Unified Communications Consulting
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CallManager) and Jabber
Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
Cisco Unified Communications Manager, formerly CallManager, acts as the heart of Cisco's communications and collaboration portfolio by providing a secure, shared, high-availability platform for session and call control for voice, video, messaging, mobility, IM, and Presence. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) handles vital voice communications functions including endpoint registration, call processing, and call admission control. All VoIP phones and IP Video phones managed by CUCM can share the same dial plan, and a consistent set of telephony services such as session management, voice, video, messaging, mobility, and web conferencing can easily be extended from corporate headquarters to branch offices, teleworkers, and mobile users.
Integrated with current releases of CUCM is Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service, which provides Cisco Jabber support for instant messaging (IM) and network-based Presence as well as federation for third-party collaborative platforms including Microsoft Office. In addition, Cisco's ISR routers can provide Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) to deliver essential call control functions in case the WAN experiences an outage.
Progent's Cisco-certified consultants can provide efficient and affordable online and onsite expertise to help organizations of any size build and maintain CUCM deployments that deliver maximum business value. Progent can help with any facet of CUCM configuration and troubleshooting in areas such as dial plans, endpoint addressing schemes, calling party presentation, call admission control, codec selection, Single Number Reach (SNR), PSTN integration, and SIP infrastructure solutions. For high availability, Progent can help you configure dual CUCM servers in a fault-tolerant cluster and Progent's router experts can help you enable SRST backup on Cisco ISR routers to provide automatic failover at remote sites. Progent can provide as-needed expertise to guide your IT team over occasional technical hurdles and Progent also offers comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you complete major unified communications initiatives on time and on budget.
Components of Unified Communications Solutions Managed by CUCM
Cisco Unified Communications Manager can be run on a Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Server or on an SRE blade module for a Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2 (ISR G2). Cisco Unified CM supports a range of deployment models including public cloud, private cloud, on-premises, remote, and hybrid. For deployments of 25 to 1,000 users, Cisco offers the Business Edition 6000 (BE6000) family of packaged, virtualized collaboration applications built around CUCM and including the software components needed for advanced voice, video, messaging, IM and Presence, and contact center features. For deployments with 1,000 to 5,000 users, Cisco offers the BE7000 line of integrated packages. Each Business Edition package is available with several Cisco UCS server hardware platform options.
Key applications from Cisco provide the foundation for a full-featured, CUCM-managed collaborative communications solution. Many older releases and multiple versions of these applications are currently available from Cisco, and many more releases have reached end-of-life status since Cisco's introduction of CallManager, Cisco Unified Communications Manager's predecessor, about two decades ago. Progent's veteran Cisco-certified consultants can provide support for both legacy and current versions of Cisco's unified communications technology and can help companies maintain and troubleshoot their existing messaging environments or plan and carry out an efficient migration to Cisco's current products.
Core application families associated with Cisco Unified Communications Manager include:
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM or CUCM) provides session and call control for video, voice, messaging, mobility, IM, Presence, and web conferencing, supporting both Cisco endpoints and third-party devices. Features include dial plan, call routing, bandwidth management, native call queuing, and support for Cisco Jabber. Unified CM has a maximum capacity of 40,000 devices in a standard cluster and 80,000 devices in a megacluster.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (Unified CME or CME) is a Cisco IOS software-based version of Cisco Unified Communications Manager intended to provide localized call control, mobility, and conferencing to branch offices and designed to run on Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) such as the Cisco 2900, 3900, or 4000 Series ISRs. CME can be combined with other services such as Cisco Unity Express. CME is compatible with a broad range of Cisco Unified IP Phones and video endpoints as well as third-party SIP endpoints. CME also supports Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) to provide branch offices with basic PBX capabilities in case of a WAN outage. CME supports up to 450 users.
