EndPoint Management Software

[mingles]

Does anyone know if there is a universal endpoint management application that will allow network and equipment management for various endpoints? Polycom's GMS only supports Polycom product.

[trapehzoid]

Does anyone know if there is a universal endpoint management application that will allow network and equipment management for various endpoints? Polycom's GMS only supports Polycom product.

Tandberg TMS
Polycom PCS

Defining what you want out of 'management' will help steer your choices.

[Entropy3XD]

Not to toot the Tandberg horn again, but TMS rocks. I would recommend you get demonstrations of each product you are looking at. Many manufacturers are cool with giving you a 30 day demo of their software to demo at your facility.

[Timur]

As I heard there is no universal VC system. The main trouble is global address book. If we can see Tandberg and Polycom is like a cat and dog (25% and 40% of selling). Therefore it will be till market will grow. I can advise only new system from LifeSize and maybe MXM from former VCON.

[trapehzoid]

tandberg's product supports phonebooks for both tandbergs and polycom systems

How can you 'advise' on lifesize (no phonebooks that I can recall.. could be wrong) and MXM (which offers no phonebooks)

You are a walking contradiction

[Timur]

TMS from Tandberg can't provide global address book for Polycom endpoints.
System management from LifeSize can provide address book.
MXM is good software that includes functionality of Webcommander, TMS and gatekeeper.

Dear trapehzoid,
your impressive speech could give wrong understanding that everything is all right with guide of H.323 endpoints. It will be when we see standard for support of address book.

[trapehzoid]

TMS from Tandberg can't provide global address book for Polycom endpoints.

Wrong

System management from LifeSize can provide address book.

To whom? Lifesize endpoints? Which make up how much of the market right now? Oh thats right.. ZERO

MXM is good software that includes functionality of Webcommander, TMS and gatekeeper.

You don't even know what those products do, and you are going to claim MXM covers them? Oh lord that doesn't even earn a response


Dear trapehzoid,
your impressive speech could give wrong understanding that everything is all right with guide of H.323 endpoints. It will be when we see standard for support of address book.

While a standard for address book would be nice, I don't see it coming anytime soon. It took years to just get a standardized STORAGE format, let alone an access protocal or feature set. Its too low on the 'wow' factor for vendors to work together on IMO.

[Timur]

1. Tandberg Management Suite really can’t provide address book for Polycom endpoints. Please look at documentation.
2. LifeSize announced that its product can work with Tandberg and Polycom endpoints. Real level of interoperability they didn’t publish.
3. MXM is good management system. But VCON was acquired and it is problem to give forecast what MXM will present in NGN and 3G word.
4. It is obvious that in enterprise network there is logically to have implementation of H.350 with H.235 both endpoints and system management.

[trapehzoid]

1. Tandberg Management Suite really can’t provide address book for Polycom endpoints. Please look at documentation.

Ok, so again.. you can't read. It IS in the documentation as supported. Look in the 3rd party support document. Do I need to provide you line numbers and page numbers? Or should I hire a tutor for you too?


2. LifeSize announced that its product can work with Tandberg and Polycom endpoints. Real level of interoperability they didn’t publish.

Yeah.. GMS supports any endpoint too.. :ermm:

So you'll believe lifesize who haven't published any level of support, but you don't believe TMS can who not only publishes it, but does it? What a fool.


3. MXM is good management system. But VCON was acquired and it is problem to give forecast what MXM will present in NGN and 3G word.

MXM is not a management system. MXM is a call processing platform with additional modules to do things like collaboration, etc. At its heart, and its strength is a gatekeeper/call processing platform.

Please.. keep posting.. I can't help but laugh out loud. And to think someone pays you to work in this industry? Please give me their number, I'd like to sell them some things myself

[Sean Lessman]

TMS from Tandberg can't provide global address book for Polycom endpoints.


It sure can.

Sean

[Sean Lessman]

1. Tandberg Management Suite really can’t provide address book for Polycom endpoints. Please look at documentation.

TMS does support the proprietary Polycom GAB in addition to numerous other methods to share directories. Not sure what document you are looking at but you should refer to the 'Product Support Guide' on the TMS CD which details the support for all of the products TMS supports.

Sean

4. It is obvious that in enterprise network there is logically to have implementation of H.350 with H.235 both endpoints and system management.

H.350 support in the endpoint doesn't make as much sense as the management/scheduling software. H.350 just stores the phonebooks but does not have any idea of how to route the call (i.e. dial country code or note, prefixes for gateways etc). TMS integrates with H.350 to get the normalized numbers and then uses its routing engine to make sure the calls actually connect.

