Course11:Advanced - V11 News

V11 News

Overview

Overview

The most important V11 features are listed in this book. For detailed information on these features, there are links to further topics of this advanced training plus references to our wiki.

With V11 there are plenty of new features and products. Some main highlights are:

• IP111 IP phone

• new phone UI

• anywhere workplace establishment

• UC client myPBX flavours for Android and webRTC

• Application sharing

and of course much more...

New Software Products

New software products

myPBX for Android

To satisfy the increasing demand for integration of mobile smartphones into the PBX, innovaphone has developped a  myPBX UC-client application for Android phones - starting to be released with V11.

The application provides access to the PBX via Wifi or a GSM-data connection - either in the company network or via H.460.17 from external.

For speech transmission of course the bandwidth needs to be good enough - a regular GPRS connection might not do. There are some built-in mechanisms and settings for fallback but they are not scope of this quick overview.

It offers the same  look-and-feel from the new V11-PhoneUI using apps for navigation. Function keys are available and fully synchronized with the PBX/deskphones. Favourite keys are usable in the same way as on the deskphone - plus including contact pictures from the personal phone book!

It includes an LDAP-based phonebook to access any contacts as used on the deskphone.

The application is available free of charge in the Google Play Store and was integrated to run at least on Android 4.1. Of course it is contained in the V11-firmware package at the innovaphone download page as well.

Voice Recorder

The  innovaphone Voice Recorder is an recording application, with an  innovaphone Player for comfortable search and playback of phone calls.

It was already introduced in the late days of V10 but we want to mention it for our V10-pioneers in the V11 update as well

• Recording of any type of calls direction
• Recording of calls from any device: IP-Phones (innovaphone and 3rt Party), analogue phones, GSM (mobility), IP-Dect phones.
• Recording of calls from/to legacy PBX (smooth migration)
• Recording can be done in a logical gateway or direct from a innovaphone phone set
• Recording of encrypted calls

In any case we want to refer to the  innovaphone Voice Recorder article for further information.

New Hardware Products

New hardware products

IP111

With V11, innovaphone proudly presents a brand-new entry level IP-phone called  IP111.

The phone design is inspired by the well known IP2x2 series and comes with a colour display (320x240 pixel, 3.5inches) and 12 function keys which are dynamically assignable by multi-usage for up to 16 functions.

Starting with the product launch, it is operated with the new V11-PhoneUI offering a new way of usability.

The IP111 offers 2 Fast Ethernet connections (100Mbit/s) and is either powered by PoE or an external power supply.

It comes with a convertable footer for desk installation or wall mounting.

In terms of VoIP features, well-known protocols H323 and SIP are offered via UDP, TCP and TLS. Media can be encrypted according to SRTP-SDES/DTLS and coded in G.711 or G.722. NB: we are thinking on providing G.729 too, but as of this writing (3/2015), this has not been completed yet.

IP2x2x

For the phone series IP2x2 (IP222 and IP232), the long awaited  extension module IP2x2x is released with version 11.

It offers a touch display of 480x272 pixel (4.3. inches) and is delivered with an aluminium footer fitting to the one of the phone.

The module is connected via USB to the phone and receives both data and power about it. Maximum two modules are supported for operation on one phone.

The display provides  representation of function keys and favorites - to be selected via a bottom menu bar.

Up to 32 function keys distributed on 2 pages can be defined per module. Using two extension modules (32 each) and the new V11-phoneUI (16), overall up to 80 function keys can be managed via this combination.

Same for favourites - up to 32 distributed on 2 pages are useable. They are the same as in myPBX and fully synchronized all over the PBX system. Please be aware that due to a memory restriction in the PBX currently 32 favourites per user is the maximum amount of favourites over all devices.

As known from myPBX, favourites can be structured in user-defined lists. The V11-phoneUI provides possibility to manage list display distributed on phone and the extension module(s).

Phone Enhancements

Phone enhancements

Phone UI

innovaphone did completely renovate/renew the user interface of the phones which till V10 was a bit "old-fashioned" and did not fit to the modern design of the phone series IP2x2.

