Despite it’s small version number increment, this is a BIG release. The what’s new list is a variety of items, so let’s take a quick look:

• Network Address Translation (NAT) support and firewall traversal for audio / video – this is something I’ve heard a few times as a deployment blocker, so great news.
• Audio / video in browser-based meeting rooms – Sametime 8.5 introduced the new style of persistent meeting rooms and provided rich client and browser-based access. Until now, audio / video was only available in the rich client.
• Mobile device support – a native Android client available and a meeting room client for the BlackBerry. And – wait for it – an Android-based SUT dialler client so that you can call via the SUT infrastructure rather than the mobile network.
• Sametime Unified Telephony (SUT) improvements, including active speaker notification in conference calls. There’s also support for dual Telephone Conferencing Service Provider Interface (TCSPI) adapters, allowing simultaneous integration with multiple audio and video conferencing systems.
• SUT Lite – described as the first rung on the UC² ladder, this is a simplified deployment option requiring minimal infrastructure. It integrates with a number of SIP-based solutions, provides features like click-to-call and easy connection to SIP end-points. Please note that SUT Lite requires Sametime Standard or Advanced plus an additional SUT Lite license.
• Live text in chat – one of Notes 8′s most funky features comes to Sametime. You can do the useful clicking on names, postcodes, part numbers, order numbers, etc… and phone numbers to dial them.

One other thing you may notice… IBM Sametime 8.5.2 is missing the Lotus brand from it’s official product name. Make of that what you will.

Sametime 8.5.2 is scheduled to ship in June 2011.

Mark you diary… 15:00 UK time this Wednesday, 18th May…

Ken Kannapen, Plantronics CEO, Bill Loewenthal, Plantronics Vice President of Unified Communications Solutions and Jeff Schick, IBM’s Vice President of Social Software will share insights into how businesses can simply communicate.

Interesting timing as there’s another big IBM announcement looming, but there’ll be more details on that later in the week.

For more details on joining the live web event please click here.

Jon Machtynger is Chief Technology Officer for IBM Collaboration Solutions in the UK & Ireland. Jon ‘volunteered’ to test-drive a GO 660 Bluetooth headset and use it for day-to-day use with Sametime Unified Telephony (and customer demos) in return for a write-up… and hereby qualifies for the honour of being a guest blogger on dadams.co.uk – Darren

The Jabra GO 660 is so easy to use that it took me some time to get it to work.

Let me explain.

When I opened the box, it contained:

1. The ear piece
2. A car charger with USB port
3. Micro-USB converter to allow charging of the ear piece from a computer, or charger
4. Various plastic accoutrements to allow me to attach the ear piece to my ear
5. A LINK 320 Bluetooth adaptor that fits into a USB port
6. A micro-CD

I took out the ear piece, switched it on, and paired it with my iPhone. It took some time for the iPhone to locate the ear piece – the iPhone picked up a bunch of other ear pieces, computers, and other mobiles before noticing the Jabra, which was strange since the ear piece was right next to the iPhone, and everything else was completely out of sight. Once that was done though, pairing the device was trivial as it had a default code.

I then tried to pair the ear piece to the included Bluetooth LINK 320. This simply didn’t work. I tried following the manual, which wasn’t very detailed at all, with no luck. I need to say that this was on a MacBook Pro. I’m not used to things not working on a Mac, so was quite confused. It then occurred to me that the dongle was doing what was probably already supported on the Mac. I simply paired the ear piece to the existing Bluetooth device present on the Mac, and everything worked. I also need to mention that the Mac, like the iPhone, also took some time to locate the Jabra before I was able top pair it.  In effect though, there was nothing to do with this device, but to let both the Mac and my iPhone be aware of it.

The sound quality is very good, and the device is very very small. It may be that a background noise cancellation system is working. All I can say is that it seems much louder and clearer than my existing ear piece. One other nice thing about it is that I have it paired to both my Mac and iPhone simultaneously. I can’t use both at the same time, but I don’t have to pair / un-pair the device regularly as I would with other devices.

I’m using the Jabra as a micro-headset for Sametime Unified Telephony, but actually it’s far more useful than that. I now use it as a default remote headphone for content on the laptop within the office. Everything that would come out of the speaker now magically appears in my ear. I don’t need to carry dangly headphones with me to listen to recorded content.

Regular readers of dadams.co.uk will know that I’m a big advocate of getting the right kit for unified communications solutions. Whether you’re working from home, in a private office, in an open-plan environment, or constantly on the move, it’s very important to get a device that suits you and allows you to manage your modes of communication. When working from the Camberley office, I use Sametime Unified Telephony as much as possible – for all my outgoing calls, and a considerable number of incoming calls. But some people will insist on calling my BlackBerry – which is annoying if I’m already on an SUT call. And personally I don’t like holding a mobile device up to my ear.