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service
Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service offers core features plus optional enhanced capabilities. Core features include viewing Presence, exchanging IMs, ad hoc group chat, contact management, support for multiple devices including iOS and Android phones and tablets, file transfer, Microsoft Office integration, Cisco Jabber support, LDAP directory support, plus personal directory and buddy lists. Optional features include persistent chat, calendaring, federation, Microsoft Exchange Server integration, Cisco Telephony Presence, and remote Cisco IP Phones control. IM and Presence Service supports multinode scalability with 15,000 users per cluster in a Presence redundancy group, and 45,000 users per cluster in a deployment with High Availability. - Cisco Jabber
Jabber is Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) client software that enables enterprise-class collaboration with contacts by supporting IM and Presence, IP voice and video, voicemail, screen sharing, file transfer, and video conferencing functions for Windows and Mac computers plus Apple iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Jabber evolved from the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco Mobile, and WebEx Connect, with significant improvements for video support and screen sharing, and extending collaboration to more devices. Jabber operates with CUCM for call and session management, Cisco Unified Presence for IM and Presence, Cisco Unity Connection for voice messaging and auto attendant, and Cisco WebEx Meeting for conferencing. (To learn about Progent's consulting and troubleshooting services for Cisco Jabber, see Progent's Cisco Jabber integration and support consulting). - Cisco Unity Connection
Cisco Unity Connection, designed as an integrated extension of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, provides voicemail services and allows users to manage voice messages via their email inbox, a web browser, a Cisco Unified IP Phone, an Android phone or tablet, an iPhone or iPad, or Cisco Jabber. Interaction with Unity Connection can be through the visual voicemail feature, phone keypad, or voice commands. The Single Inbox feature synchronizes voice messages in Unity Connection and Microsoft Exchange mailboxes and is supported for on-premises or cloud-based Exchange deployments as well as or Office 365 Exchange Online. This server-hosted application supports up to 250 ports on single server, or 500 ports/sessions on active/active cluster pair. Mailbox capacity is 20,000 per server, and multiple servers or server pairs are supported.Cisco Unity Express (CUE), like Unified CME, is designed to run on Cisco ISR routers and offers branch locations and small or mid-size offices integrated messaging, voicemail, fax, and other features hosted in a compact appliance. SRST support ensures CUE survivability in the event that a remote site's WAN connection goes down. A router-hosted application, CUE has a maximum capacity of 32 ports/sessions and 500 mailboxes.
Cisco Unity, which has been replaced by Cisco Unity Connection, has reached end-of-life and end-of-sale status but is still widely deployed. Progent can help you maintain your current Cisco Unity environment or help you plan and carry out an efficient migration to Cisco Unity Connection or Unity Connection Express.
- Cisco Contact Center
Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (Unified CCE or UCCE) integrates with CUCM, Cisco Unified IP Interactive Voice Response, and agent desktop software such as Finesse to provide automatic call distribution (ACD) capabilities that allow an organization to connect customers with appropriate sales or support personnel. UCCE offers smart call routing, computer telephony integration (CTI), multichannel contact management, network call queuing, interactive voice response (IVR) and consolidated enterprise-wide reporting to simplify the creation and management of a large-scale contact center solution. Cisco infrastructure incorporated in Unified CCE's customer interaction management ecosystem includes Cisco Unified IP Phones, Cisco Voice Gateways, and Cisco LAN/WAN technology.Cisco Contact Center Express (Unified CCX or CCX) provides an out-of-the-box solution for creating a customer contact center for departmental, branch or midmarket deployments that support up to 400 agents. Several packages are available, plus a variety of optional advanced features. CCX is tightly integrated with Unified Communications Manager and offers intelligent call routing, contact management, integrated reporting, interactive voice response, and the ability to manage voice, email, web chat, and social media inquiries. Unified CCX includes Cisco Finesse, a browser-based, highly customizable desktop agent that requires no client-side installation. Advanced options include conditional routing, call-in-queue, expected-wait-time messages, and productivity optimization with workforce and quality management.
- Cisco Unified Mobility: Single Number Reach (SNR) with Mobile Connect
Cisco Unified Mobility, formerly called Cisco Unified Mobility Manager, is an application server that integrates with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Mobile Connect is a Cisco Unified Mobility Application, popularly known as Single Number Reach (SNR), that allows users to be called via a single phone number that rings simultaneously on their Cisco IP Phone and their smartphone or tablet. Users can also seamlessly switch live calls between their Cisco IP phone and their mobile phone. Unanswered calls can be redirected to a Cisco Unity or Cisco Unity Connection account. Users can create their own access lists that specify which business calls get extended to alternate numbers. - Cisco Unified Attendant Console
Cisco Unified Attendant Console Advanced (Unified AC Advanced) uses a powerful call-queuing engine to allow an organization's operators to manage high volumes of calls from multiple sources. Unified AC Advanced provides conventional attendant console functions and adds enhanced queuing features including operator queue assignment, prioritized queue views, queue statistics, and flexible queue overflow options. The console's client software runs on each operator's Windows desktop and pairs with Cisco Unified IP Phones. Cisco Unified AC can handle up to 100,000 contacts and can synchronize the attendant console directory with Microsoft Active Directory or with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Enhanced telephony features include Presence, call transfer and call park recall, operator-managed conferencing, call toggle and after-hours routing.Cisco Unified Attendant Console Standard (Cisco Unified AC) communicates with Cisco Unified CM (but not CME) to allow phone operators to answer, transfer, hold, park, join, conference, and place outbound calls. Cisco Unified AC Standard replaces Cisco Unified Communications Manager Attendant Console and includes enhanced capabilities like logging into and out of hunt groups, automatic import of CUCM dial rules, personalized speed dial groups, the ability of operators to add individual contacts manually, directory search, and integration with Jabber Presence.
