How to recover the phones in web recovery mode:

1.  Phones with web recovery display an IP address on the LCD.
2. Connect to that IP address using a web browser like IE or Firefox.
3. Grab the firmware file of the phone you want to put on the phone.  For example for 6753i RP it would be a file with “6753irp.st” name.
4. If you have a TFTP server with your network you could use that.
      Otherwise you could download PumpKin from internet (freeware). See below about how to use PumpKin.
5. Place the phone’s firmware file in your TFTP’s root path.
6. On the web recovery page of the phone, specify the “server IP” as the TFTP server IP address, the firmware file name as the name of firmware you want to upload to the phone (i.e. 6753irp.st) and choose the protocol as TFTP.
7. Upload the firmware file and the phone should come back on.

A Quick reference for using PumpKIN TFTP server

TFTP Server Set-up

There are a number of TFTP servers available. PumpKIN is one of such TFTP servers. Use the keywords “pumpkin TFTP server” on Google and you should get the web site where you can download the software
from. Installing PumpKIN is straightforward. To configure the directory from where you would be serving the files, click on the Options button on PumpKIN’s main window as shown in the following figure.

PumpKIN Options

It is important to select the “Give all files” radio button under the “Read Request Behavior” category. This makes the files to be served without any manual intervention when requested.

If you want to prevent users from writing files to the directory select the “Deny all requests” in the “Write Request Behavior” category. Click the OK button after you have entered all the required information. All the firmware files should be in the file system root directory. Currently we do not support downloads from files present in sub-directories. Consult PumpKIN’s documentation if you need more information on how to set-up the TFTP server.

Frederiksen hints at some rather intriguing ideas that the team may be working on: more SBS integration (will we see RP sold as a software package perhaps?), Unified Communications, and even integration with the flagship Office Communications Server product.

Also in the article, John talks about his two objectives – the first being to deliver a plug-and-play telephony solution for small offices of 10 users or less.  We’re seeing success in that space already, of course, but I was wondering if he might be thinking of providing a solution for Micro-businesses – the 1 or 2 person business that makes up the majority of small businesses in the US.  The other objective is in the larger 10-50 user segment, which he sees as requiring branch-office connectivity, integrated contact management and other customizations.

Based on this article, I would say that the Response Point team has been strengthened by John’s arrival.  John has been a part of the Microsoft landscape for over 15 years – the product will undoubtedly benefit from his experience and the renewed vision that he brings to the team.

For the full article, head on over to Phone+.

You can download it (along with firmware for their phones) on their download page here.

We recommend that whenever you install updated ATA module firmware, you also update the Syspine Module Page firmware to the latest version (available from the same download location).

Note: Because this review is quite lengthy we’ve had to split it up into three posts. This is Part 3 of 3.

In Part 1 we looked at the hardware that comes with the AastraLink RP system.

In Part 2 we took a look at the software that is used to configure the AastraLink RP system.

In this article we’ll take a walk through the system and we’ll reveal how we like it when used on an everyday basis.

Unpacking and Setup

Unpacking

In typical Aastra style, the system arrived in a number of white boxes, unmarked except for a label on each box. Every box contains a single component. Everything is well packed.

Build quality of the phones is excellent.  The base and gateway are constructed robustly and run cool.  I don’t foresee overheating problems with either of these units.

The phones include:

• Phone itself
• Handset
• Handset Cable
• Power Adapter
• Wall-Mounting Hardware
• Paper strips for programmable keys (where applicable)
• Good quality ethernet cable

The 6757i RP CT also includes the cordless handset, a charging base and power adapter, and a Li-Ion battery.

The RP500 Base unit comes with:

• Base Unit itself
• A CD containing the Response Point Administrator and Assistant programs
• Power Adapter
• US-style power cable
• Quick Start Guide
• Ethernet Cable

The RP540 Analog Gateway is supplied with:

• Analog Gateway itself
• Plug-in Power Adapter (US Version)
• Installation Guide
• Four CAT3 cables with RJ11 plugs at each end (for connecting to the public phone system)
• Ethernet cable
• Wall-Mounting Hardware

Physical Installation

The Quick-Start guide is a double-sided 17×11 sheet that walks you through the setup process. The front side deals with physical installation.

The Analog Gateway can be table or wall-mounted.  This means that you can put it on your back-board next to your telco lines, and just run an Ethernet cable to your network switch.  If you table-mount it, the top of the gateway has indents that fit the feet of the RP 500 Base Unit, so you can stack them.  In fact you can stack multiple gateways in this manner, so you end up with a nice, tidy looking installation.

Setup is as simple as plugging everything into your network switch or router, plugging your phone lines into the back of the gateway, and powering everything up.

Talking of power, all 3 phone models support the 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (or PoE) protocol, which means that if your network switch also supports PoE, you can power the phones directly from the network cable, and you don’t need to provide power to the phone via the supplied adapter. This is a very nice feature. Of course, you’ll still need to provide power to the base unit, analog gateway(s) and the charging base for the cordless handset (if you have one).

You’ll want to plug everything into the same network that you currently use for your computers. The phones won’t interfere with the computers, and vice-versa – they simply share the wiring. You’ll also need to ensure that your network has a device on it that can hand out IP addresses. This is called a DHCP server and is typically built into your firewall/router, but it could also be located on a Windows Server if you have one. If all you have is a DSL or Cable modem you’ll want to invest in a firewall/router – this will protect your network and provide the DHCP feature that Response Point needs.

Here you can see the cabling for the RP 500 Base Unit and the RP540 Gateway. The two blue Ethernet cables connect to our in-house network switch. The black cables with the white plugs are analog line cables (supplied) that connect to the public telephone network (PSTN).

As you can see in the picture, plugging in the cables to the phones is simple. The empty ethernet jack on the left can be used to provide a network connection to a desktop PC via the phone’s built-in 100Mbps switch.

Setup

Once you have everything hooked up, press the big black button on the front of the unit and your system will come alive. The next step is to install the Response Point Administrator software on any PC on the network. The reverse page of the Quick Start Guide explains this nicely. Follow the guide to connect to the base unit, set up the date/time, and add users, phones and so-on.

Finally, you’ll want to install the Response Point Assistant software on any desktop computers that have a phone next to them. This system-tray app allows you to import Outlook contacts and do click-to-dial. It also allows you to see parked calls, and it will tell you who’s calling you.

And that’s it. You’re done.

Daily Use

Okay – who thought of putting a power switch on a PBX?  Seems odd to me.  Worse still is the fact that the system doesn’t automatically power up after a power failure.  I suggest you invest in a UPS to avoid having a phone system outage after a brief power failure.  That’s really the only odd design decision we’ve come across.

We have been using the AastraLink RP system for our day-to-day activities for a couple of weeks. During that time the system has been stable and handset audio quality has been great.

We tested the speakerphone.  It works fine – audio quality is acceptable.  It’s not as good as a dedicated conference phone of course, but suitable for occasional use.

Ergonomically we find that the Aastra phones are the nicest of the current crop of RP phones. They look sophisticated and the soft-buttons have a classy appearance. The large display on the 6757iCT RP gives you much more information than you can see with any other RP phone. The phones can be set at a number of angles by attaching the legs using different holes in the phone.

We really miss a “Do Not Disturb” (DND) button on the phones. It’s possible to set one of a phone’s programmable buttons to DND but it seems to have been implemented in a strange way. The phone does not ring physically, but the caller still hears the ring tone. Still, it’s better than no DND at all (which is what we’re stuck with for the other current RP Vendors).

Programmable buttons on the phones cannot be set up with the Administrator software. Instead you have to press the “Advanced” button on the phone setup wizard within Administrator, which takes you to a web page where you can set up the programmable buttons and make other changes to the phone. Bear in mind that it’s possible to really mess up your phone using this advanced configuration option, so be careful!

Transfers seem to work just fine using the voice-activated park/transfer method.  Simply press the magic blue “Response Point” button and the call gets auto-parked.  Say “Transfer to <insert name here>” and you’ve completed your transfer.  Easy huh!

We did find some confusion regarding the line appearances.  Initially we set up the 6753i RP and 6757i CT RP phones with multiple appearances, but it got complicated trying to figure out which line was being used for inbound and outbound calls.  Perhaps it was just me, but I would prefer that the phone always selects line 1 when you make a call, unless explicity told otherwise.  What the Aastras do is remember the last line you used.

Aastra’s documentation says that you can use their phones even if your RP system is from another vendor.  We were also able to do the opposite, and added a Syspine phone to the AastraLink RP system without a problem.  Very nice.

Conclusions

We really like the AastraLink RP phone system.  It’s a welcome addition to the line of Response Point solutions.  Retail pricing is roughly comparable with existing solutions – the slightly higher price is, we feel, justified due to the higher quality desktop phones and the choice of a cordless handset.  At the time of writing, this is the only solution that supports both PoE and can support more than 8 analog lines (with additional analog gateways).

The limitations we’re seeing with the system is mainly due to the lack of features in the Response Point software rather than a hardware limitation.  As Response Point continues to mature we’ll see these problems going away.

The system’s not quite perfect hardware-wise – notably the power-switch issue mentioned above, and the lack of a good conference phone.  So, we’re giving the AastraLink RP system 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviewer: Andrew Swingler.  July 14 2008.

Note: Because this review is quite lengthy we’ve had to split it up into three posts. This is Part 2 of 3.

In Part 1 we looked at the hardware that comes with the AastraLink RP system. Now we’ll take a quick look at the software. This is a review of the Aastra implementation of RP rather than RP itself, so we’ll not be showing all of the RP screens. What’s displayed here is mainly the Aastra-specific components of the software.

So what’s different in the Aastra implementation software-wise? Truth be told, not much.

As before, you’ll want to click on the images to see the detail. Let’s see what we can find.

Response Point Administrator tabs For those of you that are not yet familiar with the Response Point Administrator, here’s a quick overview of it. The “Phone System” tab is the main page of the tool. From this page you can add your phones, set up your phone service, and add people/positions. Everything is cleanly laid out and is incredibly easy to use. Other options include a link to the Call History where you can see all the calls that have taken place, and a link that you use when you upgrade the firmware.

The “Base Unit” tab is where you set the date/time, tell the system where your email server is located, and where you can back up your configuration (which only needs to be done once you’ve made changes). You can also set different music to be played when calls are Parked. This is where you select the external audio-in jack we mentioned in Part 1.

The “Call Routing” tab is where you tell the system how you want incoming calls handled. You can use the built-in auto-attendant (which you configure from this tab) or you can have calls forwarded to a physical phone, or even a group of phones. Configuration is again very simple and quite flexible. There are also options to allow known inbound numbers to bypass the auto-attendant and go to a specific extension, and an option to allow external callers to be treated as though they’re in the office – useful for employees that are regularly on the road.

Administrator Main Page As you can see, the manufacturer is evident in the base unit’s name. Also evident is the fact that the Aastra RP solution ships with Response Point SP1 already installed.

On the main Administration page there’s really not much new to see: Unlike the other current implementations, there is no vendor-specific button at the top of the page. The solution has been implemented to use the standard RP Administrator functionality. You’ll find the Analog Gateway under the ‘Voice Services’ tab, or you can install it by clicking ‘Add Voice Service’ and selecting ‘Analog Service’.

Analog Gateway Wizard The Analog Gateway Wizard shows us that we’re using an Aastra RP540.

Phone Wizard The Phone Wizard lets you know which model of phone you’re configuring. In this case it’s a 6751i RP.

Note: Because this review is quite lengthy we’ve had to split it up into three posts. This is Part 1 of 3.