My equipment of choice at home is a Plantronics MCD100 speakerphone, and if I get myself organised I switch on a Voyager Pro Bluetooth headset to take the calls on the ‘Berry. If I’m in the office, a speakerphone isn’t the right thing, so I use either the Voyager Pro or the Savi W430 in conjunction with SUT.

A few weeks ago I made contact with Jabra – we’re often asked about end-user solutions to work alongside Sametime and SUT, so it’s good to be able to talk about a range of headsets and speakerphones. My contact at Jabra kindly arranged to send me some samples, and I picked up the box of goodies today. It contained:

• Jabra SPEAK 410
• Jabra PRO 9470
• Jabra GO 660
• Jabra BIZ 620

So far I haven’t had a chance to try out the BIZ 620 corded headset, or the GO 660, but more on that later. First out of it’s packaging was the SPEAK 410, a USB speakerphone. It ships with a black zip-up case – a nice touch. The USB cable is stored by winding it into a recess within the 410′s casing, thus making it very tidy for placement on a desk (no surplus cable) and for storage in the case. The 410 features touch-sensitive call-control, volume and mute buttons, and LEDs to show the volume and mute status.

I used the 410 on a few calls during the morning – the sound I was hearing was excellent, and I asked people about the sound quality their end – all confirmed it was crystal-clear. Okay, I haven’t done any comparisons against other speakerphones, but I have to give the 410 top marks. Click on the small image to see a larger version.

Next out of the packaging was the PRO 9470. How can I best describe it? It’s a headset with a base-station which features a touch screen. The base-station connects to a computer via a USB cable, and has inputs for desk telephones and Bluetooth to connect to mobile devices. So the big value proposition of the 9470 is that you can take / make calls from a variety of phones but use just one headset. The touch screen allows you to configure the base-station and its connections, and to select a device and pick up calls.

The box contains a lot of stuff, but the set-up takes just a couple of minutes, and within quarter of an hour I’d taken two calls on my ‘Berry and made an outgoing call using SUT. While I prefer speakerphones to headsets, the convenience of having one headset to manage calls on SUT and the ‘Berry is terrific – so I’m going to give the 9470 an extended run over the next few weeks. Headsets aren’t great for demos – speakerphones are – but I will take this baby out for customer visits.

The headset itself if comfortable to wear, swappable for your preferred ear (I’m left-earred), and features touch-sensitive volume and mute controls.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t had a chance to try the Jabra GO 660, which is a Bluetooth headset plus USB dongle. Matt Newton is going to test-drive this device over the next few weeks. But I will mention something rather nifty that comes in the box – a charger which fits in your car’s cigarette lighter, and which has a USB port in one end (into which fits an adapter which in turn slots into the 660 headset). A very nice addition.

So, I’ll close by saying thank you to Jabra for supplying these samples to try out with SUT, and if anyone wants to know more about these or other headsets for unified communications projects, please let me know.

A couple of months ago I blogged about Plantronics’ headsets, and it’s no secret that we have a very good relationship with this supplier of extremely high-quality audio equipment. Yes, Plantronics do work with other vendors of Unified Communications solutions (why wouldn’t they?) but it’s good to see that they’re extending the integration with Sametime.

Late last night I got an e-mail from Carl Tyler of Epilio, who are providing Plantronics’ Sametime integration via a plug-in. A previously-supplied plug-in allowed users of supported Plantronics headsets to control calls directly from the headset itself (for example, picking up and ending a call). Carl’s e-mail detailed a beta of a new plug-in which not only provides call-control, but also changes the user’s status if they’re on a VoIP or Sametime Unified Telephony call, or a call using another application, using a supported Plantronics headset… see below.

The messages are configurable, and I can make a distinction between a VoIP and an SUT call, and a call using another application such as Skype. It just tried this, and my Sametime status changed when I was on a Skype call.

No word yet on when the plug-in will move from beta to final, but after a number of SUT calls today it seems to work perfectly.

Last week I blogged about Christmas coming early in the form of some goodies from ClearOne and Plantronics. Having given the speakerphones a thorough testing (hey, I work for IBM, there’s no shortage of opportunities to get on a conference call) it was time to give the headsets a proper going-over. My contact at Plantronics, Declan, provided three new headsets – one attaches to a computer using cables… imagine that. Old school, but about as simple as it gets for connecting and works with any operating system with no drivers… and the price point will suit those with a modest budget. Needless to say though, Plantronics’ wired headsets are far better quality than the ones you can pick up for £10 on the high street.

