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Exchanging real-time voice and video over Internet Protocol has advanced from simply being being a shrewd technique to cut phone carrier bills to an indispensable tool for collaboration and worker productivity. Converged IP communications, once limited to integrating Internet-based voice calls and faxing on the same system in order to replace traditional PBX equipment, today encompasses voice and video, mobility, instant messaging, presence, services, and much more within a cohesive environment that is manageable, scalable, secure, fault-tolerant, economical, and intuitive.

Cisco is the global leader in supplying the hardware and software infrastructure required to support the modern model of unified communications (UC). Cisco's unified communications architecture enhances the productivity of information networks by cutting operating costs; integrating multiple collaboration functions with familiar software programs to improve worker output; supporting teamwork among workers, partners, and vendors to save time and improve business outcomes; and streamlining the management of your communications infrastructure.

Cisco's UC solutions address these important product categories:,

• Call Control Platforms for managing rich media calls and sessions
• VoIP and Video Phones and Softphones to optimize end-user engagement
• Unified Communications Applications for simplified access to presence, chat, voice and video, phone messages, white boarding, and voice/video conferencing
• Communications Gateways for connecting to public networks and remote users

Call Processing Agents - Unified Communications Manager (CallManager)
The call-processing agent is the centerpiece of Cisco's IP Communications infrastructure and gives you the versatility to implement a central call-processing model, a decentralized model, or a mix of the two. In a centralized approach, Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UC Manager or CUCM) extends corporate phone capabilities to packet devices such as IP phones, media management appliances, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media programs across the IT environment. Cisco Unified Communications Manager enables additional voice, video, and data functions including unified messaging, video conferencing, and collaborative client communication networks.

The latest release of Unified CM, formerly branded Cisco CallManager, offers a wealth of enhancements that speed up your return on investment by cutting management and maintenance costs, improving user productivity, enhancing collaboration, accommodating the bring-your-own-device model of computing, fortifying security, and making efficient utilization of IT resources. Headline innovations include Global Dial Plan Replication (GDPR), simplified certificate management, expanded support for standards-based single sign-on for managers and users, hardware-independent call recording, mobile access with no need for VPN, a revamped self-provisioning interface that makes it easy for workers to install their options for all of their devices, and support for Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol for mobile clients.

When you implement a central Unified Communications Manager cluster to manage voice processing for customers at distributed locations, administrators can help achieve continuous phone operation through Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony, a Cisco IOS Software image for Cisco routers. If a Wide Area Network connection fails, Cisco SRST incorporated in the router provides basic Cisco UC Manager functions until the link is repaired. To learn about Progent's consulting support for Cisco ISR routers, refer to consulting and troubleshooting services for Cisco routers.

For small business networks, branch locations, and retail deployments that do not require the full functionality available from Unified CM, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express, formerly known as CallManager Express provides a budget-friendly solution that handles the requirements of sites with up to 450 workers. Because Unified Communications Manager Express Unified Communications Manager Express (Unified CCX) is built into the Cisco IOS Software operating on a Cisco ISR router, smaller organizations can rapidly set up a converged voice/data environment.

The Cisco Business Edition 6000 is a family of turn-key platforms that offer essential unified communications capabilities including routing, IP gateway, premium voice/video, messaging, chat and presence, voice and video conferencing, and paging support, allowing any end user to connect on any endpoint device from any place. All Business Edition 6000 versions come preloaded with a virtualization hypervisor and UC applications software, making implementation fast and simple and cutting operating expenses for organizations with from 25 to 1000 workers. All BE6000 solutions come preconfigured with virtualization and Unified Communications applications software. Organizations can simply activate UC software applications whenever their requirements dictate.

The small-scale BE6000S supports five preselected collaboration applications installed on a single integrated 2921V router/IP gateway/virtualized blade server platform and supports up to 150 users and 300 endpoint devices. The medium-scale BE6000M supports 4 collaboration software application options enabled on a single virtualized C220 M4 server and can handle as many as 1000 workers, 1200 endpoint devices, and 100 contact center agents. The high-end BE6000S includes 8 UC application options enabled on a virtualized C220 M4 server and can handle up to 1000 users, 2500 endpoint devices, and 100 contact center agents.

For more information about Progent's expertise with Unified Communications Manager (CallManager), visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager and CallManager design, configuration, migration and technical support.

IP Phones: IP Voice and IP Media Endpoints
An IP communications endpoint is a user device, either a physical handset or a software phone application that runs on a desktop or mobile computer. In the Internet Protocol world, every IP endpoint is Ethernet connected. IP phones offer all of the capabilities that an ordinary telephone has, but VoIP phones often offer extra functions such as being able to connect to websites or host collaboration software.

Unlike conventional PBX technology, in a Cisco IP telephony network you can perform almost instantaneous moves, additions, and modifications. You simply take the IP handset to its new spot, attach it to the Ethernet connection, and the device registers itself with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. All user permissions and settings are programmatically re-established, eliminating the cost and delay of sending technicians to rewire connections. An additional efficient feature is extension mobility, which enables you to sign into any Cisco VoIP device and receive your own phone ID and rights.

Cisco offers a broad range of VoIP hardware endpoints. The entry-level Small Business SPA 300 family are basic IP and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications devices offering wide-band voice, support for hosted IP phone systems or an IP private branch exchange (PBX), easy installation and highly secure online installation, transparent software updates, and web-based configuration. The value-priced SPA301 is a single-line IP phone with no display or speakerphone, a base dialer with a single Ethernet connector, and a wired handset without keys. The SPA302D, designed exclusively for operation with the Cisco SPA232D DECT ATA, is a multiple-line wireless Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) IP phone that supports 10-lines, a 176 x 220 pixel color screen, and a keypad with speakerphone capability. Cisco's SPA303 is an entry-level 3-line SIP-based phone with two Ethernet ports, a 128x64 mono screen and a speakerphone.

Cisco's SPA500 line VoIP phones are affordable endpoints that support both SIP and SPCP signaling protocols, two integral switch ports, speakerphones, built-in web servers, Power over Ethernet, and conferencing support. Most models have a 128 x 64 pixel monochrome screen display, The SPA501G IP Phone supports eight lines and has eight programmable buttons but no LCD display. The SPA502G IP Phone supports a single line and has no programmable keys. The SPA504G VoIP phone supports four lines and has four soft keys. The SPA508G has eight lines and eight programmable keys. The SPA509G supports 12 lines and has 12 soft buttons. The SPA512G IP Phone supports four lines, no programmable buttons and supports Gigabit Ethernet. The SPA514G IP Phone supports four lines, has soft buttons, and supports 1xGb Ethernet. The high-end SPA525G2 includes a 320 x 240 pixel color screen, supports five lines, and has five programmable buttons.

Cisco's Unified IP Phones 3900 Series and 6900 Series are specialty IP voice devices intended for occasional-use settings such as cafeterias, hallways, and conference facilities. Cisco's Unified SIP Phone 3905 features VoIP phone features a 128 x 32 pixel monochrome non-backlit display, an integrated Ethernet switch, a speakerphone, and Power over Ethernet (PoE). The bare-bones Cisco Unified IP Phone 6901 is a one-line endpoint with no screen and requires a hook switch for transferring a call or joining a conference.

