New to company who has an "idle" Cisco C20 - now what?

[jfraser01]

This sounds like a really basic question but I just joined a company to help them with their technology (mostly software development) that has a beautiful Cisco C20 setup and was paying a company up until about 1 year ago a crazy amount of money to support their system.  They dumped that as they were struggling for money and the value just wasn't there.

Basically we have 2 remote employees and 5 remote sites, none of which have any video equipement to speak of except Windows PCs with Cameras built in.  We are moving towards Office 365 and Lync IM.

What can I actually use this system for and which free or paid services do I need to get some use out of this system?  I've just played a bit trying to connect it to some free SIP services but so far all that doesn't seem to be working and maybe that is expected  Once in a while I'll get a SIP registration success but most of the time I get two errors:

ERROR: SIP Profile Registration

SIP registration failed: Unable to connect to <IP ADDRESS>. Verify SIP configuration and connectivity to SIP proxy.

WARNING: Default Call Protocol

The default call protocol is set to SIP, but system is not registered on that protocol. The system may not be able to make any calls. Please either change the default call protocol, verify that the protocol is enabled, or verify the SIP configuration..

Sometimes I'll get it to this point:

ERROR: SIP Profile Registration

SIP registration failed: Failed to send. Verify SIP configuration and connectivity to SIP proxy.

WARNING: Default Call Protocol

The default call protocol is set to SIP, but system is not registered on that protocol. The system may not be able to make any calls. Please either change the default call protocol, verify that the protocol is enabled, or verify the SIP configuration..

Any thoughts on where to go next?  I don't mind paying for service but I can't afford $1000/month.  If I need to sell this equipement and just get a computer with skype in the conference room I'll just do that.

Thanks alot for your assistance!

[Chris Swinney]

Hi jfraser

How about testing dialling out from the C20 to on of a number of VC Test sites:

• http://support.polycom.com/PolycomService/support/us/support/documentation/video_test_numbers.html
• http://www.thefreerangetechnologist.com/?page_id=2282
• http://vtctest.pointsofdata.com/

To name a few.

Can I assume that the C20 is actually behind a NAT router and the the NAT router have been setup to forward ALL ports on a given public IP to the C20's private IP? The C20 should utilise a number of ports that may not be forwarded. If using NAT, can I take it that the NAT configuration is switched on on the C20?

I would concentrate on H.323, then work on SIP. Make sure H.323 doesn't register to a gatekeeper and SIP doesn't register to a registrar. I this way you will be using the device as a standalone.

Lastly, look at the StarLeaf client Breeze and see if that works.

[irfanilyas]

Hi Jfraser,

My name is Irfan and I work for Interlink Vision a company specialising in visual communications. I believe our CallPresence Cloud which is dedicated to video might interest you as we offer a registration service for open standard videoconferencing systems such as your Cisco C20. The CallPresence Cloud has been built using Cisco and Polycom video infrastructure for the best possible video quality and interoperability. The cisco video communication server expressway is the device we would register your system on H323 or SIP. As you will be registered to a cisco vcse you will also not need to worry about interworking between sip and h323 and vice versa. For more information on this service including pricing please have a look at the following link

http://www.interlinkvision.co.uk/cloud-hosted-video-services/viewpresence-video-endpoint-gatekeeper-registration-h323-sip.html

Please feel free to call us if you have any further questions.