Response Point Truck Event - FREE

We (AMCC) are going to be doing the FIRST PUBLIC Response Point demonstration in Cincinnati on Tuesday, July 15 from 8 am to 12 noon at 4555 Lake Forest Drive in Blue Ash with the Microsoft Across America Truck.

If you are in the area please consider attending and feel free to pass this invitation along to your friends. You can register at http://www.clicktoattend.com/ Event Code 129354.

A representative from NGT, a SIP Trunking provider that is partnering with Microsoft on the Response Point product, will also be on site and available to answer your VOIP service questions. NGT has generously donated a $400 Edgemarc device which will be offered as a promotion for some lucky new customer.

Old Hard Drive

Here is how we decommission non-sensitive hard drives at AMCC. And it sure feels good after a couple whacks!

Response Point SP1 RTM'ed today

from Response Point Team Blog

When we started RP, our vision was simple: to provide a telephony solution so easy to use that every small business customer can set it up like connecting
When we started RP, our vision was simple: to provide a telephony solution so easy to use that every small business customer can set it up like connecting a printer to the PC. Today, we are moving one step closer to realize our vision by releasing to manufacturing Response Point Service Pack 1. Our OEM partners will bring SP1 to market next month.

SP1 not only improved RP 1.0's performance/quality but also added some very cool features such as VOIP gateway, Click to Call, and Call Presence etc. Never before was PBX this easy to manage.

I'd love to get your feedback as you upgrade to SP1 in the coming weeks. We'd love to incorporate your feedback into RP 2.0, which we have started working on.

Published Friday, June 20, 2008 8:50 PM by Xuedong David Huang

Aastra Response Point - 3rd Party Headset

Since I am now using the Aastra Response Point system I figured I would connect my Jabra T5330 cordless headset - that I hadn't been using since switching to the Aastra system. This headset base can connect to the phone two different ways - depending on what the phone supports. The most universal (are there different degress of universal? I don't think so) way is putting the headset in series in between the telephone base and the telephone handset. This is the way I used the headset with Syspine phone.

The Aastra phone has a headset jack on the underside of the phone. This makes it possible to just connect the headset to the telephone base unit independent of the telephone handset cord. When I tried the headset connected this way I was not able to get any dialtone. After hunting around I finally noticed that the Speaker button on the telephone base really said Speaker/Headset! Gee, this looks relevant. Anyway, I am on a conference call now, using the headset, and do not have to have the telephone handset 'offhook' to be able to have the call. The red light by the Speaker/Headset button that is on solid when I use the speakerphone is blinking red to indicate I am on the headset. FWIW.

NGT SIP Service w/ Response Point

NGT provided an EdgeMarc router to install in my SBS network to facilitate use of their NGT SIP service with Microsoft Response Point for beta testing. NGT's technical support people had a telephone meeting with me during which time we replaced my router with the EdgeMarc and they tweaked some of the configuration and - ta da - we were up and running. If you want to call into the system using the SIP service you can call my new office SIP number at 513-729-6502 (corrected). You can access extension 200 or just ask for RESPONSE POINT INFORMATION using the voice prompt. You will hear a brief message and won't have to talk to any human beings here - you won't even ring the phones. By the way - if you do notice anything particulary good or not so good regarding the sound quality - please let me know. You can email me at info at millermanor dot net.

Response Point - SP1 - Nashville Road Trip - We made it home

We (most of us) just got back from a FANTASTIC trip to Nashville. The premise for the trip was the Response Point SP1 Class roadshow. We had a large representation from Cincinnati/Dayton. Our group consisted of Marc Ross, Brad Green, Guy Guckenberger, Eric Kornau, Paul Arthur and myself. We had to take out special liability insurance having had so many IT professionals absent from the area at one time. The only mitigating factor in the insurance underwriting and pricing was that D.U. stayed behind and kept the city safe . With the exception of Paul, who came with his wife so they could extend their visit to a mini-vacation - the rest of us timed our travel so we could arrive at the Bluebird Cafe Wednesday evening to help celebrate its 26th anniversary. If you have never been to this place - it is a must see. Dean Rainone and Scott Keyser, of NGT, joined us for the evening too. I've got some photos and video that you can see which will mean more to people that were there than to the rest of you - because these videos from my little $100 point-and-shoot camera just can't do the music justice.

Talking via Sip w/ Bob D.

Tonight I was talking on the telephone with Bob D. (Cincinnati to Columbus) using my Junction Networks SIP service with my Aastra (beta) Response Point system. Bob said that the call was crystal clear and we wondered what would happen if there were a little more of a load on the line. So, I brought up download.microsoft.com and downloaded Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 - about 375 meg. I've got Time Warner's Telecommuter ISP service. My download started out at about 900 KB and trended down to about 600 KB. During the download both Bob and I continued to have a crystal clear, solid sounding conversation.

Aastra - Response Point Beta System

I set up my beta version of the Aastra Response Point telephone system. Pretty cool. Since this is beta - some of it will be changing. The plastic on the gateway unit is not in the final finish. This doesn't matter much to me - just lets me know it is going to look even better later. The current form of the gateway is a flat box the same footprint as the base unit, so it sits and fits rather nicely right under the base unit. The base unit has no display panel like the Syspine, and just a single on/off button. My system contains THREE versions of telephones. The models that I have are called 6757i CT RP, 6753i RP and 6751i RP. I'm including a picture of the 6757i CT RP - this is the phone with the most features out of the three. I haven't had these long enough to be expert with them but you may be able to see there is a large LCD screen (which can be illuminated) with a lot of soft buttons. There are also 3 dedicated Line buttons and one that I love - the GOODBYE Button. You may have noticed that the model name for this phone includes the letters CT. My guess is that CT stands for CORDLESS TELEPHONE because this is the model phone that 'pairs' with the Aastra cordless telephone. This cordless phone has a nice feel to it and substantial range from my initial observations. I've got my analog lines and my SIP service easily configured and working already for a LOT of calls today.

CiNPA Tech Fair 2008 - Success

Yesterday was the First CiNPA Tech Fair and it was a great success. We had 15 WONDERFUL vendors that contributed and helped to sponser this event. I gave a Response Point presentation, and some of our other CiNPA members gave presentations as did all of our vendors. The Cincinnati State College Evendale Campus people were terrific and the venue worked well for our Tech Fair. You can see a few photos that I snapped. For all of you that participated in our Tech Fair - a GREAT BIG THANK YOU. For those of you that didn't - we hope that you will next year.