After much research, calls to our Cisco SE, a PDI case, and a conference call with Telex we have decided...
We are going to implement Telex SIP softphones on the desktops. This will provide the best solution short of rigging up some cables connecting the Cisco IP Phone headset port and auxiliary port to the Telex ADHB-4 box. Telex stated this solution has been available for five years but has only caught on in the last year.
Running this system on SIP softphones leaves me a little unsettled, I am somewhat comforted because Telex seems to be releasing updates to their software on a regular basis. This tells me they are actively fixing problems.
The main downside to this solution is the Cisco UCCX Call Center version 8.5 doesn't support 3rd party SIP phones. I can't say that I blame the UCC Business Unit since this could require testing and certifying many 3rd party SIP phones. In this testing, of course some vendors would be left out, customers would complain, and this would pull key staff away from fixing bugs and preparing the next version.
So I will configure CallManager, excuse me, Unified Communications Manager, with 3rd party SIP devices for the Dispatchers' SIP softphones.
We have two UCMs and the softphones allow for one entry for a SIP server, either IP Address or Domain Name. I read up on creating DNS server entries for SIP servers, so I think I will try creating one DNS SIP SVR entry for two IP addresses.
An email from Cisco referred to the Cisco Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS). This system is basically and Cisco UC systems with some Radio over IP integration. Without any experience on this, I this this is a very good and viable option, however the customer has already purchased a solution supporting the Radio, RoIP, and operator console functions. We are just trying to integrate telephony into the system.
Stay tuned...We will see how the Telex SIP softphones cooperate with Cisco UCM 8.5 (did I mention we are doing the Cisco UC on UCS with Cisco UCS-C servers?
FYI...I am also frustrated Cisco doesn't support Cisco Unified Enterprise Attendant Console server installed on the same Cisco UCS-C Class server which also have Cisco UCS installed on them....
While Cisco supports UxAC running on VMware, it is only supported on Cisco UCS-B or UCS-C servers. These servers can not have other Cisco UC systems loaded on them (same host server)...hhmmm....Such is the question...Install CxAC on Cisco UCS servers with VMware, (which is supported) or on Cisco UCS servers without Cisco UC apps are not installed
but not on those servers have other Cisco UC applications (which is not supported), Install on VMware with other Cisco UCS servers (which is permitted) or install on
-Bill