Extension Dialing: NECC Exhibitor Visit

One of the “todos” on my list was to talk to the two main VC vendors, Polycom and Tandberg, about extension dialing. This is on my “figure it out” list for this summer. I’ve already done some testing with Arnie Comer at Macomb ISD, and will be publishing the results of that when we finish testing next week. But I figured while I was here I would ask both vendors to get their take on it.

If you remember, I tested a Polycom V2IU a couple weeks ago. One of the things we found was that the Tandberg endpoint can’t seem to dial into it. I am still discussing this issue with both Tandberg and Polycom, and plan to go back to the booths to discuss further.

But here’s the two main take-aways today!

  • There isn’t a standard for extension dialing! And yes, I got that answer from both of them!! Yikes! No wonder it seems like extension dialing/meeting room dialing is this really weird strange world. I’m still reeling over this discovery. What does it mean for matching for Read Around the Planet for example? Hmm. Must consider and learn further.
  • Gatekeepers. Argh. I keep hearing about gatekeepers. The Tandberg firewall traversal unit requires registration to the built in gatekeeper to dial into it. Of course you can dial out. True on the Polycom V2IU firewall traversal unit too. But I’m a little ornery. I want dialing to work both ways without gatekeeper registration. Am I asking too much?? That’s just from experience with RAA matching. And lots of other collaborative projects.

So hmmm. Hmmm. That’s where I am at this moment. No standard for extension dialing.

In theory gatekeepers are supposed to make life easier. What’s the chance, though, that we in K12 education, could be organized enough to neighbor all our gatekeepers together so we can call each other whenever we want. Sounds like a pipe-dream to me!

Hmmm. Any thoughts? Please share them!

Conference Tags: necc necc06

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