Next up is the Voyager Pro… this baby uses Bluetooth to communicate between the USB adapter (some people call it a dongle, the documentation says it’s an adapter) and the headset. My previous Plantronics headset used this same USB adapter approach, and it’s a good way of getting round the possibility that your computer operating system’s support for Bluetooth may be a bit, errr, unreliable and difficult to set up. This, on the other hand, is dead easy… insert the USB adapter, switch on the headset, press the call control button, and they’re paired. Being Bluetooth-based it can also operate with your mobile phone.

The Voyager Pro is incredibly light, sits very comfortably on the ear and comes with a selection of ear buds to suit your own lug-hole. If you’re left-eared like me (seriously, I’m no good with phone calls in my right ear) the ear-piece and microphone can be reversed. In the box there’s all the right bits for charging and, a nice little touch, a carrying pouch. One more important thing… the sound quality. It’s fabulous, and considering it’s Bluetooth the range is excellent.

The other device in the box of goodies was the Savi W430. It looks similar to the Voyager Pro – the over-ear piece is larger but still very light, and the microphone arm is longer. Again the box contains spare ear buds, a USB charging cable and a pouch, but it also includes a charging dock. The key difference is that the W430 doesn’t use Bluetooth – instead it uses DECT wireless technology routed through a USB adapter. This results in even greater range and should provide better sound quality with less interference… although I found that the sound quality of the Voyager Pro was so good that it was difficult to tell the difference. Using the W430 I could move from my home office upstairs and down into the kitchen with no sound break-up – Bluetooth doesn’t reach that far.

In general, both of these Plantronics headsets offer excellent sound quality and easy set-up, and are well-constructed – you can tell these are top-quality devices. The Voyager Pro is reasonably-priced – you can pick one up for around £50 – but the Savi W430 will cost you around £189.

I’ll close by explaining why I’m spending time writing about headsets and speaker phones. We spend a lot of time talking to customers about telephony infrastructure and cost-reduction capabilities, but there’s one part of the solution that’s often not discussed… it’s the last three feet, the gap between the telephony client (Sametime Unified Telephony is the best choice) and your ears. If companies don’t think about this and don’t provide the right equipment, their users will end up shouting into their laptop’s in-built microphone and listening to the speakers. That’s a poor experience with no noise cancellation, no echo reduction, it picks up keyboard noise and is totally unsuitable for open-plan offices. That situation is going to stop people using their telephony solution and they won’t use the capabilities that will ultimately reduce communication costs. And that’s why good quality headsets are a worthwhile investment.

Regular readers of dadams.co.uk may remember a recent post about a Polycom CX100 speakerphone that I picked up at Polycom’s event. Since acquiring this nifty and extremely portable device, I’ve tended to use it at home (when taking and making calls on Sametime Unified Telephony) more than I’ve used my trusty Plantronics CS60 headset. The speakerphone works well in a home office environment as the voice of the other person (or people) doesn’t disturb anyone. The headset remains the best choice when in the office – having said that it does have one big advantage at home… in the middle of a lengthy conference call I can pop SUT on mute and go to the toilet or make a cup of tea. Sorry to paint that picture in your head, but this is how technology gets used.

The speakerphone is also, I’ve found, great for SUT demos – the audience can hear the voice on the other end. However, in using the CX100 people have said my voice has been distant and echoey, even when right up close to the device. Polycom said that there’s an echo cancellation driver available, but it doesn’t seem to be available for Windows 7 (or Mac or Ubuntu).

While discussing SUT with a customer they told me they’d acquired several ClearOne Chat 50 USB speakerphones and said that they were very impressed by the quality. With this in mind, I contacted Andrew at ClearOne to see if they had any knowledge of the Chat 50 working with SUT – the answer was ‘no’ but I was promised a device to test and we agreed to speak further.

Around the same time my good friend Declan at Plantronics called me and we had a chat about how SUT was doing (very well thanks). I told him about the rapidly-expanding IBM roll-out, and Declan said that he’d send me a couple of up-to-date devices.

On the same day both boxes turned up in Staines (and some extra memory for my ThinkPad, it was like Christmas without the stress of finding a perfect Christmas tree). The Plantronics box contained three headsets and an MCD100 USB speakerphone (thanks Declan – these will be used for SUT demos in front of customers). The package from ClearOne contained the Chat 50, which comes in a carry-case with the extras (see later). Both speakerphones offer echo cancellation and full duplex (basically that’s sound data sent in both directions simultaneously), but which is the better device? Time to test, methinks.