- Cisco Prime Collaboration
Cisco Prime Collaboration is a full-featured unified management tool for Cisco's voice and video collaboration ecosystems, offering policy-based provisioning, monitoring, debugging, and analytics. Primer Collaboration streamlines moves, adds and changes and enables proactive problem detection and resolution for all components of Cisco's Unified Communications platform including Unified CM, Unity Connection and Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE). Prime Collaboration also provides easy-to-use management analytics including application adoption and usage rates, allowing organizations to optimize resources and reduce TCO even further.
Unified Communications Manager and associated applications can be virtualized and run on Cisco's UCS servers while still leaving space for additional apps. All Cisco Unified Communications applications support clustering. A simple high-availability deployment features two UCS servers hosting the same suite of CUCM-related applications. Applications along with management and setup parameters on a primary "publisher" system are duplicated on a secondary "subscriber" machine. If an instance of an application stops working, the services failover automatically and transparently to the backup. Cisco's UCS servers also provide redundancy for power, network connectivity, and storage arrays.
Cisco Expressway
Cisco Expressway (Expy) offers users outside your firewall secure access to the collaboration services provided through Cisco Unified Communications Manager such as real-time video, voice, content, instant messaging, and Presence. By providing safe firewall and NAT traversal, Expressway extends collaboration to mobile and remote workers, people using third-party systems and endpoints, and workers at other companies. Offsite Jabber clients have single-sign-on access to all collaboration workloads without requiring a VPN client. Open standards supported include IPv4 to IPv6, H.323 to SIP, and Microsoft environments including Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
Cisco Expressway has two components, Expressway-C and Expressway-E, that work with your existing security tools and policies and require minimal firewall set up. Expressway traffic flows through your firewall rather than bypassing it. Expressway-C is located within your trusted network and acts as a traversal client for creating a secure connection to Expressway-E through the firewall. Expressway-C establishes a connection to Cisco Unified CM, provides native endpoint registrations, and allows Cisco TelePresence endpoints to work with compliant third-party video systems and with Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, and Lync clients.
Expressway-E enables the traversal services that allow VPN-less connectivity with remote and home office users, business partners, and customers. Since it can be accessed from the untrusted external network, Expressway-E is located in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at your network perimeter, where it acts as a traversal server to allow secure communications with Expressway-C. Communications to and from the Expressway-E server are controlled by your firewall's policies.
Cisco Expressway can be deployed on the Cisco Expressway CE1100 Appliance, which is based on the Cisco UCS C220 Server, or as a virtualized application under VMware. As many as six Expressway appliances and virtual machines can be deployed as a cluster for high availability and to increase capacity.
Cisco VoIP Infrastructure Solution for SIP and PSTN Gateways
Landlines and mobile phones utilize the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) for local and international calls, which creates the need for a voice gateway for a conventional Unified Communications Manager deployment. Cisco's ISR G2 routers accept TDM (time-division multiplexing) modules for routing calls to and from the PSTN at headquarters and at remote sites. An example would be using an ISR G2 3900 series router at headquarters and an ISR G2 2900 series router at a branch office.
For Unified CM deployments that use SIP trunks to connect to Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service providers, Cisco's ISR G2 routers can be enabled for CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element) functionality, which allows control of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) services with registered external entities. CUBE is deployed in the DMZ so the firewall can inspect calls. Your dial plan determines whether Unified CM routes calls to a PSTN gateway, CUBE, or Cisco Expressway.
To learn more about Progent's consulting services for SIP trunks and the Cisco CUBE session border controller, see SIP and CUBE infrastructure solutions: SIP trunks and Cisco CUBE integration expertise. For more information about Progent's integration support for VoIP and IP video solutions, refer to Cisco VoIP infrastructure consulting and troubleshooting.