Cisco's 7800 family of value-priced IP phones are VoIP desktop devices featuring backlit mono screens, four programmable keys, 11 dedicated keys, an integral Ethernet switch with Class 1 Power over Ethernet, and an integral speakerphone. Cisco's 7800 Series support only the SIP call control protocol. All models in Cisco's 7800 family feature the same advanced speakers and microphones as Cisco's 8800 Series IP phones to provide a best-in-class audio experience. Cisco's EnergyWise power-save technology, offered on the advanced 7800 models, reduces after-hours energy consumption by up to 60 percent. The Cisco IP Phone 7811 is a single-line phone designed for common locations and for workers with occasional-to-light call requirements. The IP 7811 VoIP phone comes with a 3.28-inch 384 x 106 display plus a narrow-band speakerphone. Wideband audio is available via an optional wideband handset. Cisco's IP Phone 7821 is a dual-line VoIP endpoint with a 396 x 162 screen. The IP Phone 7841 is a four-line phone with a 396 x 162 screen and is the only device in the 7800 line to support 1xGb Ethernet. The high-end IP Phone 7861 VoIP phone is a 16-line endpoint targeted for administrative staff, contact center personnel, and managers who have significant voice communications needs.

The Cisco Unified IP Phone 7900 Series are SIP and SCCP media endpoints with a 320 x 240 pixel color display, an integral 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch, Class 3 Power over Ethernet (PoE), 10 dedicated buttons and a speakerphone. The Cisco Unified IP Phone 7945G is a two-line unit and the Cisco Unified IP Phone 7965G supports four lines. Both VoIP phones have a 5-inch display and four programmable buttons. The Cisco Unified IP Phone 7975G unit is an eight-line IP voice and video phone featuring a 5.6-inch touch screen and five soft keys.

Cisco's IP Phone 8800 Series is a portfolio of SIP-based IP phones that features desktop devices, a conference IP phone, and wireless IP Phones. The desktop units are five-line IP phones with a 5-inch 800 x 480 pixel display, a Gigabit Ethernet switch, a speakerphone, four programmable buttons and 12 fixed-feature buttons. The Cisco IP Phone 8811 features a backlit mono screen and supports Class 2 PoE. Cisco's IP Phone 8841 has a WVGA color display and supports Class 2 PoE. Cisco's IP Phone 8845 features a WVGA color display, 720p HD video, a tiltable camera, Bluetooth, Cisco Intelligent Proximity for Mobile Voice, and supports Class 2 Power over Ethernet. The Cisco IP Phone 8851 has a WVGA color display and a USB port with charging capability, supports Intelligent Proximity for Mobile Voice and Class 3 PoE, and is available in Bluetooth and non-Bluetooth models. Cisco's IP Phone 8861 has a WVGA color display, Bluetooth, dual USB ports with charging capability, and supports Cisco Intelligent Proximity for Mobile Voice, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Class 4 PoE. The Cisco IP Phone 8865 includes a WVGA color display, 720p HD video, an adjustable camera, Bluetooth, dual USB ports with charging capability, and supports Cisco Intelligent Proximity for Mobile Voice, Wi-Fi, and Class 4 PoE.

Cisco's wireless VoIP phones are industrial-grade wireless handsets intended for professionals who are mobile within campus, warehouse, health-care or other venues where IT management requires user endpoints that offer more administrative control, data security and ruggedness than is possible with the BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) style of mobile collaboration. Cisco's 8821 and 8812-EX wireless IP phones provide mobile onsite workers the benefits of voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) communications in workplaces with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi. Cisco's 8821 Wireless VoIP Phone features a 2.4 inch color screen, a durable shell rated Mil-SPEC 810G to withstand dropping and IP67 for particulate and splash resistance, extended batteries, a built-in speakerphone, and a Bluetooth transceiver for hands-free operation with wireless headsets. Cisco's 8821-EX Wireless VoIP Phone adds spark suppression for potentially combustible work sites. The 8821-EX also has a shell composed out of yellow plastics, which makes the device easy to locate the event of a crisis. Find out about Progent's Wireless VoIP Phone integration consulting.

Cisco's discontinued 9900 Series of advanced VoIP phones combine high-quality voice with business-grade color video to deliver a productive collaborative UC experience for knowledge professionals and executive management. Both IP phones in the 9900 family have an SD 640x480 pixel color screen, a Bluetooth transceiver to support a broad range of headsets, and an integrated 1 GE Ethernet switch. The Cisco Power Save function is optional and can reduce off-hour power draw by up to 90 percent. The Cisco IP Phone 9951 features a 5-inch screen and allows up to 2 Cisco IP Color Key Expansion Modules for adding programmable line and feature keys. The Cisco IP Phone 9971 features a 5.6-inch screen, a built-in Wi-Fi radio for deployment with Voice-over-wireless LAN (VoWLAN) networks, and four programmable touchscreen keys to access Cisco Unified Communications features. The 9971 supports up to 3 Cisco IP Expansion Modules for adding scalability to programmable line and feature keys.

Cisco Unified Communications Applications
Under Cisco's Unified Communications platform, IP voice, video, and other UC applications are isolated from the call- and voice-processing infrastructure, and they may reside at any location within the network. A single connectivity infrastructure offers a versatile platform for feature-rich applications and provides a firm foundation for downstream convergence-based software. Cisco works with third-party IT industry companies to offer a wide range of IP voice and video software applications and products. Cisco also enables the ability to develop and administer specialized in-house applications.

Unified Communications application software offered by Cisco and supported by Progent include:

Cisco Jabber
Cisco Jabber is a unified communications client application that supports presence, instant messaging, voice, HD video, voice messaging, desktop sharing, and online conferencing features for Windows PCs, Apple Macs, tablets and iPhones, Android phones, and Blackberries. Jabber is a rebranding and combination of the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator soft phone, Cisco Mobile, and WebEx Connect, with significant enhancements in the areas of video features and desktop sharing, and extending the collaboration experience to more operating systems and devices. Jabber works with Unified Communications Manager for call and session control, Cisco Unified Presence for instant messaging and presence, Cisco Unity Connection for voice messaging and automated attendant, and Cisco WebEx Meeting for online meetings.

Because Cisco Jabber is built around popular communication protocols, it can interoperate with a wide range of non-Cisco platforms. For instance, Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) enables Jabber to trade instant messaging and presence data with other XMPP clients such as Adium for Mac, IBM Sametime, and Microsoft Lync. Cisco Jabber features are available from Microsoft Office programs such as Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint. This broad platform support optimizes output by delivering a common end-user experience and fully enabling the BYOD model of computing. Progent offers the services of Microsoft-certified Exchange and Outlook consultants and Microsoft SharePoint application developers who can assist you to take advantage of Jabber with Microsoft's powerful collaboration products. Progent also can provide help with iPhone integration and Google Android smartphone integration and management to assist your organization to increase the productivity of your BYOD environment.

WebEX Meeting Center
WebEX Meeting Center provides web conferencing for participants using a browser or almost any desktop or handheld device. WebEx Meeting Center is delivered as SaaS through Cisco's WebEx Cloud. This makes it easy to deploy and expand, reduces the cost of administration, eliminates high up-front expenditures, features high availability and enterprise-class data protection, and provides excellent performance. Important features include support for sharing discrete content or an whole screen display with remote participants in real time, the capability to incorporate rich media into your presentations including PowerPoint and Flash videos, recording plus editing and playback for training, single sign-on (SSO) and support for Cisco collaboration applications such as Cisco Jabber and TelePresence, plus strong data protection and encrypted connections with strict policy control.

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops and notebooks and permits mobile workers to initiate, schedule, and take part in meetings on Android smartphones and tablets, iPhones and iPads, BlackBerry handhelds, and Microsoft Windows Phone. You can also launch web conferences instantly from Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Notes, and a selection of IM solutions.

