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Integration with Lync 2013

serviznie
Level 1
Level 1

Hi all.

In my corporate, we are planning migrate from OCS 2007 to Lync 2013. Actually, we have a few Cisco devices that are integrated with OCS 2007:

  • Cisco Tandberg VCS version x6.1
  • Cisco Codian MCU version 4.1 (comp 6.16)

Is it supported/qualified/homologated these versions to work with Lync 2013? Or is it necessary to update them?

Thanks in advance.

15 Replies 15

Paul Woelfel
Level 4
Level 4

Hi Lync 2013 does not work with Cisco Telepresence Infrastructure. Microsoft moved to H.264 SVC which is not support on any Cisco Codec. So video won't work. But the even larger problem is, that Lync 2013 client sends sdp as multipart/alternative, like in an email, which is not supported by any other system i know.

And again a Microsoft is based on standards, but the do it completly diffrent like everyone else...

Regards, Paul

Thanks Paul for your quick response!

If I don´t understand badly, you are telling me that we cannot use the Cisco devices alredy present. Bad notices due to the expensive cost of these devices...

Can you advise me some workarounds or solutions??

Thanks again

Yes, don't use Lync 2013 ;-)

I hope Cisco is working on the mess, that Microsoft created and are able to convert it into well formated SIP messages.

There is already another thread about Lync 2013 in the support forum:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3779454

Regards, Paul

In the post you point me, they talk about AMGW (Advanced Media Gateway), and looks like a be a possible workaround, but........appears to be problems when establish video call from Lync to MCU...Instead, in the other direction appears to work well (with a AMGW present)

serviznie wrote:

In the post you point me, they talk about AMGW (Advanced Media Gateway), and looks like a be a possible workaround, but........appears to be problems when establish video call from Lync to MCU...Instead, in the other direction appears to work well (with a AMGW present)

There is also a relatively large cost involved WRT to the 3610 AM GW, and at can only support 10 concurrent HD calls. In this senerio you can look at each call cost around $10,000!

Jens Didriksen
Level 9
Level 9

There is a solution on the horizon, ask your Cisco rep for a roadmap presentation as these things cannot be discussed in a public forum.

However, as of today, as Paul has said, Lync 2013 will not work with Cisco infrastructure and/or end-points.

Regardless of this, upgrading your VCS to x7.x is highly recommended.

/jens

Please rate replies and mark question(s) as "answered" if applicable.

In the interim, could this maybe be achieved with CUBE and PVDM3 modules?  The CUBE documentation states that it at least recognises H246 SVC, but I couldn't find what codecs are actually supported for transcoding.

It wouldn't be pretty, but I could see it working if you really needed it.

Chris Price
Level 1
Level 1

Just to be clear H.264 SVC is actually based on a standard produced by Polycom. This probably isn't the right place to post this but have you looked into LRS (Lync Room System)?

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

Chris Price wrote:

Just to be clear H.264 SVC is actually based on a standard produced by Polycom. This probably isn't the right place to post this but have you looked into LRS (Lync Room System)?

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

I thought the SVC profile was crafted by the UCI (Unified Communication Interoperability) Forum (http://www.ucif.org/AboutUs/UCIForumMembers.aspx), of which Polycom is a founder but so is Lifesize, Microsoft and IBM. As a guess, I would say that CIsco's nose has been put a little out of joint and was either not asked to be a part of the initiative, or threw its toys out of the pram and decided it wasn't going to participate. Of course, this is pure speculation!

Of course it means that the end user is the one that has to struggle and pay at the end of the day, but hasn't it always been that way?

The "SVC problem" is not about H.264 SVC standard as such, but about it not having a signalling standard - which means different companies can run H.264 SVC with different SIP extensions, which in turn means one will not talk the other....

Again, talk to your Cisco rep.

/jens

Please rate replies and mark question(s) as "answered" if applicable.

Hey Jens,

Doesn't the VCS already deal with the signaling and SIP extension problem with the B2BUA or OCS Relay? AFAIK, both in Lync 2010 and Lync 2013, you could set up a SIP trunk between the VCS and Lync server and establish a successfully call between a MS Lync client (based on MS SIP) and a standard SIP endpoint registered to the VCS.

However, in Lync 2010 the preferred video CODEC was the MS Preparatory RTV fill a fall back to H.263 - hence you can get a CIF video call through the VCS with the AMGW. The AMGW essentially uses the licensed MS RTV CODEC to transcode the RTV stream to H.264 and allow for high res calls.

In Lync 2013, the default CODEC is H.264 SVC, with RTV as a fall back. In 2013, I think you can still make a call from a Lync client to a endpoint registered on the VCS, but there is no video. You can get video if the AMGW is in place because it transcodes the RTV CODEC.

Or is it at the RTCP side of things where it all falls apart?

BTW, we have a meeting with the Cisco Partner next wee, but I like to be forewarned and forearmed.

Chris

There's a really good blog post by Jeff Shertz which explains this issue far better than what I can;

http://blog.schertz.name/2012/07/video-interoperability-in-lync-2013/#idc-cover

Also see his comments here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/lyncserverpreview/thread/0e377238-05e9-404c-9efa-1937a4ba0806/

My point was due to the lack of signalling standard within H.264 SVC, the fact that a number of vendors use H.264 SVC, does not necessarily mean that vendor A can talk to vendor B - without implementing a highly expensive gateway - and even then it will not, in some cases, actually work properly due to either using a proprietary "solution"  - or making changes on the RTCP side.

If I understand this correctly, then you won't get video either in this particular case unless both the VCS and the AMGW are updated accordingly due to the RTCP changes. You might get audio, but that's really neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.

Anyways, I've sent you a PM re your upcoming meeting.

/jens

Please rate replies and mark question(s) as "answered" if applicable.

Hey all,

Sorry to dig up this old chestnut again, but I would like to know some information about the Cisco MSE 8000 Series MCU's (specifically the 8510's) as we don't have direct control over theses devices and my knowledge on them is sketchy at best.

Does the MSE 8510 support the H.264-SVC video CODEC at this moment in time? If not, I take it that there is a roadmap to update the software in order that the MCU can dial H.264-SVC device directly, passed by the VCS @ x8.1?

Many thanks

Chris

I would like to know this as well, we have 4510s in our infrastructure and I didn't see anything mentioned about the H.264 SVC support in the latest release notes.

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