Firstly, what’s in the box? The Plantronics device came with just a USB cable… no drivers required. It plugged in and worked. Ten out of ten for simplicity. The ClearOne device, as I said, came in a carry-case with a USB cable, a power adapter and some international plugs, a CD, two other audio cables and a booklet. The power adapter wasn’t required, nor was the CD or the other cables. It plugged straight into a USB port and worked. Another ten out of ten. So what’s with the power adapter and the other cables? Well, you can also use the Chat 50 as a speaker for other devices such as mobile phones and portable media players.

Features – three buttons on both… volume up and down, and mute. When testing the buttons my research associate (Matt Newton, on an SUT call) said that pressing the buttons on the Chat 50 was quieter and could hear when the buttons on the MCD100 were pressed. Neither device has a hang-up button, so I had to use the button on the SUT call dialog box (no big deal).

But the really important thing is the sound quality. Both were far clearer than the CX100 at Matt’s end – he said I was crystal-clear with no echo. The only difference was that the MCD100 was more ‘bass-ey’ and the Chat 50 had more treble. At my end, Matt’s voice was full and clear on both, and the volume was greater than on the CX100.

In terms of voice quality on a simple one-to-one call, the MCD100 and Chat 50 seem to be equals, but additional tests were required. When Mrs A returned from having her hair cut, I got her to partake in the experiment. It is risky having her near computer equipment, but I instructed her to not touch anything and just talk (after all, that’s one of her main skills). Using SUT she called my mobile, and then moved around the room while talking. The MCD100 and Chat 50 were pretty much the same, and picked up the voice perfectly (quieter, obviously). The CX100 was less clear. In close-up tests I agreed with Matt, the MCD100 had more bass, but it does have a bigger speaker. The CX100 was nearly as good close-up, but when sitting back in the chair it was more echoey. However, I didn’t hear the ‘sitting in the fridge’ effect that some people described.

The MCD100 is slightly chunkier, but I like the design. The CX100 has the advantage of being the slimmest and with it’s pouch is ideal for popping into my computer bag.

Now, I guess you’ll be interested in Mrs A’s verdict. She was receiving the call through all three speakerphones and said there was no discernible difference, but if she had to pick one the MCD100 was ever-so-slightly better sound. She also said it was the best-looking device, although she liked the CX100 because the carrying pouch was nice (I appreciate that this would not be the main decision point for people more interested in the technology and sound performance).

So there you have it, both the MCD100 and Chat 50 are extremely fine devices. The Chat 50 has the advantage of having additional uses and the buttons are less clicky, but as a speakerphone for VoIP or SUT there’s nothing between them. One thing that is worthy of note is that ClearOne provide a number of other devices, and I can see that the ability to daisy-chain some of their other speakerphones along a meeting room table is a winning idea… I’m sure we’ve all been in a meeting where the single speakerphone in the middle of the table is a challenge for the remote and local people.

Come back soon for a brief overview of the headsets.

A few weeks ago I received an invite to the grand opening of Polycom’s new Executive Briefing Centre at a plush 16th floor location near Liverpool Street station. Today marked the event, and I have to say that Polycom’s new location is tremendously impressive – if you get an invite, take the opportunity to visit them.

Joined by my frolleagues Stuart McRae and Murat Gunenc, I was there because we’re partners with Polycom in the UC² market offering integration with Sametime 8.5.1. After presentations, demos, drinks and nibbles – and catching up with my very good friend Tony ‘Binge Thinking’ Cocks – it was time to depart and make my way to Waterloo to catch the Ascot Express (it was too late for one of the two direct trains back to Camberley).

As I handed my badge in I was offered a parting gift, but the lady from Polycom apologised that they were only giving the TomToms to customers. A TomTom One, just for turning up at an event with free drinks…? That’s what I call generous. If you were the owner of one of the many non-attendee badges, right now you should be kicking yourself. Anyway, I have a TomTom XL and I understood that the gifts were for customers (I could have argued that IBM are a Polycom customer, but that would have been rather petty), so ’twas no big deal. Instead the nice lady offered me some rather expensive-looking pens or a ‘communicator’.

I’m okay for pens and the picture of the communicator on the box looked interesting so I gratefully received the gadget. On the train (a journey which offers lots of available time) I took a closer look and saw that the product was actually a Polycom CX100 Speakerphone For Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. At this point I was tempted to eject the box out of the train window, but not wanting to hit the 18:57 from Hampton Court I decided to inspect the device further. It’s got speakers, it’s got a microphone, it’s got a flap on the back that opens, and underneath said flap is a USB cable and connector. The instruction booklet says, and I quote:

In order to use the Polycom CX100 Speakerphone, Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 must be installed on your computer.

