IP dialling from Telepresence endpoints with UCM

The latest strategy / best practice for telepresence deployment is to register all the endpoints to UCM instead of VCS, and using Expressway C and E for B2B calls.  There are several feature gaps, for endpoints register to UCM and VCS, one of the most common ask is IP dialling.  In an ideal world we can make calls and receive calls with SIP URI, but there are still quite a lot of endpoints / users in the field using IP address dialling to make calls.  I have read a very good post from UC Guerrilla and I have tested option 1 which works quite well in my lab environment.  (My lab environment:  UCM 10.5 + Expressway 8.2)

http://www.ucguerrilla.com/2014/02/cisco-telepresence-endpoints-and-ip.html

For the end user who wants to make outgoing IP address dialling, they can make a call to URI ip@a.b.c.d where a.b.c.d is the IP address.

On UCM, you need to define the SIP route pattern beforehand.

Then what I need to do is to simply add a transform on the Expressway-C to remove the "ip@" suffix.  You also need to have a search rule to route the IP address to Expressway E then to the DNS Zone.  Try to make a call using IP dialling now!

Cisco Telepresence - sending DTMF using API and cURL

Very similar to my previous post:
http://pandaeatsbamboo.blogspot.hk/2014/04/making-cisco-telepresence-calls-using.html

We can send DTMF using CURL + TC firmware API.  This is useful when you want to join a multipoint video call which has password protected, and you want to automate that.

You can use the same curl command in my previous post, and for the xml file content, this is the sample to use while you are in call:

<Command><DTMFSend command="True"><DTMFString>000000#</DTMFString></DTMFSend></Command>

Making Cisco Telepresence calls using API and cURL

For those EX, SX, MX and C-series codec which are running TC firmware, you can use the below method to make and disconnect call with CURL using its XML API.  In my lab environment I am using TC7.1, however earlier release will also work.  My video endpoint IP address is 192.168.24.6 and going to make a phone call to number 8334.

Make call

[root@ns3 ~]# curl -k -u admin:panda123 -H "Content-type: text/xml;" -d @ex.xml http://192.168.24.6/formputxml?xmldoc

Output:
<Command><DialResult status="OK" item="1">
  <CallId item="1">7</CallId>
  <ConferenceId item="1">6</ConferenceId>
</DialResult>
</Command>

ex.xml file content:

<Command><Dial command="True"><Number>8334</Number><Protocol>h323</Protocol></Dial></Command>

Disconnect All calls

[root@ns3 ~]# curl -k -u admin:panda123 -H "Content-type: text/xml;" -d @ex2.xml http://192.168.24.6/formputxml?xmldoc

Output:

<Command><DisconnectAllResult status="OK" item="1"/>

ex2.xml file content:

<Command><Call command="True"><DisconnectAll></DisconnectAll></Call></Command>

Setting Menu Password on Cisco Personal Telepresence

You can optionally setup menu password on the EX series (as well as C series codec and SX20), so that the users cannot change the administrator settings on the Telepresence Touch Panel.

1.  SSH to the unit using the admin credential


2.  Issue the command:

xCommand SystemUnit MenuPassword Set Password: panda123

To clear the password, you can use the following:

xCommand SystemUnit MenuPassword Set Password: ""

Augmented Reality Proof of Concept Demo

A proof of concept demo, to show augmented reality on Cisco Telepresence EX series video endpoints.  The Atomic tool is used for the augmented reality part.

Join the Cisco Jabber Video for Telepresence Beta now and extend your Telepresence Calling Circle

Join the Cisco Jabber Video for Telepresence Beta now and extend your Telepresence Calling Circle.
https://www.ciscojabbervideo.com

I have joined and tried and it works really well on my Mac.  I have also tried to conduct a 4-party video conference with EX90 embedded Multisite and it looks great.  Sign up for yours now!

Cisco UCM 8.6 using Cisco Telepresence MCU as Ad-hoc Video Conferencing Resource

My environment:  UCM 8.6.1-20000-1, Cisco Telepresence MCU 4510 4.3(1.27)

WIth the latest UCM 8.6, Cisco Telepresence MCU (previously known as Codian) can be registered to UCM via SIP as an ad hoc video conference resource, similar to what CUVC can do before.

1.  Media Resource > Conference Bridge, choose Cisco Telepresence MCU from the dropdown box.  Fill in the Conference bridge name, IP address as well as the HTTP username and password.

2.  Secondly, add this video conference bridge into your Media Resource Group and then assign it to Media Resource Group List.  Assign it to the phone that will initiate the ad-hoc video conferencing.

3. Go to the Cisco Telepresence MCU web page, Settings > SIP, the SIP registrar domain is the IP address of your UCM, the username is the Conference Bridge name specified in UCM.  Choose “Enabled” in SIP registrar usage.  In my beta release there is a bug saying that it is unregistered on MCU web page, however in UCM it shows that the MCU is registered.  You can ignore this unregistered message as it is actually working according to my testing.

4.  Then initiate a call from the Cisco video-enabled IP phone.  You will see the multiparty video conference is established successfully.  In my testing I have a 8945, 9951 and a EX60 with TC5.0 beta that is registered to UCM natively.

Enjoy!

Opera Over Cisco Telepresence

New Telepresence solutions in action

 

Another demo in VoiceCon, showing the new Telepresence Recording Server and the new CTS-1300 unit.

Cisco Telepresence Suite for Public

Cisco is offering a pay-per-use Telepresence services called Cisco Telepresence Suites to public, so you can meet your friends, businesses and family at convenient location without buying your own Telepresence units.  A much affordable solution to public.

 

Mobile Telepresence on Cisco NERV

Cisco has installed mobile TelePresence on the Network Emergency Response Vehicle.

The Network Emergency Response Vehicle (NERV). Basically, a mobile communications vehicle that can act as a command center for your on-the-ground disaster management, as well as a central processing center for all the communications going on for that effort. Through Cisco's IPICS technology, which allows disparate radio systems to communicate with each other via IP translation, police, who are on one radio system, can talk with fire professionals who are on another radio system, who can talk with the National Guard, who are on another radio system. The NERV also has TelePresence, video surveillance, Wi-Fi, satellite communications, and IP telephony on-board.

In this short video, Bob Browning, Senior Manager of Tactical Operations Support at Cisco, gives us a tour of the NERV's technology and capabilities. This vehicle just returned from the Harris Fire and is exactly why interoperable communications systems are essential to successful disaster response and recovery.

Cisco Telepresence Discussion on Climate Change

Nobel Laureate Al Gore and Cisco CEO John Chambers host a virtual discussion on Climate Change and Technology Innovation via Cisco TelePresence

Telepresence on CCTV

Quite an interesting program from CCTV China. The name of the program is "我们".