Heavy investigations have been done in terms of intuitive usability.

First impression of the new PhoneUI is a completely changed colour scheme inspired by the myPBX UC client design. Now black background and white fonts are used on the phones as well to increase legibility. Interactive actions or events are displayed in orange colour or shades.

Second major change was structuring the phone UI in applications, being selected from a bottom menu bar via keys or touch screen depending on the used phone model.

• Main app is the  home app, giving access to up to 16 function or partner keys, distributed on two screens; display of time and day; and providing access to the users own presence setting.
• The phone app provides simple access to call diversions and other call related settings
• Favourite app displays up to 32 favourites distributed on four screens. Any partner is displayed with its presence avatar and note as usual with myPBX. Presence states are of course fully synchronized with myPBX. Actions like setting up a call, messaging or editing an entry are easily accessible via context sensitive function keys. Please be aware that due to a memory restriction in the PBX currently the maximum amount of favourites per user is 32 over all devices.
• Phone book app which offers a text field to search both the PBX and central phone book for contacts. Upon number input, further numbers belonging to the contact will be displayed as well.
• Call history app displaying all calls assigned to the registered user, or filterable to only incoming or outgoing calls. A list of active callbacks completes this app.
• Phone settings app, simply structured and easily accessible via application context sensitive function keys.

Any phone call actions are displayed using the whole screen,  giving information about the calling destination like name and number, duration of the call and possible options. Waiting, parked or conferencing calls are all displayed in a list providing actions buttons to each call.

As said these changes fit to the new phones IP222, IP232 and the brand-new IP111. "Old" phones like IP200 and IP24x do not benefit from these changes as their display is too small for a proper representation of the new features and functions.

Anywhere workplace

innovaphone customers often want to deploy phones in (home-)offices outside the company networks. In former times, a VPN always was required to enable connectivity behind the companies' firewall.

With V11, innovophone introduced an "anywhere workplace" concept, which consists of different technologies and allows to connect remote offices and devices to the company network without use of VPNs or firewall adjustments.

One technique is to do H.323 signalling over TLS - which is called  H460.17. It allows registrations from anywhere to the PBX. This is implemented in the phones and PBXes operated with V11.

 DTLS-SRTP: Increased security for data transmission via private key usage. Keys for audio encryption are exchanged end-2-end inband without ability to be captured by any instance in the middle.

Securing transmitted data is fine, but not enough when trying to connect devices within different networks. This issue is solved by introduction of  ICE (Interactive Connection Establishment), which offers several data path candidates between different networks to the involved network nodes.

The ICE-method is using an STUN-server - which starting with V11 can be given to innovaphone  devices.

The anywhere workplace does not require any additional license.

See topic 17 (Public PBX Access) if this interesting to you.

EAP-TLS for 802.1x

innovaphone devices already could use EAP-MD5 algorithm to authenticate themselves in any computer network like university campus or airports.

With Version11, EAP-TLS is introduced which is more secure by using a certificate-crosscheck for authentication.

Used method can be  selected in the phone Ethernet interface setup.

PBX Enhancements

PBX enhancements

Application Sharing

In V11, innovaphone adds a new feature to the PBX called application sharing.

Application sharing is always bound to an active call - even to a conference - and by this one can start it when having an ongoing call to innovaphone extensions using myPBX.

The feature is embedded in the myPBX-V11-Windows launcher and available upon activation of a new Application Sharing License (and of course myPBX license).

When having an established call, click on a new application sharing symbol in myPBX opens a  dialog about the content to be shared with the opposite party.

Shared contents can be the whole desktop or only dedicated applications.

Sharing participants will receive a  window showing the shared application, including a menu bar to switch between several sharings.

Mouse control can be granted and withdrawn to participants at any time.

Shared data is being encrypted in the same way as voice belongig to the active call. By the way: Application sharing has nothing to do with video - it's a complete own feature.

The max. bandwidth needed for application sharing is 500kBit/s.

myPBX for webRTC

webRTC is a newly developed open standard to do real-time communication within a web browser without use of additional plugins.

