Cisco 9900 IP Phone Feature Questions:

[tammmill]

So I'm looking at the Data sheets for the 9900 series phones and wonder if you can answer a couple questions for me.

1) Looks like the phone can connect wirelessly instead of wired which is kind of cool, If you have the phone connected wirelessly, can you still use the PC port on the phone to connect a PC (i.e. use the phone to connect a PC that does not have a wireless NIC)?

2) Are there any limitations to the USB Headsets or should it work with "any" USB headset?

3) Am i correct in reading this is a SIP only phone and that it does not do SCCP Support?

4) Power is listed as 802.3af and 802.3at support.  Are there any limitations when using 802.3af instead of 802.3at? I am guessing the USB ports may require the Class 4 PoE?

5) It looks like these are just supported on Communications Manager 7.1(3) or later.  I assume they will work in SRST as well? if so what IOS version / SRST version would be required to support these phones (or does it matter?)

[kimcneil]

Hello,

Support for Cisco Unified IP Phone 8900 and 9900 Series has moved to CME 8.5 (november 2010). Am trying to confirm for you if that shall be full support (inclusive of video) or just voice communications support. I will advise as soon as I have answer back from the CME prime.

Regards,

Kirk McNeill

Collaboration Solutions Marketing

Cisco Systems

[gregatatt]

Hi -

I too would like to know when the 9900 series will be supported on the UC5XX platform.

Previous replies have said that there is no preceived interest in using the 9900's on the UC5XX platform.

But there are at least 4 people here who do, and I would expect others who don't (know to) post here.

If there needs to be a formal request for support, I'd be happy to complete any necessary form.

Thanks!

Greg

[psampson]

Let me check with the UC500 product manager and reply back. 

[Marcus Olson]

We are a partner who sells about 2-3 UC500 systems a month.  Our users would all upgrade to the 9xxx/8xxx phones simply because of the improved UI.  Most users do NOT like the 79xx UI.

[gregatatt]

I agree with them.

[Alberto Montilla]

Dear Sirs;

We expect (not committed yet) to adopt CME 8.5 (basic 89/9900 phone support - no video) by Q2 2011 (together with CCA 3.1). Video support will come one release after with CME 8.6 (together with CCA 3.2) targetted (not commited) for Q3 CY11.

Stay tuned for confirmed dates on the Small Business Support Community www.cisco.com/go/smallbizsupport

Regards

Alberto Montilla

UC500 PM

[bjames]

YEAH!

I am hoping you mean on the UC5x0 systems, it's going to be a long wait

I've got two sitting on my desk collecting dust waiting to test on UC.

If you need beta testers let me know.

Bob

[gregatatt]

Bob -

That's too funny.

I too, have two of them collecting dust.

I'd be willing to be a beta tester as well.

Greg

[Marcus Olson]

I have a couple 99xx's on hand as well.  I'm glad to see there is a path to supporting them.

[wintechllc]

Ditto on multiple 99xx handsets collecting dust while waiting for UC500 support. Although this was added to an Ingram deviation that was based on the UC500, they had no problem selling us these handsets, oh, a year ago! This is obviously my fault for assuming. So, now we show clients the shiny new phone like some mocked-up concept car that can't actually be used, but it looks really fast!

http://www.wintechgroup.net/

[bjames]

Matt,

IMHO it seems that this is the norm now adays for Cisco. I understand some of the announcements of products to get developers on board, but these days I believe if you introduce a technology or software and can't deliver for 6 months to a year, you're going to be an also ran.

It would be nice to see a product announced that really does ship today (yes I know there are some), but introducing a product, then saying it will be available in the last quarter of the year doesn't make sense to me, the hype is over, people that were looking for that type of product are more likely to go to a competitor, and it usually takes longer to bring out anyway than what it stated.

Cisco was really pushing on SMB last year and that was great, but Social media and video have taken over the path so I think it's either hopping on the bandwagon or there are some really big companies pushing for this, in the mean time the little guys have been put to the side.....pretty standard.

