> >
> > b) program a number of lights on each phone to display the number of
> > people in a specific queue (ie, each light represents a
'position' in
> > the queue).
> >
> > > Under asterisk, you are encouraged to use extensions. Extensions
are
> > > flexible and scaleable. Your 3 line phone system now can scale up
to 2
> > > or 3 PRI without making major changes to user behavior. You will
not
> > > find a phone system with a T1 worth of indicator lights in a
price
range
> > > for every persons desk, You wouldn't want a phone with enough
> > > lights/buttons to access 3 T1s worth of phone lines.
> >
> > Unfortunately I have this situation:
> > Another supplier proposing an NEC phone system where the phones have
16
> > programmable keys for Direct Station Selection (DSS)/Busy Lamp Fields
> > (BLF) or Feature Access.
> >
> > AND
> >
> > The customer 'must have' a number of those DSS/BLF's,
where must have
> > seems to be around 4 to 5. So, I would absolutely love to be able to
do
> > this with some VoIP hardware phone such as the polycom IP600 or even a
> > cisco 7960.
> >
> > > So before you hamstring your small office into having unnecessary
> > > growing pains as it expands at some time down the road, think
about
the
> > > nicer, larger PBX solutions.
> >
> > True, but would still be nice to see the status of the people around
> > you/in your team. How can I offer any sort of comparable/competitive
> > system without this??
> >
> > Regards,
> > Adam
>
> Adam-
>
> As a reseller of both * and traditional proprietary systems I make this
> comment to you:  Sure, with * you have some limitations with the terminals
> that we have access to but the story you need to be telling is one of
> flexibility and of feature richness.  In * systems the terminal is simply
a
> voice path for a user, there are applications available to give BLF that
are
> generously donated to the community that are way more flexible than
anything
> the NEC is going to provide to them.  If you can't or won't use
these
> applications then build a new one that works for you.  The deal with * is
> that the features we are talking about are commodities and they belong in
> the public domain.  The power of the system cannot be limited to the
> terminals but in the applications that the users use (ask them how much it
> would cost for ACD or Conferencing or DB based CDR records on the NEC,
these
> are all standard in the basic build of *) and also the story you need to
> tell is what happens if your system grows?  Talk about total cost of
> ownership not total cost of purchase.
>
> In the end, * really isn't a good play for the 4x8 KSU in a dental
office.
> You need to find the thing that the customer wants to do differently than
> the NEC's or Nortel's or the Avaya's are going to let them.
>
> Jason Kawakami
Also just to add a little, with SIP this WILL eventually happen in *... The
SNOM phones have DSS for the receptionist consoles with lights for each
extension.

At least with the SNOM phones * can inject things like intercom=yes into the
SIP headers which can control the behavior of the phones... It's only a
matter of time before that functionality is in mainline *...

Soon also, a SIP Barge function will probably be implemented that allows you
to simply press a DSS button and bridge you into the conversation like Avaya
PBXes do...

If they want an analog phone that looks and works like a PBX phone, check
out the Sayson 480 ADSI phone. It has SoftKeys that can be programmed with
all of the features you would expect on an NEC or a Avaya or Nortel. It may
not have the EXACT same bells and whistles, but it has a lot of features! :)

Didn't mean to overwrite what you were saying Jason, simply to add to your
arguments :)

       -Chris