Cisco TelePresence Portfolio for In-house Video Conferencing Ecosystems
For medium-size businesses and enterprises who wish to build a local or hybrid in-house/cloud environment for teleconferencing, Cisco offers a portfolio of Cisco TelePresence products that enable high-quality and standards-based video conferencing for attendees with almost any endpoint device at any location. Cisco TelePresence Server is a scalable teleconferencing bridge that runs in conjunction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager to bring multiparty telepresence to UC deployments and can extend conferences to support cloud-connected WebEx Meeting Center participants. Cisco TelePresence Conductor software simplifies management of how teleconferencing resources should be allotted for each attendee, allowing administrators to specify the exact service level and experience required for each user. Cisco TelePresence Content Server collects video and presentations for real-time distribution and on-demand viewing.

Cisco's Unity Connection and Unity Express for Unified Voice Messaging
The Cisco Unity Connection, an integrated extension of Unified CM, is a converged voice messaging solution that facilitates collaboration by providing flexible set of options for accessing voice messages within an environment that is easy to implement and maintain. Unity Connection allows you to access and manage voicemail from your Exchange inbox, browser, Jabber, a Cisco Unified IP Phone, a smartphone, or a tablet. Cisco Unity Connection also provides sophisticated voice-recognition features for hands-free management and extensive Automated Attendant features such as intelligent routing for incoming phone calls and easily customizable call-screening and message-notification options. The Cisco Unity Connection platform runs as a virtual machine that can be hosted on a BE6000 server or a Cisco SRE 910 router service module and can accommodate up to 20,000 mailboxes per server.

Cisco Unity Express (CUE), offered in certain Cisco ISR routers, offers cost-effective voicemail, integrated messaging, IVR, and automated-attendant functions for small to mid-size businesses and corporate branch offices with up to 500 users. Cisco Unity Express permits users to manage voicemail via a Cisco IP Phone screen, your web browser, or an email system. Integrated Services Routers for which Cisco Unity Express is offered as a network module or advanced integration module include Cisco's 1861, 2800, 2900, 3800, and 3900 Series. Progent can provide certified consulting and support services for Integrated Services Routers.

Unified Contact Center
Unified Contact Center Enterprise (Unified CCE or UCCE) integrates closely with Unified CM and desktop agent applications like Finesse to offer automatic call distribution features that allow an organization to connect customers with the right salesperson or service representative. UCCE provides intelligent call routing, computer telephony integration (CTI), multichannel customer contact management, network-wide call queuing, interactive voice response (IVR) and advanced enterprise-wide reporting to streamline the deployment and management of a modern customer contact center. Cisco platforms incorporated in Unified CCE's customer contact management ecosystem include Unified IP Phones, Cisco Voice Gateways, and Cisco network infrastructure.

Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (CCX) offers a packaged solution for building a customer contact center for mid-scale deployments that handle as many as 400 agents. Several packages are available, as well as a selection of special options. Unified Contact Center Express integrates closely with Unified CM and offers smart call routing, client management, integrated reporting, IVR, and management of voice, email, chat, and social media requests. Unified Contact Center Express includes Finesse, a web-based desktop agent that needs no client software setup. Advanced options include conditional routing, estimated-wait-time messages, and quality management.

Cisco Mobile Connect and Single Number Reach (SNR)
Mobile Connect, commonly referred to as Single Number Reach (SNR), makes it possible for users to be reached from a single number that rings at the same time on their Cisco desktop VoIP Phone and their smartphone. Users can transfer active conversations between their desktop VoIP phone and their cell phone seamlessly. Unanswered calls can be redirected to a Cisco Unity or Unity Connection voicemail account. Users can create personal access lists that determine which calls are directed to different phones.

Prime Collaboration
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning offers an automated platform for first-time installs and for “day 2” moves, adds, changes, and deletions. An intuitive interface delivers a unified view of a user and the subscriber's services. Prime Collaboration Provisioning significantly speeds up site installations and minimizes the effort required to implement ongoing changes. Prime Collaboration in addition provides management analytics that show application adoption and consumption trends, enabling organizations to make more efficient use of IT resources and further lower TCO.