How Progent Can Help You Integrate and Troubleshoot Cisco Unified Communications Manager
Progent's CCIE-certified network infrastructure consultants can provide remote or onsite expertise to help you create and troubleshoot a modern communications solution based on Cisco Unified Communications Manager and associated applications and appliances. Progent can help you plan, install, configure and debug a CUCM deployment of any size, upgrade older products, migrate from a legacy PBX system, integrate cloud services, and train your IT staff.
Common examples of online consulting tasks provided by Progent to support Cisco Unified Communications Manager deployments include:
- Update CallManager to Unified Communications Manager
- Integrate and troubleshoot Unity Connection and Unity Connection Express
- Configure Expressway
- Configure and test Cisco UCM backup and failover
- Repair Cisco Contact Center Express databases
- Plan, deploy and configure BE6000
- Configure CUBE gateway on ISR router
- Redesign dial plan to support SIP trunk connectivity
- Resolve QoS issues with SIP carrier
- Integrate remote PSTN and SIP calling
- Deploy, debug, and upgrade VMware ESXi
- Troubleshoot mailbox synchronization issues
- Review and update DHCP and NAT
- Configure and test UCS Servers and Unified CM clustering
- Update Access Control Lists (ACL), route lists and route groups
- Resolve SIP, H.232 and MGCP transformation issues
For more details concerning Progent's consulting services for Cisco technology, select a topic:
- Introduction to Cisco Engineering Services
- Fast and Affordable Online Access to a Cisco CCIE Engineer
- Cisco Routers Consulting Support
- Cisco Wireless Engineering Help
- Aironet APs Consulting Help
- Cisco Small Business WiFi Access Points System Design Expertise
- Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Solution Design, Deployment and Debugging Expertise
- Cisco WiFi Controllers Consultants
- Meraki Wireless Access Points Consulting Help
- Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Consulting and Wireless VoIP Phone Configuration
- Cisco Jabber and Management Services
- Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Services
- Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
- Cisco Meraki MS Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
- Cisco VPN and Network Security Integration Expertise
- SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
- Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote Workers
- Design Expertise for Cisco-based Datacenters
- Network Optimization Expertise for ISPs
- Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Techniques for Cisco-powered Infrastructure
An index of content::
Telecommuter Jobs Contract Cisco CCNA
Independent EDI Contractor Positions
Our Experts Group provides support in important areas that include Macintosh networking and programs; Consulting for Linux-based, UNIX, and Sun environments; Manufacturing Resource Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, or CRM consulting; Mission-critical and vertical application help; CIO, business analyst, and project logistics services; Custom applications development and deployment; Web, electronic business, Electronic Data Interchange, and client portal development and integration; DBM management and performance help; Management intelligence consulting; and Telecom architecture consulting.
Private Clouds for Small Businesses Engineers
Private Cloud Solutions Engineers
Progent's ProSight Virtual hosting services offer small and midsize companies a range of benefits such as lower capital expenditures, savings on operational costs, improved management focus, world-class protection, enhanced availability, and business continuity.
SQL Server 2014 Cardinality Estimation Help and Support
SQL Server 2014 Backup Network Consulting
SQL Server 2014 includes significant improvements in key areas including performance, uptime, compliance, and cloud integration. SQL Server 2014 is the first version of Microsoft SQL Server that includes in-memory capability that works transparently with all types of applications including Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), enterprise data warehousing, and business analytics. Progent's Microsoft-certified SQL Server 2014 consultants can deliver cost-effective remote and on-premises consulting services that include system design, configuration, management, remediation, and software development services to enable businesses of all sizes to realize fast return from their SQL Server 2014 investment.
Skype for Business video conferencing Engineers
Best Skype for Business and Cisco UC Consulting
Progent's consultants can provide remote and on-premises consulting services for organizations of all sizes to evaluate the benefits of upgrading to Microsoft Skype for Business from any release of Microsoft Lync Server or Microsoft Office Communications Server. Progent can assist your business to plan a local, cloud or mixed topology; integrate Skype for Business with Microsoft SQL Server,Exchange, SharePoint and Office or Microsoft 365; configure high-availability mechanisms; connect Skype for Business with your PBX system and PSTN gateway; and integrate other communication platforms like Cisco UC and Cisco Video Interop Server (VIS). Progent's certified network security experts can help you create and verify a security environment for your Skype for Business solution that meets government and industry standards.