On Tuesday of this week, Aastra Telecom released their “AastraLink RP” phone system. We’ve been living with this system for a while now so this review is based on our experiences.

Aastra Telecom is the North American buisiness unit of Aastra Technologies Limited – a Canadian company based in Concord, Ontario that’s been in the Telecom hardware business since 1995. They employ over 1,800 people and their revenues are well over $500M annually. Although you may not have heard of Aastra they are a serious player in the industry. For those of you that have used Nortel’s Meridian system, you’ve probably been using Aastra hardware. So it’s safe to say that these guys know what they’re doing.

Before we go any further, it’s important to note that the “AastraLink RP” is NOT the same as the “AastraLink Pro 160 IP-PBX” that Aastra released last month. We’ll be posting a comparison of these two solutions in the near future.

So, let’s take a look at Aastra’s entry into the world of Response Point.

The solution is built around a base unit that holds the ‘brains’ of the system. You have your choice of three different phones, and there’s an analog gateway available. In addition, two ’sidecars’ are available that allow you to see the status of, and transfer to the various extensions defined in the system. We’ll look at all of these components during this review.

Our system is a late Beta version, so I should mention that the final version may differ slightly from what you see here. Also, I’m no photography whizz, so my apologies for the poor quality of the photos. You’ll get a better experience if you click on the photos and check out the full-size versions.

Analog Gateway – “AastraLink RP 540″

The front of the RP540 sports green LEDs for: Power Status – flashes during normal operation VoIP – on when registered to base Line 1 – on when the analog line 1 is in use Line 2 – on when the analog line 2 is in use Line 3 – on when the analog line 3 is in use Line 4 – on when the analog line 4 is in use LAN – shows LAN traffic

Here’s the back view showing the ports: LAN – connects to your internal ethernet network Console – serial console. Not used in normal operation. Line 1 – RJ11 for POTS line 1 Line 2 – RJ11 for POTS line 2 Line 3 – RJ11 for POTS line 3 Line 4 – RJ11 for POTS line 4 Reset – used to perform a complete reset Power connector – 12V 1.5A via wall-mounted world capable adapter The gateway is physically stackable – there are small cutouts on the top in which the feet from the RP500 base unit can fit. Additional RP540’s can be stacked as necesssary.

Aastra Response Point handsets

6751i RP The 6751i RP is the most basic of the 3 phones: 3 Line LCD display Programmable Speed dial keys Response Point button support Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration Full Duplex Speaker phone Supports Response Point phone system software

6753i RP The 6753i RP is the standard office phone: 3 Line LCD display 6 Programmable keys Response Point button support Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration Full Duplex Speaker phone Supports Response Point phone system software Supports optional expansion modules

6757i CT RP The 6757i CT RP is an Executive/Receptionist phone with an additional handset: Full 144×128 pixel display 12 Programmable keys Response Point button support Response Point Auto-Discovery and Auto-Configuration integration Full Duplex Speaker phone Cordless mobility with included handset unit Supports Response Point phone system software Supports optional expansion modules

The handset on the 6757i CT RP features: Response Point button support WDCT cordless connectivity 5 Line LCD display NiMH Battery (4-day standby, 4-hour talk) 2.5mm Headset support Supports Response Point phone system software

The Syspine product comes in two versions, one which supports 4 lines and another which supports 8.  As this is not a modular platform there currently is no way to either upgrade the 4-port unit to 8 ports, no less expand above 8 ports.  We have heard from CMPTel (the primary Syspine distributor in the U.S.) that they do intend to have an ability to expand later this year (Q4, 2008) using some sort of gateway adapter which presumably would sit next to the main base station.

D-Link’s VoiceCenter product is a bit different in that the base station does not directly support any  phone lines; it exclusively uses an external gateway adapter called the DVG-3104MS.  This gateway supports 4 phone lines, and then uses the data network (there is an ethernet port on the gateway) to move the calls on towards the base station using the SIP network protocol.  Up to 13 of these gateways can be conected to a single base station providing access to 50 lines connecting the Response Point system to the public telephone system.