Cisco Collaboration Gateways
Cisco's communications gateways allow Cisco Unified Communications environments to connect with public networks and with users operating beyond the corporate firewall. Cisco's portfolio of communication gateways deliver unified communications support for a broad range of gateway as well as session-border-control deployments.

Communications gateways available from Cisco and supported by Progent's certified consultants include:

Cisco Expressway Collaboration Gateway
Cisco's Expressway is an advanced converged media gatekeeper that enables companies to allow colleagues, suppliers, customers, or partners who are working on different network environments, workgroup applications, or endpoint equipment to access to Cisco Unified Communication services. Cisco's Expressway collaboration gateway works with a Cisco CM system or Cisco Business Edition 6000 (BE6000), or can be accessed via the cloud with Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) to make collaboration more universal. Key features of Expressway are are:

• Mobile and Remote Access: Off-site workers with any Jabber-supported device or telecommuters with Cisco TelePresence endpoints get the convenience of single-sign-on and of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and can access all their Jabber workloads (high-definition video, business-quality voice, data IM, and realtime presence) without requiring the inconvenience establishing a VPN connection. Also, telecommuters have the ability to use their Cisco TelePresence endpoints without a VPN tunnel, providing a user environment at home the same as the corporate office.
• Jabber Guest Support: Expressway is critical for supporting the Cisco Jabber Guest, which allows “guests” to interact with your business easily and securely through streamlined browser and mobile video phone calls.
• Cisco Cloud Connectivity: Expressway can function as a gateway that connects between on-premises Cisco or third-party collaboration solutions and Cisco's WebEx cloud. By offering support for Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMRs), Expressway offers an advanced, extensible teleconferencing environment that transparently combines business-quality voice, high-definition video, and content sharing to anyone, at any location, using any endpoint.
• Interoperability: In case your organization currently has third-party video systems, Cisco Expressway can assist you to move efficiently to Cisco products whenever you choose. Cisco Expressway provides video compatibility with industry standard H.323, H.264 Scalable Video Coding (SVC), or SIP systems. Interoperability standards allowed by Cisco Expressway include IPv4 to IPv6, H.323 to Session Initiation Protocol, and Microsoft Lync 2013 H.264 SVC to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.

• Cisco WebEx Cloud Connected Audio (CCA) for SIP-based conferencing
• Voice/Video recording
• Enterprise Call-center and interactive-voice-response (IVR) applications
• Policy-based evaluation of voice calls
• B2B immersive telepresence over SIP

Cisco's End-of-Life UC520, UC540 and UC560 VoIP Phone Systems
The end-of-life Cisco Unified Communications 500 product line is an all-in-one VoIP and unified communications solution for small organizations. UC500 models provide voice, data, voicemail, automated attendant, video, security, and WiFi functionality, work with older generation Cisco IP Voice phones, and support various public switched telephone network (PSTN) connections.

All UC500 series bundles include a compact switch appliance with 8 PoE ports and additional foreign exchange stations (FXS) and FXO interfaces, a firewall, and VPN. Integrated WiFi is an option. VoIP user capacity can be increased by attaching Cisco Catalyst Express companion switches. Every UC500 offering also includes software licenses for Cisco Unified Communications Manager for VoIP call processing and Cisco Unity Express software for voice messaging and automated attendant. The Cisco UC520 package supports 8 to 16 VoIP users and incorporate 4 foreign exchange stations and 4 FXO ports. The Cisco UC540 system allows 32 users and provides 8 FXO ports. The Cisco UC560 package supports 48 VoIP clients and 12 FXO interfaces.

Progent's seasoned VoIP experts can help you to support your legacy UC500 VoIP system or design and carry out an efficient upgrade to a current VoIP system like the Cisco Business Edition 4000.

