This group held a conference call to discuss the announcements surrounding Response Point and determine how we could help Microsoft, the Partner Community and the Customer community in support of the product. The consensus was that while concerned on the lack of detailed information about the product roadmap, we partners would and should continue to support, sell and market the product and we would continue express our ongoing concern and support to Microsoft.

John Frederiksen, the GM of Response Point, had offered to join the call but had a conflict. We were however joined briefly by X.D. Huang, the original GM of Response Point and John’s direct manager. X.D. assured us that:

1) Microsoft will continue to support partners and customers running all current 1.x versions of Response Point;
2) Microsoft is NOT shutting down Response Point, and does have non-mgt personnel assigned to the product;
3) Microsoft is currently discussing what to do as far as Release 2 of Response Point
4) Microsoft plans to release more information about the future direction of Response Point soon, perhaps in one or two weeks
5) The best way we as partners can help the Response Point team is to continue to SELL the product.

The VAR Council was encouraged by the call; and while some of us have reservations, we as a group will continue to market and sell Response Point and we encourage and urge others to do so as well. We look forward to the upcoming Microsoft announcement on the direction for Release 2 of Response Point.

Auto-Attendant Barge is a feature that allows a caller to interrupt the ‘welcome’ message that RP plays when the Automated Receptionist (Microsoft’s name for the built-in Auto-Attendant) is enabled.  This feature was initially implemented in SP1.  When it was implemented we received many calls from customers who were very happy about this feature, which allowed them to use a longer, more meaningful welcome message.  Since SP2 we’ve received a number of calls from customers who were upset that this feature had been removed.  As a result we really feel that this is a welcom change, and will be well received by RP customers.

The revised software has been ’slipstreamed’ into the standard SP2 download.  This means that it is not available as a separate patch – instead customers should download the entire SP2 solution from Microsoft’s download site, and implement as normal.  If you have not yet implemented SP2, follow the appropriate instructions from your hardware vendor, but remember to use the latest SP2 download, available at the link above.
You’ll need to upgrade both the RP Administrator and the RP Assistant.   We found that the installer for the RP Administrator finished quietly, without giving us any indication that it was complete or successful, so we recommend that you start the RP Administrator and click on the “About” link on the top-right of the application.  The revised software version should be 1.21.5017.0.

Once you’ve upgraded the RP Administrator, you can connect to the base unit.  The software will recognize that the base unit needs to be updated – follow the wizard, taking the default values, and making sure that the system automatically does a backup as part of the upgrade.  At this point everything is running on the new code, but Auto-Attendant barge-in has not yet been enabled.

To enable the feature, click on the “Call Routing” button at the top of the Administrator.  Select “Configure Automated Receptionist Properties” – you’ll see the new feature at the bottom of the box that appears.

You’ll get a warning box about this feature – read it carefully.  This feature isn’t for everyone.

More information can be found on Robert Brown’s Blog.

They have also released a fact sheet detailing the features of SP2 – you can download it from here.

We’ve had a secret version of SP2 for some time – it appears to be a stable release with some useful new features.  Keep checking back as we go more in-depth with SP2.

Response Point Roadmap - October 2008

Here is a screen shot of the roadmap that we saw during the Town Hall meeting with the Response Point team yesterday. Click on the image for a larger version.

Broadly speaking, “Sooner” means Response Point SP2, which we think will be in the Feb ‘09 timeframe. “Later” means Response Point V2 (although that name hasn’t formally been announced) which we believe will be around July of 2009.

Some very interesting things to note:

 • VPN-based remote-phone capability will be coming in SP2.  This means you’ll be able to provision an RP phone at the office and then you’ll be able to take that phone to a remote location where you have a point-to-point VPN connection (for instance your home-office, or a small branch-office) and plug it in, and it will work.  Very cool.  Eventually (V2 or later) the requirement for the VPN will be removed, and you’ll be able to plug a phone in anywhere on the internet, but for now, this is a great first step.

 • Key-system-like capability will appear in V2.  This will allow you to see the status of all the incoming lines, just like in a traditional small-biz PBX.  We’ve heard lots of feedback from people wanting this feature, so it’s great to know that it’s coming. • BLF will also appear in V2.  This will let you see who’s on the phone – again, this is a great feature that’s we’ve had numerous requests for.

 • Full Outlook integration in V2.  Finally, click-to-dial directly from Outlook.

 • Dial-plan explosion.  In the V2 timeframe, you’ll be able to build your own dial plan if you wish.  This will give you the flexibility to route calls via different providers if you wish.  For instance, you might want to send all of your international traffic down your SIP trunk, or you may have multiple local-area area codes that you’d prefer to push down your analog or T1 trunk.

 • International functionality in V2.  With telephony, there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account before a phone system can work in a particular country.  This release will address those concerns, allowing Response Point to be made available in other parts of the world.

As you can probably tell, we’re pretty excited about the future of Response Point.  As we get closer to these releases we’ll share more information with you about upcoming features, but for now, hopefully this will give you a taste of what’s to come.

The new version is 2.1.1_rp.118.

Here’s the release notes with the changes since the last public version (114):
2.1.1_rp.118
-Fix for phone freeze when answering a call as part of a group or attended transfer
-Top 2 programmable keys on the model 6753i RP specifically are now unlocked in the WebUI
-Waiting for Assignment page softkey now has an arrow icon on the display

2.1.1_rp.117
-NGT ITSP Hold signalling enhancement
-Fix for phone freeze when parking incoming DID/SIP Trunk Call

You can get the firmware here.

To install, download to a computer running Response Point Administrator, and double-click the RPU file.
Log into the Administrator as usual, and click on the ‘Upgrade Device Firmware’ link. Select the same RPU file in the ‘Upgrade Package’ box and let the system upgrade all devices to which the package applies. Follow the wizard to complete the firmware upgrade. We recommend that you do this change off-hours, when the phones are not in use.

We’re curious to know how many of you would be interested in a T-1 gateway for Response Point, if one were available. Don’t get all excited – we’re not suggesting that we know anything you don’t, but nevertheless we’re interested to know how many of you would use such a device.

Let us know. As always, your comments and feedback are welcomed.

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