If you have been selling Asterisk based systems for any amount of time you have probably run accross the potential client that either demands Keys System functionality or just simply can't grasp the PBX concept. Often times the prospect just wants his new system to act like his old system so that they don't have to re-train the mindset of their employees.
With this in mind, I have been watching a few threads on the Asterisk-Biz list talking about Asterisk and Shared Line Appearances (SLA) and have been wondering why people are so desperate for this feature. The only logical answer has been presented many times by our prospects and customers- For the most part we have been able to combat the client objective by outlining the PBX features that make a PBX more useful than a Key System - for the rest we have tried this...
Switchvox Free Edition Like a Key System?
For those of you who aren't familiar with Key Systems you'd probably like to know what the true difference between Asterisk and a KSU are - Other than the obvious i'll add.
Key System - The feature that most clients want from a key system is the Shared line appearnence- this feature allows all users on the system to see a busy lamp on their phone when a physical line is in use. Most often times the feature that clients think they are losing is the ability to tell someone that there is a call holding for them on a specific line...
Key System Example:
An external call reaches the receptionist station on line one- The receptionist then notifys the the external callers desired user that they have a call holding on line one. When this internal transaction takes place either by paging the user to tell them about their call or through .e4's common method (yelling across the room) and end-user can walk to any phone, select the specific line that is represented by a Blinking (BLF) key.
Asterisk Parking:
Typically, when setting up a PBX... There are features like parking that can give you the desired result above however, it requires some tinkering both with Asterisk's config files and also the enpoints involved. Having said all of this, there is one thing that is lacking with some Asterisk installs from a basic intall perspective... Busy Lamp Fields for parking Positions...
Now before you go flaming me about Asterisk 1.4 and the Metermaid Patch - remember that I am comparing Switchvox Free Edition to a key system and have ZERO acess to anything within the solution other than the Web User Interface. Switchvox has kindly installed all of this for us so we only have to worry about the phones themselves to create this functionality.
Our Solution:
Switcvox Free Edition...
Currently I am running Switchvox on an IBM xseries 306 1U server- Now I know that you are thinking that this system is not in the certified hardware category on
http://www.switchvox.com/ and it is definatly known to be problematic with most Asterisk PCI hardware in the market - I just decided to use it for three reasons. One - I have a few laying around... Two - I will be using a SIP trunk for testing with the third reason being that this system will never go in to production. The box is just another test device in my growing list of lab gear.
Speaking of certified hardware- In our example we will be using a mix of phones that from what I can see are not supported with Switchvox free edition. Although this is the case I will be the first to mention that we have many Switchvox platforms both SMB and SOHO installed and I feel quite comfortable with using phones other than Polycom on the System.
The rest of the Gear:
Aastra 57i CT (Ext 102) -->
http://www.8774e4voip.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Aastra+57i+CTPolycom IP 550 (Ext 101)-->
http://www.8774e4voip.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Polycom+Soundpoint+IP+550Aastra 9133i (Ext 100)-->
http://www.8774e4voip.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Aastra+9133iFortunately for us-
Switchvox has already included the system "hints" required by our phones to monitor stations and parking positions... All you'll have to do as an admin is create the extensions. voila - "
Switchvox Presence" - Remember that in my scenario we are monitoring the parking
positions and not the presence or
availability of the specific end-users on the system.
Once you have created the extensions and configured the phones to register to
Switchvox free edition there will only be a few changes needed to complete the set up. in my example I am using the web user interface to configure the phones- This is quick and easy... I have decided not to provision the phones via a centralized server because honestly I feel the solution can be more easily understood by the average Asterisk Newbie this way and the screenshots will make the install pretty cut and dry.
(if you want me to send you a copy of my
config files for this scenario you can always message me)
Switchvox Paging:
Currently all of our example phones have the ability to auto answer should they be paged... Another fantastic thing about
switchvox free edition is that they have made it easy to utilize the auto answer feature within the
Polycom and
Aastra line by simply creating a paging/intercom extension. When creating this type of extension you have the ability to select who has the feature available and what devices will be in the paging/intercom group. To use the feature simply dial the paging Extension and POW- The phones in the group "beep" and go off hook giving the paging admin station the ability to talk with the available group extensions.
Note: Auto answer can be
configured on the 57i Web user interface... Navigate to the preferences page and check the auto answer button...
Ok- Just a few things to mention here- This was never intended to be a tutorial however, I feel that it may be useful as one... I have made a few assumptions here...
Once you have the phone set up and working you will need to point your web browser to the Soft Keys and XML Page of your Aastra Phone... My demo example will use the 57i CT... The 9133i also has a similar page listed as "programmable keys" To save time I will tell you what to do on the 57i to get this working and leave it up to you to figure the 9133i out as the set up is similar.
Soft Keys and XML:
Switchvox, again was kind enough to set up the hints for the parking lot that they have created as a default extension (700) within Switchvox free edition. When you transfer a call to 700 - You will hear the position of the call you have parked - The lot has been set up as 701-799 and will logically place calls based on the number of calls parked and the order in which they were parked
Once we have navigated to the Soft Keys and XML, in our example we'll be configuring the parking positions on the bottom keys. To do this you will only need to select BLF from the pull down menu and enter the label and value parameters- I have used 701, (the first announced parking position within Switchvox Free Edition) 702, and 703
