Conference Room Phone IP Office

[dkrajc]

Everyone,

I have a question regarding my IP Office system and a new conference room phone. This may be a bit of long post, but I do not know a whole lot about the Avaya system. The question my not be stated correctly because I am just not sure.

I need to put in a real conference room phone. My past experience is with Polycom and hosted VoIP systems. I have looked into this but I am just not sure all that is involved. What I would like to know is it just better to go with an Avaya conference room phone, all my other phones are Avaya phones.

If I wanted to go with the Polycom or expand to offer SIP connections (say on a computer) here is what I think I need but I am not sure.
1. Buy a SIP enabled Polycom phone
2. Create a SIP extension in my IP Office Manager
3. I would need a license for the 3rd party SIP installed on my system - I would need one for every SIP phone I want to use
4. This is where I am not sure - Would I need a SIP trunk to be able to make and receive calls? I do not have one set up, right now all my calls go through POTS lines provided by my cable company.

Step 4 is what concerns me because I will need to bring in at least a T1 line to for the line quality to make and receive calls and this is why I am trying to figure out what needs to be done, because internet connections will need to change/be added to the office.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[mlombardi1]

IP Office doesn't support digital Polycoms, so your options are an analog Polycom or an Avaya IP conference phone. The SIP variant is the B179 and the H.323 variant is the B189. I prefer the B189 but it's more expensive.

The type of phone and trunk are mutually exclusive. You can use any type of phone (analog or IP) with your existing trunks. The VCM module in the IP Office performs the media conversion between TDM and IP. Be aware that any IP endpoint requires an endpoint license in the IP Office.

[betsor]

Sorry?? IP Office doesn't support Polycom?? I'm afraid I disagree with you there. The Polycom IP7000 is a fair replacement for a B179 if you prefer and works absolutely fine. Just need a Third Party instead of an Avaya IP Endpoint Licence. I would stick to the B179 imo. Works just fine and you only need a spare IP Endpoint Lic. Setup is easy. Create a H.323 user with a login code, then under the settings put the IP of the IPO and the extension number as the auth details with the login code as the pass. Thats' all there is. Although I also suggest upgrading the B179 to 2.4.x sw.

[mlombardi1]

There are three basic phone types--analog, digital, and IP. A digital Polycom is not supported on IP Office.

A B179 is a SIP phone and requires a SIP user, not H.323.

[dkrajc]

Everyone,

First I want to say thanks for all the information.

For this to work this is what I need to do.

1. Buy either the Avaya B179 or B189 phone and upgrade the software.
2. Create a new H.323 or SIP user, depending on the phone that I buy, in my IP Office Manager.
3. Set up the phone with the user information from above and the phone should work.
4. In regards to the IP Endpoint License how do I know if I have any free licenses available?

The biggest question I have is how do I check to see if my system supports the H.323 or SIP phones - or do all IP Office setups support them. My current phones are 1408D02A – 003 and I am just not really sure what users these use?

Once again thanks for the information.

Daniel Krajc

[mlombardi1]

Check the "Licenses" screen in Manager for IP endpoint licenses. If you have free endpoint licenses, you can setup an IP phone. H.323 and SIP both require one of these licenses.

[zakabog]

This is about a SIP Polycom, not a digital Polycom.

dkrajc, what version of IP Office do you have? Generally they all support SIP phones unless it's a very old version. If you have System Status on your computer you can check your free licenses in the "Resources->Licenses" section but generally you wouldn't have a 3rd party endpoint license.

If you intend on using an analog trunk with an IP phone you will need an available VCM for the call. You can check your VCM availability under "Resources" in System Status.

[thiel2]

The Avaya B179 / B189 does not need 3rd party IP endpoint licenses, just regular IP endpoint licenses, so just check your availability in System Status under Resources

[dkrajc]

Everyone,

Thanks for the help. The phone was delivered and it is set up and working.

[gwebster]

What model did you purchase?