[Asterisk-Users] Analog Phones with Status Light Indicators

[Adam Goryachev]

On Thu, 2004-08-12 at 22:49, Rich Adamson wrote:
> What you're looking for is key system functionality, and asterisk is a
> pbx. Fully understand that many of the competitive products cross the
> old line between key systems and pbx's by providing the most often
> wanted features in a single box. Not likely to happen in the near term
> with asterisk simply because the majority of the sip phones on the
> market don't have the firmware support necessary to turn on/off the
> led's for lines (or feature) buttons.

OK, so two questions:

a) Is there a cost effective 'pure key system' which can integrate 
with asterisk to provide this solution?

b) What *do* the 6 'line' buttons on the Cisco 7960 and the polycom 
IP600 and other similar phones actually do at the moment? And, what would
it take to make these buttons/led's do what I want?

PS, sorry for being so thick, but I would like to understand this more fully.
Also, would like to help make it happen, once I know what is involved...

Regards,
Adam