Don't get me wrong I am a big Cisco fan, there have just been too many great ideas announced that we won't see for a very long time.

These are my opinions......

Bob James

[psampson]

It must be frustrating to have to wait for some of our great ideas to become real for you.  I can speak for small business marketing only here but our goal is to "not launch any product before its time."  As a result, the majority of our product launches and announcements highlight products that are available.  We do announce products from multiple technology groups within the company and the ways and means that those are announced do vary.  I've read the entire thread and I am not clear if/how support for the 9900 series phones on UC5XX was introduced.  The Small Business Technology group and Small Business Marketing have neither announced nor hinted at that.  I see that our Product Manager has responded and provided a timeline for this once it is committed by the company.

If you have further questions or need any additional clarification on anything, we will attempt to respond to you quickly and completely.  And thank you for being a Cisco fan.

[kimcneil]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the feedback. Understand and appreciate your perspective coming from a valued channel partner.

As you had noted developers, not clear if your reference was to Cisco Cius but in the event it was, you are absolutely correct in terms of it being announced prior to its shipment availability. In this case, Cisco communicated publicly and forthrightly its reasonings behind its announcement timing - that being, to get the word out to Android Developers that 1) we have a tablet in development and plan to deliver it and 2) wish to work with these developers to deliver transformational business process applications for our customers.

We noted at the time of John Chambers' announcement that delivery would be in CYQ1 2011. As an update, we are accepting customer orders for Cisco Cius as of March 31st with commercial availability at that time. With over 450+ customer applications for external field trial participation, our business unit, in partnership with our collaboration sales team, have preselected key customer accounts that will receive scaled production deployments of Cius tablets during the months of April and early May. As such, we do anticipate longer than standard leadtimes for orders placed the end of March as production ramps up. We expect full blown global general availability on or before May 31, 2011.

On the applications developer/ecosystem front, our business development team has onboarded a number of developer partners for both horizontal and vertically focused applications which will benefit customers of Cisco Cius. More details to follow in future communications in this regard so stay tuned. Customers are very excited about the opportunity Cisco is providing for them to have their own custom stores - a trusted source for certified applications in an otherwise very unsecured applications world.

So, bottom line is - Cisco Cius isn't just slideware - it's very real and it is resonating with customers who are seeking the ability to enable their mobile employees with rich collaborative, communications and computing experiences that can really redefine the way people go about their work. We've supported industry events such as Consumer Electronics Show, where Verizon Business Solutions group announced support for Cisco Cius on their 4G/LTE network. Additional SP's are under negotiation at this time and more updates shall be forthcoming as these discussions are finalized.

We were also at National Retail Federation in NY and Cisco Live! London in Jan, Mobile World Congress in Feb, HIMMS (public sector show), Enterprise Connect 2011 and Partner Summit in March where the response has been extremely positive. And we'll be at the upcoming CTIA Wireless event here next week. And there's a full agenda of events with Cius presence planned this upcoming quarter where customers will have the opportunity to experience Cius firsthand.

Trust this helps and thanks again for taking the time to express your concerns, being a Cisco fan and giving us a chance to respond with some feedback as well.

regards,

Kirk McNeill

Collaboration Solutions Marketing

[bjames]

Thanks Kirk, very well said.

I would only make one suggestion, and send it right to Mr. Chambers, please don't announce the product before it's ready to ship (The Cius I understand and put it aside).

Patricia, the norm has shifted now to announcements that are aways away; Cius, Jabber, CMEBE3000, as examples. It's tough when customers see the products, want them, and we have to tell them to wait 4 months (or more), in agile business terms 4 months is a lifetime.

We will wait happily, test the products when they come out then go back to the customers and see what they ended up buying instead

Keep pushing and let's hope for early releases.

Bob James

[jefforsi]

Hi,

anyone knows if 9971 phones have video support on CUCME 8.5? Is there any restriction yet?

By the matrix it is fully supported: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucme/requirements/guide/cme85spc.htm.html

Is it possible to add a MCU to CUCME and support video conference (multi party)?

Thanks.

Jefferson