Having H.350 in the endpoint is a nice checkmark on a brochure, but it really isn't that simple.

Sean

[Timur]

Dear trapehzoid,

If you don’t believe me and can’t find a sense in documentation please try to provide address book for Polycom using TMS manually and you will see result.
You are so emotional. Probably you are a sales manager… I am interesting in engineering.
If you tell me in such manner you will be in ignore list.

[trapehzoid]

Dear trapehzoid,

If you don’t believe me and can’t find a sense in documentation please try to provide address book for Polycom using TMS manually and you will see result.

I do it every day to my FX units. I'm not the one who 'can't find a sense in documentation'. I use it and it works. I even told you which document its shown in (and Sean from Tandberg did as well) that it does work. So whos the one who 'can't find a sense'.

I am interesting in engineering.

Given your sense posted here, I wouldn't let you engineer my lunch bag let alone my video network. We are trying to provide you with the answers, or ask you which additional details you need to provide to make sense of your question. You refuse to accept the facts, and make up your own. If you want to live in your false sense of reality, go ahead, but no one is going to fluff you here.

[trapehzoid]

Having H.350 in the endpoint is a nice checkmark on a brochure, but it really isn't that simple.

Sean

Have you tried any other vendor who says they support H.350?

I haven't myself, nor do I really have a need for it in my deployment, but I'm curious how these are stacking up against each other.

[Timur]

FYI
There is public “TANDBERG Software Release TMS9”
On page 6 you can find url http://www.tandberg.net/tms_documentation/3rdPartySupport9.pdf.
In document “3rtdPartySupport” you can find for VSX systems on page 35 the following:
Local Phone Book Support=NO; Server Phone Book Support=NO; Corporate Directory Support=NO; Server Phone Book Configuration=NO.

[trapehzoid]

FYI
There is public “TANDBERG Software Release TMS9”
On page 6 you can find url http://www.tandberg.net/tms_documentation/3rdPartySupport9.pdf.
In document “3rtdPartySupport” you can find for VSX systems on page 35 the following:
Local Phone Book Support=NO; Server Phone Book Support=NO; Corporate Directory Support=NO; Server Phone Book Configuration=NO.

Again.. look at the document I told you to look at

First, VSX does not equal polycom. Polycom has about 6 different vc endpoints. Address books work fine with Viewstations, ViaVideo, Ipower, etc.

Second, if you looked at the CURRENT software (TMS v10) I think you'll see VSXs are supported now.. I don't recall and can't tell until I go back to the office. You should try looking at current documentation, not old documentation.

[trapehzoid]

Here is the current document

http://www.tandberg.net/tms_documentation/DeviceSupport10.pdf

(made me go and download 250megs just to show you something you should have figured out on your own)

GAB Support
Viewstation PDF Page 32 - Server Phone Books = Yes
Viewstation (2nd gen) PDF Page 39 - Server Phone Books = Yes
VSX PDF Page 46 - Server Phone Books = No
IPower PDF Page 56 - Server Phone Books = Yes
ViaVideo PDF Page 60 - Server Phone Books = Yes

Anything else I can do for you? Tomorrow is a work day, should I pick out clothes for you to wear?

[trapehzoid]

and since we are on the topic.. decided to look at MXM's website

--------------
Directory Services

VCON users simply select the "online directory" from their user interface to be presented with the global video directory.
--------------

I think I'll infer from this, that means VCON only support. Which seems pretty common in most of their terminal 'management' features they list on that page.

http://www.vcon.com/solutions/management.systems/video.network.management/mxm.benefits.shtml

Looks like MXM is still what I saw from it years ago.. the 'core' of a VCON deployment with advanced features as long as you are VCON centric. Support for other things, bust still primarily VCON world. Looks like it supports the MGC MCU/Gateway too

[Timur]

"Tandberg Software release - TMS (10.0)" - page number 18 – reference to URL:
http://www.tandberg.net/tms_documentation/DeviceSupport10.pdf

In this document page number 42 (for VSX systems):
Local Phone Book Support = NO
Server Phone Book Support = NO
Corporate Directory Support = NO
Server Phone Book Configuration = NO

[trapehzoid]

"Tandberg Software release - TMS (10.0)" - page number 18 – reference to URL:
http://www.tandberg.net/tms_documentation/DeviceSupport10.pdf

In this document page number 42 (for VSX systems):
Local Phone Book Support = NO
Server Phone Book Support = NO
Corporate Directory Support = NO
Server Phone Book Configuration = NO

Read 3 posts above

[Timur]

Sean,
Could you define more exactly working of TMS with VSX in the area of global address book?

