Question about OBTP vs. auto connect bookings

[Nick Halbert-Lillyman]

One Button To Push (OBTP) bookings are our prefered method of scheduling conferences, however if we schedule a conference with an endpoint that doesn't support OBTP (such as an E20) we are restricted to using "Dial In" to connect the non-OBTP endpoints.  However, if I add the E20 as an "External" endpoint, I can change it's connection method to "Dial Out" and have it auto-connect as normal.  Why does it restrict managed endpoints to "Dial in" only?

We'd really like to be able to use OBTP, but as Dial-in is not suitable for our environment we have to use Auto-connect for every conference that involves non-OBTP participants.

Is there any reason for this restriction?  Optimally, I'd like to be able to make all conferences default to OBTP when possible while leaving non-OBTP capable endpoints on dial out/auto-connect.  Right now, I'm forced to make auto-connect the default connection method.

[Kjetil Ree · Accepted solution]

Hi Nick,

"Is there any reason for this restriction?  Optimally, I'd like to be able to make all conferences default to OBTP when possible while leaving non-OBTP capable endpoints on dial out/auto-connect."

There is no inherent reason for this restriction, it only follows from the internal data model for conferences used in TMS. We do see that there are some unpleasant side effects of the current model, and we have discussed to move the connection type (OBTP, 'automatic connect', etc.) from a conference level to a participant level – that would solve your problem. However, this would be a non-trivial change from a development and testing perspective, so it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

If this is important to you or your customers, please reach out to your Cisco contact to open a more formal feature request.

Regards,

Kjetil

[Nick Halbert-Lillyman]

Yes, a per-participant model would certainly be ideal, thankyou for the response.