[Asterisk-biz] Need Cisco 7960's

[Patrick]

On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 16:00, Brent Franks wrote:
> On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Kevin P. Fleming wrote:
> Well, I know Polycom frowns on Asterisk.  They don't want to go near it.
> Their tightening might be as a result of calls coming in with people
> saying they purchased it, but not through an authorized reseller.  I know
> we purchased ours through Insight and I only call and talk to them when
> there is a problem w/ their phone.  For example, the phone should be using
> NTP not SNTP, or the volume resets to a nominal level for ADA compliance.
> The immediate question is "Which soft switch are you using?".  Say
> Asterisk, they tell you should not be calling, even if it is a problem
> with their phone regardless of the soft switch.
> 
> So, moral of the story, lie about the softswitch.  You'll get a lot
> further.
> 
> What ever happened to Polycom working w/ the Asterisk community (as it was
> hinted earlier) rather than against it?
> 
> - B
> 

Today I spoke with Polycom's EMEA Product Manager for SoundPoint IP
phones. She was very helpful, took the time to understand what I was
asking (how come SoundPoint IP phones can not be bought individually
without a VoIP system from one of your technology partners). Their idea
is that they want to make sure their SoundPoint IP phones work. So they
have partnered with a number of technology partners (see
http://www.polycom.com/partners/1,,pw-2247,FF.html) that have certified
that the SoundPoint works like it should with these Softswitches/IP PBX.
I think it is all about customer satisfaction.

I explained that the SoundPoint IP phones are working *today* with
Asterisk and that making these phones unavailable to the Asterisk
community is not smart business as we will buy Cisco's instead.
Obviously she rather preferred we buy Polycom phones. Her point was that
she needs a business case to justify  making them interoperable and
releasing phones to something like an Asterisk related technology
partner (Digium) or to the community.

Given the attractive price of the Polycom phones, their functionality
comparable to the Cisco 7940/7960 (the 7960 is actually made by Polycom
for Cisco) and a listening ear in the Polycom organization, it makes
sense to see if we can drive this forward. Maybe it takes Digium to act
as Polycom's technology partner but the result could be good. <faint
thought>IAX support in a Polycom...</faint thought>

Since I too remember that back in 2003 (iirc) someone had started a
dialog with Polycom it makes sense to align our strategies and
discussions. Anyone know who that was? Anyone have any other input?
Did that person perhaps setup this site:
http://www.freedomphones.net/polycom/files/ Ring any bells?

Regards,
Patrick