Response Point Team Blog

A four city tour focused on Response Point SP1 will swing through Canada starting in late August.

Cities visited will be: Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.  

These Microsoft sponsored events are free of charge to VARs.

Dates and registration links are below:

Montreal, Aug. 25
https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=249420

Toronto, Aug. 27

 https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=249421

Calgary, Aug.  29

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=249423

Vancouver, Sep. 3  

D-Link is hosting a Tech Road Show event here in Seattle at the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday, July 22nd from 1:30 - 5:30pm. 

At the event they will feature their Response Point solution, VoiceCenter. In addition, the first 40 Partners that register for this Seattle event will be treated to a free ticket, and transportation to/from Safeco, for that night's Mariners game versus the World Champion Boston Red Sox's at Safeco Field.  

To register go here: http://www.dlink.com/var/roadshow/register/ . 

Lunch and Valet parking will be provided for the event at the Hyatt.

Red Sox ticket offer is limited to first 40 to register for (and attend) the Seminar. See registration page for details.

To promote the launch of Aastra's Response Point solution AastraLink RP, and provide you with a system to help you and your customers become more familiar with our product, Aastra is offering special first come, first serve limited quantity pricing of an AastraLink RP™ Startup Bundle kit through our distributor, Wesbell Technologies.

Aastra is offering this startup bundle for a price of $1,399.00, a savings of $1,000.00 over regular MSRP pricing! This is a great opportunity to obtain a demo system to help you in your sales efforts!

This offer is available to resellers whom have completed their application to become an authorized AastraLink RP™ Reseller and signed and returned the Terms and Conditions package from Aastra. If you have not yet joined the program, please visit www.aastralinkrp.com and click on "How to become an AastraLink RP VAR Partner" to submit an online application form.

Contact Wesbell Technologies at www.wesbell.com/responsepoint to set up your account and place your order today.

If you have any questions, or require further information, please contact Aastra (905-760-4165) or Wesbell Technologies (1-888-937-2355).

When we started RP, our vision was simple: to provide a telephony solution so easy to use that every small business customer can set it up like connecting a printer to the PC. Today, we are moving one step closer to realize our vision by releasing to manufacturing Response Point Service Pack 1. Our OEM partners will bring SP1 to market next month. Current Response Point 1.0 customers will be able to download SP1. Please visit  http://www.microsoft.com/responsepoint on July 8th for details. SP1 is a simple and free download that takes a matter of minutes for you to install.

SP1 not only improved RP 1.0's performance/quality but also added some very cool features such as VOIP gateway, Click to Call, and Call Presence etc. Never before was PBX this easy to use and manage.

Our OEM Partner Aastra provide us with this information today wrt their WPC launch activities:

Aastra Telecom advises that they are on schedule for a July 8th launch of the AastraLink RP, a Microsoft® Response Point™ phone system, at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston.  Leveraging their many years experience in the analog, digital and IP enterprise terminal business, Aastra brings new options, features and style to the Response Point environment.
 
At launch, three different enterprise-grade RP phones will be offered by Aastra; the basic 6751i RP, the featured 6753i RP and the advanced 6757i CT RP offering a cordless handset. With larger display screens, programmable keys, superior audio, four position foot stands and headset and POE support, the Aastra RP terminals offer enterprise level features for the SMB market. In addition, the 6753i RP and 6757i CT RP models support up to three expansion modules providing additional choice and flexibility for your customer allowing a true customized solution for specific requirements.
 
A 3 phone system consisting of one of each phone model, plus the AastraLink RP 500 Base unit and RP 540 Gateway will be available at launch as will the individual components.  Note that the AastraLink RP system will be shipped with SP 1 preloaded.
 
Aastra has also announced that its first distributor for the AastraLink RP will be Wesbell Technologies. With operations in both US and Canada, Wesbell is partnering with Aastra to serve and support value added re-sellers committed to selling converged solutions to their clients.
 
Both Aastra and Wesbell fully understand the various elements required for successful VoIP deployment in the SMB environment and will offer the Microsoft VARs community the right support to grow their business. 
 
Further information is available:
 
From Aastra at: www.aastralinkrp.com

From Wesbell at: www.wesbell.com/responsepoint

We just did a video on MSDN's Channel 9, where we showed off some of the phones we use around here. Many of the viewers are probably going to think we're a little over the top when it comes to equipment we use for testing, development, and demos.  I'm getting ready to do a few press announcements related to our upcoming release of SP1 too, so I feel like I'm always trying out phones like these.

On the far right is that white Syspine Response Point base unit.  Just to the left is the Dlink version   I also have one white Syspine phone and a black Dlink phone.  On the left, just under the left monitor is my Office Communications phone.  If that's not enough, I also have a headset for click-to-call conversations using the internal company OCS network.  Oh, and that Tilt on the right is my mobile phone.

Try it out:  you can call my Response Point phone anytime at: 425-881-2170.  If I'm not here (or if I'm too busy to answer), talk to the automated receptionist, or leave me a voice mail.

