Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express – Formerly CallManager Express

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CUCME) is an integrated call-processing solution – otherwise generally known as an IP telephone system! CUCME -formerly Cisco Unified CallManager Express (CUCE) and Cisco CallManager Express (CME), is a Cisco IOS based IP-PBX for small medium business, enterprise branch office and commercial customers.

The CUCME is not native to any particular platform, and can be found on many mid-range Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) such as the 28xx range, as well as specific hardware, such as the UC520 and UC540 platforms – each of which have a number of other voice-specific features integrated onto the mainboard (including analogue and digital lines, analogue extensions, trunk cards and wireless).

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express provides a rich set of call control and voice application features. It supports Cisco IP phones using Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Call Manager Express also provides a rich set of traditional PSTN connectivity options using both digital (ISDN2e Basic Rate, ISDN30 Primary Rate), analogue lines and VoIP trunks (SIP).

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express also provides integration with TAPI clients, has a basic Automatic call distribution application, provides an integrated Auto Attendant, Voicemail and Interactive voice response systems.

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express is ideally suited to environments with between 10 and 120 end users (which may include wireless phones, desk phones, softphones or analogue POTS phones) and can easily provide call processing for small to medium sized environments.

Install, Support and Optimisation

ProAction Networks – A Cisco Select Certified Partner and voice specialist provide the highest level of qualified assurance for your Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. Whether your interest in the CUCME is within a new project, an existing system or anything in-between, ProAction Networks can give you the support and assurance for a smooth install, assured support and response or a well-rounded opinion.

All our engineers are Cisco CCNA certified, or above!

We can acquire the right hardware, licensing and upgrades for you at the right price – either new or refurbished. ProAction Networks also ensure they are installed and maintained to the highest standards. ProAction Networks excel at adding value – and integrating services. For instance, we can provide you with cost-effective SIP trunks – nationwide local number ranges, combined with Non Geographic numbers which are piped into as many trunks, or lines as you like – over a regular broadband or otherwise data circuit. Remote Working, Wireless Coverage, Secure Firewalls and simple administration are just a few elements that are all taken care of by us.

ProAction Networks have supported the NEC 2000 IPS and it’s associated technologies from its earliest days. Our staff were originally trained by Crane in the UK, and then by NEC and Philips in the UK, The Netherlands and the U.S.A.

Service and Support

ProAction Networks currently support a wide range of UK and International organisations utilising the NEC 2000 IPS. A full suite of support options is available to customers, including:

Ad-hoc support nationwide for all scenarios including faults, moves, changes, hardware damage and even complete system failure – 24/7
Fixed 6 Monthly support contracts, providing guaranteed on-call engineer availability, full hardware warranty, manufacturer escalation for bugs, free adds/moves and changes and quarterly health checks.

International Support – support from Offices in the UK, Australia and the USA

Call or Contact Us now for a completely unbiased, no obligation conversation about your system.

As most critical problems are detected, occur or need to be resolved first thing in the morning or at night, paying good money every year for a support desk which opens at 8.30 and shuts and 5.30 doesn’t make sense! All our support contracts include 24 hours support, 365 days a year – direct to a third-line engineer.

NEC Dterm desk phones rarely malfunction, so why pay so much every single year to warranty all of them? If one or two have to be replaced each year with brand new sets, it will cost a fraction of what it costs to maintain them each year. We are the only NEC/Zeacom support company who do not force customers to pay for maintenance on handsets. The maths show this can be a money making exercise!

Any organisation which could afford the NEC IPS is likely to be big enough to afford well-trained, in-house technical support staff. Those staff do not need help renaming an extension or changing a pickup group – the need help because it’s vitally important and they need an NEC/Zeacom expert straight away. All other NEC/Zeacom support companies have poorly trained engineers hacking their way through all problems before it gets escalated. With ProAction Networks, you get the best person immediately, at his desk phone or on his mobile.

Common NEC and Zeacom problems which most support companies just do not seem to be able to resolve:

• Message waiting lights don’t come on when a phone as a voicemail message

Solution? Replace a missing command…

• A call will get ‘stuck’ on the operator console screen and only a reboot of the Zeacom will remove it

Solution? Apply missing software patches

• Some pickup and ring groups constantly ‘stop working’ for one reason or another

Solution? Perform correct method of administration…

• Most of the buttons on handsets don’t appear to do anything useful
Solution? Apply sound programming and labeling…

• I can’t call forward a phone anymore, either at the handset or in MOC/Matworx

Solution? Remove the DND or Callback set on handset…

ProAction Networks can fix all your issues permanently.