[Sean Lessman]

Sean,
Could you define more exactly working of TMS with VSX in the area of global address book?

The VSX directories are a little flaky but the directories for the other Polycom endpoints are working. Last I checked VSX directories with GMS were not working either. Have you tried GMS?

Sean

[Timur]

Dear Sean,

Of course VSX systems work with GMS. With old gms version 5 there is some trouble concerning duplication of address book participants but it can be overcome to reload VSX. Following Tandberg’s documentation there is no support of VSX systems in TMS.

[Timur]

Sean, what about support of VSX systems by TMS?

[ITV-U]

I use TMS daily and since VSX version 8, I have not been able to control it at all. Of course, I am also having trouble with all of my VS that are running the latest versions. It corrupts the database and one will take on another unit's IP and I have to purge the affected units and re-install them and re-schedule everything. The version I am having the most trouble with has been out since March. I have tried it on two different servers and fresh installed it twice.

[Sean Lessman]

I use TMS daily and since VSX version 8, I have not been able to control it at all. Of course, I am also having trouble with all of my VS that are running the latest versions. It corrupts the database and one will take on another unit's IP and I have to purge the affected units and re-install them and re-schedule everything. The version I am having the most trouble with has been out since March. I have tried it on two different servers and fresh installed it twice.

Hi Mac,

Have you reported this to support?

Sean

[ITV-U]

Hi Mac,

Have you reported this to support?

Sean

Yes, we first contacted 866-TANDBERG back when we upgraded to 9.6 and 9.6SP1 because we were no longer able to add VS-128 endpoints running the latest software. The only way we were ever able to get them to work was knocking the VS back to a previous version and then bringing it back up to the latest version after adding it to TMS. After that, one unit's IP would be taken by all Polycoms loaded in the system. We reloaded TMS several times from scratch and even connected to TANDBERG so they could watch what it was doing. We still had TMS 8.0 installed on an old server and fired it up and the latest version worked fine with it from the start. We have called twice since then and was told that according to TMS documentation, Tandberg was not supporting that version that had been out since March 2005. I was told once that I needed to downgrade my unit and live with it until TMS or Polycom upgraded the software.

We recently tried to add a Polycom VSX running version 8.0 and was not able to get it to dial. We called about the issue above and this issue and was told that there was nothing Tandberg could because it was a software change on Polycoms part and there was no other options available. I called back yet again and was told to upgrade to TMS 10, eventhough the documentation indicates that VSX 8.0 and VS 7.5.4 is still not supported. Just tested it again and still not working.

Also, could you tell me what the correct sequence is for loading TMS? If I fully update the server before loading TMS, it will not load. It crashes at the Sql part.

[Sean Lessman]

Yes, we first contacted 866-TANDBERG back when we upgraded to 9.6 and 9.6SP1 because we were no longer able to add VS-128 endpoints running the latest software. The only way we were ever able to get them to work was knocking the VS back to a previous version and then bringing it back up to the latest version after adding it to TMS.

The version of TMS shouldn't have anything to do with it (especially 9.61), it had to do with adding viewstations running 7.5.4. This works fine on earlier versions, its due to changes in how the viewstation is implementing its API and webpages causing the issues. This is something we are working to address for the next version (I was not aware of this until last week from another customer). We do publish in the device support document what version we tested with, and 7.5.2 is what we last tested.

After that, one unit's IP would be taken by all Polycoms loaded in the system.

This is also a new problem to me, found last week at another customer site. This one is a TMS bug, not necessarily PLCM. We are working on a patch that will fix both issues right now.

We still had TMS 8.0 installed on an old server and fired it up and the latest version worked fine with it from the start.

TMS 8 is a different package with different functionality.

We have called twice since then and was told that according to TMS documentation, Tandberg was not supporting that version that had been out since March 2005. I was told once that I needed to downgrade my unit and live with it until TMS or Polycom upgraded the software.

Yes, we post what we test with, and that version wasn't tested, or wasn't compatible. And in this case, it is PLCM changes causing us issues. If you were told to 'live with it', please IM me privately with the name of the person you were speaking with and I will be happy to bring it to their attention.

We recently tried to add a Polycom VSX running version 8.0 and was not able to get it to dial.

Same story.. we tested v7, v8 came out afterwards. You should express teh same concerns to Polycom on why they keep changing their APIs from version to version.

Also, could you tell me what the correct sequence is for loading TMS? If I fully update the server before loading TMS, it will not load. It crashes at the Sql part.

Are you sure you are not loading something else to the server or making changes to the server outside of TMS requirements? A fully updated server (service packs etc) should have no issues.

Sean