Jay Waltmunson, one of our Program Managers writes:

Last week in downtown Seattle was the ITEC trade show, located at the Quest Convention Center. There was a myriad of solution providers at the event ranging from portable air conditioning systems, to Dynamics CRM custom solutions, to yes – even Response Point. Tom Strickland from Congruent had a cool three phone setup of Response Point for folks to see.  Tom was kind enough to let me stand around and watch him talk to folks about their current challenges with their phone systems. I even got to jump in with some one-on-one demo and benefits of Response Point.  At the end of the day, there was a ‘key note’ presentation about Response Point (given by me) to a group of participants. There was some good response by the folks there – including one participant who thought Response Point could be a better solution for his customers than the current Asterisk complexity that customers have to deal with. (That’s good to hear). There were a couple of strong Response Point supporters as well, including a contingent from SMBNation.

Connecting an IP Phone to the Wireless Network? Yes, it is possible.

Marta Barillas is a test engineer on the Response Point team, and she wrote these notes explaining how she was able to connect a normal Response Point phone to a base unit -- wirelessly -- using some low cost (about $40) add-on hardware.

We were able to connect an IP phone to a wireless router using a wireless bridge. The bridge has an Ethernet cable that gets connected to the phone, providing the IP address for it. Really nice, all we need now is a power outlet for both, the phone and the adapter, without having to run Ethernet cables across the offices.

The devices we used are:

• D-Link IP phone: DPH-125MS
• Linksys Wireless-G Bridge: WBP54G 
• Linksys Wireless-G Router: WRT54GS

Notice that in this case, the bridge and the phone share the same power adapter, so people have to be careful that both devices require the same voltage, and that the power adapter can provide enough power for both devices running at the same time. In this case, it was a good match for us!!!

That's Marta talking on one of our newly wireless Response Point phones.  Note the only cable is a power cable for the adapter.

You may know other equipment from other vendors that will work.  If so, please share your experiences in the comments to this post or send us your feedback directly.

Several of you have requested the ability to assign an internal email address when you configure Response Point to handle voice mail forwarding.  In all versions of Response Point, voicemails are autoforwarded from any SMTP server you specify.  This can be an external SMTP server (like the one that Yahoo! offers) or, obviously, it can be your own Exchange server, such as one you might connect to Small Business Server.  In V1, unfortunately, we wouldn't let you specify an internal email address, but I'm please to say that limitation has been removed in SP1.

From now on, you can have your voicemails sent from any .local address, such as VoiceMail@mycompany.local

Thanks to many of you, especially Darren at http://www.riverside-tech.net and Dave at http://www.itnav.com for this suggestion.

The Microsoft Response Point community continues to grow. We have a team blog; an independent Yahoo! Group site; a section on the Microsoft Partner Portal; a monthly newsletter, etc. To continue this community growth a Microsoft Response Point LinkedIn group has been created on this business-oriented networking site. This group allows for peer-to-peer communications between interested parties of the Response Point group. Our hope is that we can further enable communication and collaboration between all parties in our Response Point ecosystem: R&D, Marketing, Field, OEM, Channel, Data & Voice providers, and VARs. If you use the LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) business networking tool and wish to sign up to the Response Point group, please use the link below: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/114498/440B2C411422

Have you checked out www.rptricks.com yet? It is a fairly new independent community site focused on Microsoft Response Point.  Here you will you'll find articles, related product information, and other resources all focused on educating us on various tips and tricks with Microsoft Response Point. This site complements the Response Point Yahoo Group site - http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/responsepoint/, a community of 375+ members focused on Response Point. In Redmond, we on the Response Point team regulary visit these community sites and value the information exchanged on them. They help us learn, too!

There's a nice 15-min interview of me talking about Response Point over at Let's Talk Computers, the pioneer of tech radio dating back to 1989.

The host, Alan Ashendorf, and I had a nice conversation covering all the basics of RP and how it can help small businesses. Some people have commented that I talked too quickly, which I think is true, but maybe because our building was experiencing a firedrill here at the time.

The following came to use from Quanta Computer:

We are pleased to announce that CI Gear is the Canadian Distributor for Quanta Syspine Microsoft Response Point Phone Systems.

 

They are inviting interested Response Point Business Partners across Canada to experience the benefits of the Syspine Digital Operator System. 

 

CI Gear has informed us that Quanta Syspine has extended its limited time Demo Kit promotion. Canadian Response Point Partners can purchase a Demo Kit at a tremendously discounted price. For under ~$1,000, the Demo Kit has everything you need to get started and see for yourself the advantages of adding Response Point to your product line. This is a great way for Canadian RP Partners to get trained and begin using the system for live demonstrations in-house or at a customer's location. 

 

Order your Demo Kit before they're all gone! Contact CI Gear at sales@CIGear.com or 1-866-924-4292 to place an order.