ProAction Networks have been providing expert assistance to many businesses and organisations since 2008. We provide outstanding Information Technology, Business Telecommunications and Network Infrastructure support, recover faulty or failing systems & computers, maintain your systems and solve your technology problems. As advocates of all NEC telecommunications products for the SME, we specialise in the NEC Univerge SV8100 and we are a happy, helping hand with whatever baffles, bothers or eludes you and your technology concerns.

We provide sales, support, maintenance and consultative services in business technology, specialising in the NEC SV8100 – and particularly when it comes to all forms of business telecommunications, information technology and getting the most from web services. We specialise in supporting those in the SME arena who are looking to achieve the smartest results with a conservative budget.

We are a fully accredited NEC, Zeacom, Cisco and Microsoft Partner – and are fully able to help support, maintain or install your SV8100, Network, Server, Computer, Phone System and Web Presence.

ProAction Networks are happily the UK’s brightest and quickest maintenance, technical and warranty support providers for the NEC SV8100!

We firmly believe that the NEC SV8100 business telephone system is one of the most reliable and resilient phone systems available to businesses in the UK. It has the widely acknowledged Japanese reliability, and is a true combined VoIP and TDM (traditional) phone system. The NEC SV8100 supports VoIP telephones and multi-system IP linkage and has grown with the technologies surrounding VoIP to bring you assured IP and traditional telephone infrastructure.

The NEC Univerge SV8100 Communications Server is the ideal system for small and medium enterprises that wish to compete and grow their businesses over time. This robust, feature-rich solution is completely scalable and can be expanded to meet your communications needs both now and in the future.

ProAction Networks realises that business today demand efficient, seamless communication – fully integrated with your data networks via CTI, Unified Messaging, Single Number Reach, VoIP, management, Call Centre and trunks. This convergence enables fast decision-making and improves customer responsiveness. The NEC UNIVERGE 360 range of telephony products helps small and medium sized businesses succeed at this accelerated level by placing people at the center of communications.

Most NEC NEAX 2000 IPS or IVS telephone systems will also have an accompanying application server in some shape or form to add lots of bells and whistles to the entire telephony system. At it’s most basic, it may provide a voicemail system or operator console. However, an accompanying application server can scale upwards to include a huge array of services.

The NEC 2000 IPS is regarded by many as a fairly old-school enterprise phone system – and as a result, rather than try to utilise any of the NEC functions for Voicemail, Uniform Call Distribution (UCD) or Computer Integration (CTI), most customers in the UK, and indeed throughout New Zealand, Australia and the USA aquired a Zeacom Communications Center as well.

In the UK there were only really three options if you wanted voicemail for the NEC IPS – that was to either by an AD8 voicemail card, which was essentially a linux-based PC on a card, with a 2.5″ hard drive – very unreliable (spinning hard drive without any form of redundancy) and not very management-friendly. Secondly there was the option of NEC or Philips’ own voicemail and CTI applications, and lastly you could use the Zeacom.

Zeacom products were originally called Corus (for voicemail) and Q-Master (for call/contact centre) – and somewhere in the middle was CTI and it’s associated applications. More recently, Zeacom rebranded their extensive product portfolio as the Zeacom Communication Center (sic) – which encompasses everything they provide in one neat portfolio. The most popular parts that make up any Zeacom installation include Console, Desktop, Voicemail, Reports and Wallboard.

Zeacom applications reside on a seperate Windows-based server and controlled the PBX using an NEC feature called OAI (Open Application Interface) – essentially a closed developer protocol to control the phone system. This OAI protocol could either be sent via RS232 or more commonly via a TCP/IP network. There would also sometimes be analogue connections between the Zeacom server and the PBX to send and recieve voice recordings, although more recently this is done via VoIP.

A Call Center is possibly the 2nd most likely component of an appication server – many providing full multimedia, networked call center solution with comprehensive management, reporting, live statistics, IVR, Auto Attendants, Callback, Web and Chat modules – the list is almost endless.

The OAI interface is probably Zeacom’s greatest weapon, as it allows full control and oversight of the phone system – the server can report everything that is going on back to the end user, control devices and fully manage the NEC 2000 IPS live. This enables certain software programs, like Desktop for the standard user and Console for the operator to show a huge array of live information – such as who is at their desks, who is out of the office, who is on the phone, what calls are in the queue, how many people are on hold and so on.

If you have any specific problems with your Zeacom solve which you simply cannot resolve, then please get in touch.