Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

Dear all,

First: I’m not a technically qualified person. I’m in business development and marketing. And co-founder of a small Dutch ICT company. (www.e-neo.nl)

Second: This is my first contribution to the Maemo community. So I hope this request makes sense to you, the reader.

Finally: This is a request for help to build a new Maemo application that would allow the N900 to become a softphone for the Avaya Communication Manager.

The Avaya is a business communication platform. Previously known as PBX (private branche exchange). In the old world, it’s the server that operates those phones on desks that don’t go anywhere.

The Maemo softphone for Avaya would do this:

- SIP register as an extension on the Avaya. Thus allowing the N900 to be reached (as would the desk phone) and make calls trough the Avaya server.
- Use public 3G or private WiFi to connect to the Avaya. Thus allowing the use of the datanetwork for business phone calls. This brings down call cost dramatically. And puts forward savings as a user benefit for this application. (Hence, the application is worth money.)
- The capability to hand-over between 3G and WiFi (bidirectional). This is a feature Avaya and Nokia developed jointly in the past and dropped for E-serie phones since E50.
- Use the Maemo contact application and its built-in communication options. The so-called Avaya_SIP method would be availble (within the contact application) to connect to regular phone numbers and possibly SIP names as well.
- And the tricky bit: The Avaya softphone would fail-over (from datanetwork) to the regular GSM network if the datanetwork is not available. I presum this can only be done upon call setup, but who knows.
- There’s a specific feature attached to this fail-over to GSM. It should not be a regular call – cause those can be expensive. It would be a call to specific GSM number, sitting on a GSM box (thus the connection becomes low cost). And the call would automatically send the required destination number through DTMF. Thus allowing the Avaya to set up a second call leg connecting to the destination.

Again, I hope this request is fits this community. Would really like to discuss getting this started. And meeting at the conference in oktober is possible.

Regards,
Jan-Paul

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

If the Avaya PBX isnt using anything other then SIP protocol, Session Initiated Protocol tI should work with the default client in Maemo.

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

SIP is built-in to the N900 already as well as almost everything you're asking about already. :)

Maybe not automatic fall-over in the middle of a call though.

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

Hi Zerojay,

Many thanks for your reply. And what a statement it is!

Could you direct me to information that explains how the handover between 3G and WiFi or GSM and WiFi is done? My name is on the Dutch pre-order list for N900, but obviously I don't have it yet ... :o


I'm asking because this handover is the tricky bit. (At least it was with E50 / Symbian.)

Regards,
Jan-Paul

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

Hi Geremy,

Could you direct me to a description of the default client? We'll have to wait a couple of weeks or so before we can test. (Avaya's here, but the N900's still to come.)

Thanks!
Jan-Paul

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

The handover isn't done in the middle of a call as far as I know, so if that's what you're looking for... sorry, I doubt it's there. What I can tell you is that you can tell the N900 that you want it to connect to wifi when it's available. When wifi is unavailable, it switches over to GSM. Like previous tablets it will search every so often while you are on GSM to see if a wifi access point you've defined is around. You can change the search time to conserve battery life if you so choose. The default is 10 minutes just like the previous tablets.

Basically, when you get home or leave home, you can pretty much rest assured that you're on the proper network and won't be left without a connection for very long, if at all.

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

That's too bad. Roaming between WiFi and GSM (or 3G) would be a great feature for the business audience that we service. (With our company.) It would mean they may leave the office while on the phone and never loose a connection.

On the one hand I'm thinking the benefits would outweigh this disadvantage. On the other hand I'm trying to find out (before testing) if anything close our goal is available.

If you don't mind my asking: Have you any idea whether an application that performs the dial-thru has been created for Maemo?

My search on this forum and the larger internet turned up dead. I know people that created a Symbian version - but that was an application that ran on top of Symbian. It replaced the regular calling interface. And that really sucks. Since Symbian 60 the calling interface is quite good. And Maemo demo's (youtube) promise an even better version .... So I would really like for this function to be "behind the scenes".

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

I don't know about Avaya, but the SIP client on previous tablets works amazingly fine (even on video) for Cisco's Communications Manager.

We also have Nokia Symbian E-Series phones using both the integrated SIP client and the dedicated Nokia ICC client functioning without issues. Of course the Symbian ones have more advanced features.

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

Hi!
Thanks for your reply. Did you use the default client on the tablet to connect to Cisco CM?
Jan-Paul

Re: Request: Let's create an Avaya softphone for Maemo 5
 

Yes. I have a N800 tablet, and it worked fine. It sends and receives calls and video calls, full duplex using its integrated camera, regardless of the other endpoint being SCCP, H.323 or SIP (this is, however, due to the Cisco CM "translating" calls between different protocols).

The usual SIP settings were enough, registrar server, user, password, etc. Works over GPRS/Edge, 3G and over WiFi. QoS is not mandatory for it to work in WiFi, but very nice to have in an environment with many WiFi devices. Since an Access Point works like a hub because it uses a shared medium, there may be problems in high traffic wireless networks due to difference in data flows. It even transmits the presence status to the CM, so other users know that I am using the line or not. Due to some bugs on the SIP stack (Sofia), the calls don't work over VPN, unless you do some hacking on the tablet or put the call server in a DMZ.

The SIP client in Symbian E and N series works equally well. I also have used the Nokia ICC Cisco client, which is a SCCP client. SCCP, being Cisco's propietary protocol gives some extra features too (Do Not Disturb, Pick Up, Forwarding). The calls work over VPN as well. No video calls in Symbian, though.

Neither Maemo or Symbian currently support the handover of calls between GPRS/3G and WiFi, however AFAIK such feature is in the roadmap for Symbian devices.

I am a Cisco certified specialist, and I work in a systems integrator, we have deployed Tablets and Symbian phones in many customers with different environments, so feel free to ask anything else you want to know. My focus is on Cisco tech, though.