I arrived home, kissed the current Mrs A, hugged the offspring (beaming from a wonderful first day at her new school) and suffered a frenzied attack of affection from an excited micro-dog. Then I put Polycom’s claim to the test… would this nifty box of tricks work without Office Communicator 2007, and would it work with Sametime Unified Telephony? Answer… of course it does. Windows XP recognised it, so did the MacBook Pro, and switching over to SUT’s softphone both of them provided perfect integration.

And not only does it work, it’s the perfect thing for SUT demos. Earlier today I demoed SUT, but there’s always an audio barrier to break when in front of an audience. Can you hear this voice coming out of my mobile phone or my wireless headset? Maybe if you’re right down the front next to me. But with the CX100 we have the perfect telephony end-point for letting the audience hear what’s going on.

While I have no plans to relegate my Plantronics head-set to a dusty drawer, I have a feeling I’ll be using the CX100 a lot (and I should also mention it comes with a smart carrying pouch). I intend to call my Polycom contact tomorrow and see if I can blag a couple more, because it’ll be such a useful addition to our SUT briefings. But I think I should mention that Polycom need to correct their marketing message – it’s not just for Office Communicator… this integates with SUT too.

Just a quick one… on the 9th of September at 14:00 (UK time) I’ll be joining IDC for a webcast on Unified Communications. The core theme will be to discuss whether the adoption of Unified Communications requires a rip-and-replace (I can tell you now, the answer is ‘no’). Here’s an overview…

Last year one of the key concerns highlighted by delegates at IDC’s Unified Communications conference was whether UC requires significant investment in new communications equipment. With continuing pressure on budgets, many organisations do not have sufficient funds available for large scale capital investment but recognise the value a more cohesive communications strategy can offer the business.

If you’re interested in attending, here’s the link for registration.

I was a little behind in installing Sametime Unified Telephony (SUT) – the technical guys did it within 30 seconds of getting access to the server but it too me a couple of weeks to get round to it. But I’m glad I did.

The key word here is ‘unified’. It’s very rare to ask a customer what they have in terms of telephony and get an answer that includes just one vendor. The answer is usually “a bit of everything”. Different locations, different business units, sometimes different departments (like the customer service centre) often have heterogeneous (impressive big word) telephony solutions. Users shouldn’t have to care, or even know, about this – they just need a set of telephony functions, and it shouldn’t matter that Bob in Glasgow is connected to a vendor’s PBX which is different to Brian in Cardiff or Kim in Florida.

That aside, SUT does some really cool things – these features have tremendous business value, but they’re also pretty cool:

1. I can use my computer as a phone
2. I can click on someone in Sametime, or in a Notes e-mail or application, and call them… and…
3. SUT dials the right number (office, mobile, home or computer) depending on their status and location – I don’t have to worry about where they are and which number they’re on
4. I could be using my home phone for a call, but then need to leave for an appointment – using SUT I can transfer the call to my mobile phone without an interruption
5. I can call someone and then turn it into a conference call by dragging and dropping people onto the call window (admit it, who knows how to conference other people in using their desk phone?)
6. I can divert an incoming call to my office, home or mobile phone… or to voice-mail
7. I can set up my own rules so that a particular phone rings depending on my location and / or status
8. I can see when my colleagues are on the phone (and they can see when I am)

Something I always mention in talking to customers is point #5. All-to-often we use an external tele-conference provider to facilitate conference calls between internal staff members – do you know how expensive that is? Eradicating or even reducing that practise would save a lot of money, and this is just one of the ways that SUT can reduce costs.

During my first couple of weeks as an SUT user I utilised an old Labtec headset – this worked fine until a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned to Mrs A that it had no sound coming out of it, and then she admitted to sucking the cable up in the vacuum cleaner.

This was a good excuse to set up a wireless headset (the CS60) that the guys from Plantronics gave to me on permanent loan just before LCTY. It took about 5 minutes to install, a couple of hours for the initial charge, and was available for SUT to use without doing anything else. The sound quality is amazing, and it allows you to roam from your desk – I walked downstairs and into the kitchen without Pete Hampton hearing any difference in the sound quality. As David Angel from Plantronics said, the final three feet of the solution is incredibly important… why spend thousands of dollars on a telephony solution and then compromise it with a poor-quality headset?