How Progent Can Assist You with Cisco VoIP and IP Media Phones, CUCM, and Video Conferencing
Progent offers online or on-premises access to a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Collaboration consultant to assist you to design, install, manage and troubleshoot unified communications networks built on Cisco Unified Communication technology in a centralized, cloud-based, or hybrid environment. Progent's Cisco consultants have in-depth backgrounds with Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco CallManager, VoIP phones and soft phones, UC applications like Jabber and WebEx Meeting Center, Cisco's teleconferencing technologies, collaboration gatekeepers, utilities built into Cisco switches and routers. Progent can also offer support for related technologies like Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony, Cisco Unified Border Element, H.323 gateways, CAC, IP voice trunks, various signaling protocols, and Cisco's architecture for voice, video and integrated data. Progent's SIP infrastructure consultants can in addition assist you to build SIP infrastructure solutions that include SIP VoIP phones and media endpoints, SIP trunks, SIP conferencing and SIP management tools via CUCM.

Progent's application developers can build specialized IP telephony applications that will enable your organization to integrate the capabilities of Cisco Unified Communications Manager into your business processes for enhanced efficiency. Progent can analyze your existing network and Internet connectivity infrastructure to make sure your system is configured to accommodate business-quality IP voice and HD video, help you to choose and integrate Cisco products appropriate for your present needs and future expansion goals, and interface your Cisco Unified Communications solution with technology from other suppliers. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP certified network security and compliance consultants can assist you to develop, deploy, and test an enterprise-wide security plan for your unified communications solution. In addition, Progent can assist you to deploy Cisco fault-tolerant technologies like Cisco Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony to provide cost-effective call control redundancy in remote-branch and home-office environments, and Progent's disaster recovery preparedness consultants can help you develop a viable disaster recovery strategy to protect your vital unified communications system.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager/CallManager Upgrade Services
Releases of Unified Communications Manager 8.6 earlier than 8.6 and all releases of CallManager have arrived at end-of-life. This means Cisco Engineering will cease to enhance, repair, or test this older software. Security patches for this business-critical application will end, which in some situations could create regulatory compliance or even legal liability issues.

Progent will continue to offer comprehensive support services for end-of-life editions of Unified Communications Manager and CallManager, but in case your business is still running a legacy edition of this essential software your organization should begin now to plan your migration. Progent's collaboration consulting professionals can help your company to upgrade non-disruptively to the current edition of Unified Communications Manager and can typically save clients as much as 50% off consulting fees compared to most computer service companies because of Progent's documented process and experience in this area. By following best practices, Progent can make sure your business realizes a fast payback on your IT investment by helping you benefit fully from the new and improved feature set, lower management and support costs, more engaging collaboration capabilities, and stronger security provided by the latest release of Unified CM.

Progent's migration consulting services include return-on-investment assessment, project management, system testing and validation, Cloud connectivity, configuring endpoint devices from Cisco and other suppliers, smartphone and tablet integration, security and compliance services, management automation, disaster recovery planning, network architecture design, staff and user training, and continuing consulting services and technical support. Progent also offers ultra-affordable upgrade packages to keep your costs visible and under control.

For more information about Progent's engineering support for Cisco products, select a topic:

• Introduction to Progent's Cisco Support
• Fast and Affordable Remote Assistance from a Cisco CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Configuration and Troubleshooting Services
• ASA 5500-X Firewalls with Cisco Firepower: Configuration and Management Support
• ASA 5500 Series Firewall Upgrade. Migration Services
• PIX 500 Series Firewall Upgrade. Migration Expertise
• Cisco Routers Engineering Support
• Cisco Wireless Consulting Expertise
• Aironet APs Consulting Help
• Cisco Small Business Wireless Access Points Consulting Services
• Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Planning, Deployment and Debugging Expertise
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Consulting
• Cisco Meraki Access Points Engineering Services
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Technical Support
• Cisco Jabber Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Cisco Meraki Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Consulting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for At-Home Workers
• Design Expertise for Cisco-based Datacenters
• Data Center Design Expertise for Internet Service Providers
• Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Strategies for Cisco Environments