Exchange 2010 Upgrade Consultancy
Microsoft Exchange Server Migration Consulting Services
Progent's Microsoft-certified network engineers can assist you to determine the benefits of Exchange Server 2010 for your business and can help you to design and carry out an efficient migration to Exchange 2010 from Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2007 Server that will offer quick ROI by increasing your workers' efficiency, cutting the expense of equipment and support, streamlining management, and consolidating your key communications platforms.
SQL Server Support and Integration
SQL Server Capacity Planning Design Firms
SQL Server 2005 delivers indispensable, familiar tools to IT experts and network users, reducing the difficulty of designing, integrating, managing, and accessing company information and database programs on platforms ranging from mobile devices to corporate data networks. The complexity and interconnectivity requirements of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 call for an IT consulting firm with hands-on expertise and broad knowledge in planning and deploying information-based, comprehensive business IT solutions. The expertise of Progent's Microsoft-certified technical team, with an average of more than 10 years of background supporting Microsoft technology, ensures you success in planning, configuring and supporting Microsoft SQL Server 2005 solutions that are seamlessly integrated with the Microsoft .NET environment.
Consulting Services ADSL2+
Consultants ISP Service Plan Selection
Progent can provide the affordable support of remote Internet connectivity experts to assist your company to evaluate or enhance your ISP services so your Internet access solution meets your business requirements. Support services available from Progent's engineers include assessment of your current bandwidth utilization, vendor and plan comparison and selection, network provisioning, and overseeing a smooth move to a new carrier and/or service arrangement. Network provisioning can include optimizing current routers and configuring new ones, implementing firewalls, and designing fault-tolerant Border Gateway Protocol architectures.
ProSight ESP Endpoint Protection IT Consultants
Computer Consultants Modern Network Security
Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection services offer ultra-affordable multi-layer security for physical servers and virtual machines, desktops, mobile devices, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP uses adaptive security and advanced machine learning for round-the-clock monitoring and responding to security assaults from all vectors. ProSight ESP offers firewall protection, intrusion alarms, endpoint management, and web filtering via leading-edge tools packaged within one agent managed from a single console. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can help your business to plan and configure a ProSight ESP environment that meets your company's unique requirements and that allows you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry information security standards. Progent will help you specify and configure security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alarms that call for immediate action. Progent can also assist you to set up and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover rapidly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware.
Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V Technology Consulting Services
Windows 2019 Hyper-V IT Consultant
Progent's Microsoft-certified Windows Server 2019 experts can help your organization to plan and carry out a cost-effective migration to Windows Server 2019 using your current deployment architecture or a new cloud-based or hybrid model. Windows Server 2019 offers significant improvements in capacity, speed, manageability, virtualization, cybersecurity, hybrid on-prem plus cloud integration, resilience, and Linux support.
Support Services Windows SharePoint Services
SharePoint Server 2013 Support and Setup
Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants offer organizations of any size consulting, troubleshooting, and development expertise for Microsoft SharePoint and SharePoint Online. Microsoft SharePoint is an advanced collaboration platform that uses web technology for efficiently connecting people, teams and information. SharePoint offers a common spot for your employees or customers to access, organize, distribute and manipulate useful data, files, and applications and to communicate with one another. Microsoft SharePoint allows faster and more intelligent decisions, more efficient access across groups and more economical business practices. Windows SharePoint Services connect workers, customers, workgroups and major tasks with the knowledge they've created in a manner that makes data easy to find, download and apply. Progent's certified SharePoint experts can help you to manage your existing SharePoint environment or migrate to the current version of SharePoint Server or to SharePoint Online.
Expert Microsoft Certified Great Plains Migration Professional
Microsoft Certified Network Consultants Great Plains Migration
Key features of Dynamics GP software include a modular design that allows you to license only the functionality you need, a standards-based architecture built on Microsoft technologies to safeguard your investment and offer a tightly interconnected environment, enhanced reporting services that permit you to track all operations, revenues and expenses and sales trends, compatibility with Microsoft Office to enable access to corporate information, the ability to process information from virtually any database or desktop software into Microsoft GP, plus an open design that makes it easy to create custom programs. Progent can help you configure and maintain a reliable, secure server and communications infrastructure to support Microsoft Dynamics GP/Great Plains, and can provide expert GP/Great Plains consultants to help you convert the powerful features of Microsoft Dynamics GP/Great Plains accounting into a productive business solution.
Select Topic: