[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk and Avaya IP phones

[Michael C. Cambria]

Ed Rubright wrote:

> The company I work for has deployed an Avaya IP phone system.  They have 
> deployed the Avaya 4602 and 4620 IP telephones.  They might be sending 
> me one of these phones for use in my home office.

I recently (April) left Avaya.  I was in the IP router/GigE switch area 
mostly, but in the last year plus built media gateways.  So I know 
enough to be dangerous.  Things may also have changed since April.

> Question: Can I make this IP telephone register and work with my 
> Asterisk server?  I don't know if it is a SIP phone?  I searched thru 
> the Avaya site, but can't find whether it’s a SIP phone or not.  Thought 
> maybe someone on this list would know.

No.  Unless things changed, all IP devices were H.323 based, with a lot 
of AT&T/Lucent/Avaya extensions.  Extensions exist to add to what is 
lacking in H.323 (e.g. management, such as when you go off-hook, turn 
the green light on etc.)   They pretty much turn the IP phone into one 
of their DCS phones.

> Question: Would I be able to register my Asterisk server or an 
> individual SIP phone (Cisco 7960 or Polycom IP600) with the Avaya server 
> these 46xx IP telephones use?  I don't know what model of the Avaya 
> server the company has purchased, so I have limited info here.

There was no SIP support when I left.   Using QSIG, you might be able to 
interoperate over a "crossover" T1 cable between the Asterisk server and 
  MultiVantage (or whatever they call "call control" this week.)

Avaya did support NetMeeting (H.323) clients at one point.  Setting up 
Asterisk as an H.323 client (to Avaya) and SIP on the other side might 
also work.  Others on the list will know more of Asterisk's capabilities 
in this area.

MikeC