Be sure to understand that this is the number of phone lines coming from your telephone company.  Both of these Microsoft Response Point base stations can support up to 50 extensions/handsets attached to them regardless of the number of “outside lines” available.  It’s just that not all of the handsets can handle an outside call at the same time, the number of simultanious call being limited by the number of outside lines available. 

As the Syspine system is a fixed configuration, the confusion has mostly been around the DLink VoiceCenter and its external gateways.  To clear the matter up we got in touch with one of our insiders on the DLink VoiceCenter product team.  (It’s certainly beneficial to being just across town from their corporate headquarters!)  Anyways, he made it clear that yes the VoiceCenter will currently support up to 50 analog lines using 13 gateways.  He also hinted that when Service Pack 1 comes out this summer it will support a single SIP trunk to an internet telephone service provider. 

John

But wait a minute, are they really  all the same product?

While the base telephony software features are the same between them, there are enough differences in the hardware that any would-be purchaser should take pause and carefully select the appropriate vender’s product to purchase.  Let’s take a look at a handful of key features and see how they differ.

Power over Ethernet: Coming from a background in data networking, this one is a biggie for me so I’ll start with it.  Many commercial switches these days offer a feature called Power over Ethernet which we typicaly refer to by its initials, as PoE.  This feature provides an endpoint such as a phone, wireless access point, or security camera the ability to receive it’s power from the network switch it is directly attached to rather than an external power supply plugged into a wall outlet.  Of course both ends need to be PoE capable, the endpoint has to be able to receive the power over the network cable and the switch it is plugged into has to be capable of supplying power down the network cable using two of the wires which are not typically used for data transfer.  What are the advantages to powering your phones this way?  Well, there are several.  For starters most office desks can get by with only two power plugs provided by a standard single-gang wall-plate (one for the PC and one for the monitor). By adding another device such as a VoIP or IP Phone this can also mean putting a power strip in place, the necessary wall-wart power adapter for the phone, and very quickly the rats next under the desk is getting worse very quickly.  More important though is this: very rarely are the wall outlets connected to any sort of power backup, so any blackout is going to shutdown the phones.  However if PoE is being used then the switch providing the power to the IP Phones can be connected to a battery backup, and often times the switch already is!  The Syspine offers this capability, but DLink currently does not. 

Expandability: Both DLink and Syspine are capable of handling up to 50 handsets.  Syspine base stations come in two basic variants, one with ports to connect four telephone lines from your local phone company and another version with eight ports.  Currently Syspine does not support upgrading the four port unit to eight ports.  The DLink system works a little different, the ports for the telephone line plug into a separate unit called a PSTN Gateway. Their current model number for this gateway is DVG-3104MS and it supports 4 phone lines, and then it also uses the network as a means to communicate with the base station and the handsets.  By going to an external gateway and not being bound by the limits of a single chassis they are able to support up to 50 individual phone lines.  This provides for significantly more flexibiity to the small business which anticipates growth in the number of handsets it will need.

Case design: Either of the cases from our two manufacturers for the base unit look attractive when sitting on the desk or shelf.  The Syspine Digital Operator is short and squat, and has no power switch. This system is either plugged in and running or its not!  It is also wall mountable and effeciently designed in regards to cooling ventilation for use in an enclosed wiring closet.  DLink’s VoiceCenter comes in an upright, vertical case and has a power button for turning it off and on.  This seems a little quirky to me, as I personally don’t know why anyone would want to turn their phone system off!  With the upright case it takes much less space on a shelf than its competitor.  The DLink Gateway discussed above may be wall mounted, but the base unit itself can not.

I hope this comparison provides you with information to help you make an educated choice in selecting which Response Point product to purchase.  Once Aastra makes their product available to resellers, expect this article to be updated to include its differences.

John