Starting with V11, innovaphone has extended the well known UC client myPBX to run as  webRTC application in the above mentioned manner.

The browser running myPBX for webRTC provides usage of any PC-connected audio devices such as built-in microphones and loudspeakers or external headsets.

Upon startup and successful login to the myPBX, it registers to the PBX as audio (and in future video) device.

On call, an end to end audio path is established using techniques like ICE and STUN. Media is G.711 coded and DTLS encrypted.

With the myPBX for webRTC, innovaphone offers a completely platform independent UC client which can run on any operating system being able to host Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera webRTC-capable web-browsers.

As usual at innovaphone, also myPBX for webRTC needs to have an existing port and myPBX license per user to run.

Call Lists on all GWs

For small gateways (IP302/IP305/IP800), a method was introduced to  store call histories directly to the CF-card without the need of an Application Platform.

The feature offers PBX-subscriber name resolution - no via LDAP.

H460.17, H323/TLS

As already described at the phone enhancements section, innovaphone has introduced a "anywhere workplace" connectivity to phones located outside the company network. Concerning the PBX, this is mainly based on H323 over TLS which is used to established a secured signalling path between phone and PBX.

EAP-TLS for 802.1X

innovaphone devices already could use EAP-MD5 algorithm to authentificate themselves in any computer network like university campus or airports.

With Version11, EAP-TLS is introduced which is more secure by using a certificate-crosscheck for authentification.

Used method can be  selected in the PBX ethernet interface setup.

Gateway Enhancements

Gateway Enhancements

Conferencing

Starting with V11, a new conference object was introduced to the PBX.

Idea was to ease setup of conference rooms without the need of writing complex scripts.

In the new conference object, administrator just has to give a number, PIN and announcement.

Furthermore, media streams (voice, video, collaboration) can be separated now. 

I.e. for audio and application sharing during a conference, the UC-license can be used, while video is handled via an external MCU.

For more information, please refer to the concerning  wiki-article.

Fax

When performing fax operations, use of T.38 protocol is the best and therefore most suitable method, to ensure proper data transmisson.

Innovaphone gateways do support T.38 end-to-end - means from any connected fax device till to the provider.

Unfortunately, some VoIP-providers do not support T.38. As a solution to overcome this pitfall, starting with Version11 innovaphone adds G.711 as possibility for fax transmission to the IPxx10- and IP1060 gateways. 

See also  here.

License Enhancements

License enhancements

New licenses

Application Sharing License

For the application sharing, a new license is necessary. It's activated in the  user object or template.

The license can be ordered separately or is included in the V11-UC-license-bundle.

Customer which already own a V10-UC-license including SSA will receive the Application Sharing license free of charge.

Prerequisite of application sharing usage is availability of a port and a myPBX license for the dedicated user.

Test mode

In V11, innovaphone introduced a test mode for demo purposes lasting for 8 hours. It can be  activated without selection of any features and accepts all requested licenses.

Upon expiry of the test time, the PBX will loose all registrations. Reactivation is done by reselecting the testmode which causes an restart of the PBX.

G.729 for IP111

For the new IP111, G.729 voice coder ability has been added by use of additional licenses in the PBX.

Changes

UC License

Due to the introduction of the application sharing license, the value of the UC-bundle-license increases and leads to a slight increase of it's price and SSC amount.

Test License

Starting with Version11, test licenses will be valid from it's activation via my.innovaphone for 3 months. After expiry of this period, they will be disabled automatically and can't be reactivated.

Note: 99 hours test licenses will not work any longer!

New License Document

The license document has been reworked greatly - always good reading (German:  innovaphone Lizenzleitfaden V11, English:  innovaphone Licensing model V11, more languages are available).

End of Sale

End of sale

IP110

The IP110 is announced as end-of-sale by 31st of March 2015.

Devices will be sold as long as they are on stock - and be replaced in the portfolio by IP111.

As usual, firmware updates will be available for IP110 without any restriction.