Response Point Team Blog : VoIP

2 Free VOIP Training Webcasts for Partners from TechEd's Top Speaker!

sprague — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark (Part 1 of 2)
October 6th, 2009, 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP01PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552695

This online seminar provides the foundation for troubleshooting Response Point communications with Wireshark, the open source analyzer, or other analyzer products. Beginning with the troubleshooting methodology and the tips/tricks to locating the cause of network problems related to VoIP communications, Laura demonstrates the visible evidence of the most common network infrastructure problems. If the infrastructure isn't performing properly - no network-based applications will perform properly. That includes Response Point.

Response Point Analysis and Troubleshooting (Part 2 of 2)
October 28th, 2009 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP02PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552698

This online seminar follows the Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark event with a focus on issues that affect Response Point communications. Beginning with the overview of telephony protocols and typical communication processes, Laura delves into the numerous issues that affect the visibility and performance of Response Point systems, walks through a series of Response Point trace files and demonstrates how to use Wireshark's telephony-specific troubleshooting features. Finishing up this event is a summary of problems that may be caused by firewall issues and add-on service problems.

Books We Are Reading … :)

RexBackman — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:55:07 GMT

Well sort of… Actually we are working on some small projects here in Redmond with Ray Horak. Ray’s a very savvy technologist with a focus on the telecom space. He is the author of some popular and well respected telecom books – a dictionary and a handbook on telecom and data communications. If you want to refresh your technical skills check out Ray’s books at your favorite book-buying location.

Another Response Point book

sprague — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:26:13 GMT

Long-time Response Point friend Joe Schurman has completed a new book, Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications. Featuring Office Communications Server (all updated for the latest R2 release), and of course plenty of information about Response Point, this is a broader overview than Harry Brelsford's book Cut the Strings (discussed here). Joe's the brain's behind SmartVOIP (which we mentioned last month), the software+hardware developed with Quintum to let you connect RP to an OCS deployment, so he knows what he's talking about.

It's will be available from Amazon soon.

SMBPhone for Response Point in Canada

sprague — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:58:17 GMT

Our friends from SMBPhone, an aggressive new Response Point-focused business in Canada have just completed certification as a Response Point digital voice provider. Some of the things you get with SMBPhone’s new SMB Digital Voice™ :

$29.95 Digital Business Telephones Lines
Competitive Long Distance (North America)
Competitive International Long Distance Rates
Free calling between offices on SMB Phone network
Free inter-branch call transfer
Free local calling
Free Caller ID
Burstable Voice Channels (Auto-expandable phone service)
Local Number Portability (Transfer your existing phone number)
e911
611 (direct support number)
Multiple regional phone numbers (get a phone number almost anywhere in Canada)
SMB Anywhere™ (support for remote users)

Read the press release, and contact SMBPhone at 1 (866) 473-0516. (yes, that’s an RP phone number!) Ask for ’sales’.

D-Link and NGT partnering on VOIP

sprague — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:17:02 GMT

Response Point partners D-Link and NGT announced today that they're working together on a co-marketing agreement to make it easier for customers to get a great end-to-end small business phone system, including hardware and voice service. From the press release:

The pairing of NGT Digital Voice phone services that connect directly to the D-Link® VoiceCenter phone system will provide the small business with an affordable solution to seamlessly merge traditional phone systems with feature-rich, affordable VoIP services without needing telephony expertise. By creating an all-in-one phone solution, small businesses can realize an increased value proposition, saving up to 50% in costs.

Also note that NGT will present another special webinar on December 9th for resellers interested in learning about telephony, VOIP, and RP. This will be followed by another one on Dec 16th to discuss the business benefits of VOIP. Pre-register for the events at http:///www.ngt.com/rpevents.

Response Point now in Australia and New Zealand

Xuedong David Huang — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:54:00 GMT

It is great to see our partner D-Link expands Response Point product line into Australia and New Zealand. As shown in the pictures, there are lots enthusiastic people in D-Link’s RP VoiceCenter seminar. I'd love to learn if our magic blue button works well with New Zealand/Australian English.

http://www.thechannel.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=448&Itemid=34

Packet8 and Response Point

sprague — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:13:11 GMT

We just returned from a press conference where Bryan Martin, Chairman and CEO of 8x8, Inc. announced a new marketing agreement with Packet8 service and Response Point.

Here's XD watching Huw Rees (VP Sales & Mktg) and Bryan Martin preparing a demo using the magic blue button to "call Bill", a special guest they dialed in for the presentation.

Here's the official announcement:

8x8, Inc., provider of Packet8 business, mobile and residential communication services, will now offer Packet8 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service for Microsoft’s Response Point small business phone system.

Companies using the Microsoft Response Point business phone system in conjunction with Packet8 VoIP phone service are assured reliable E-911, CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), USF (Universal Service Fund), TRS (Telecommunications Relay Services) and CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) compliant digital voice service. Response Point customers using Packet8 as their service provider automatically enjoy free calls to and from any other Packet8 subscriber worldwide. Response Point with Packet8 is available immediately through select Microsoft agents and resellers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.packet8.net.

Plan Ahead. Microsoft Response Point @ the upcoming Internet Telephony Expo

RexBackman — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Microsoft Response Point will be quite active at the upcoming Internet Telephony Expo September 16 - 18 in Los Angeles at the L.A. Convention Center - http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/.

IP Telephony expert Tom Ross from the TMC University will hold a one-day class focused on Microsoft's VoIP solutions Office Communications Server (OCS) and Response Point (RP). If you are interested in the class, please use this link for registration information. Also, Microsoft Response Point General Manager, X.D. Huang will deliver one of the event Keynotes on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4:00pm. Please use this link for Keynote information.

CRN's Scorecard on Response Point 1.0

Xuedong David Huang — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:16:00 GMT

Since we shipped RP 1.0, we have received a lot of wonderful feedbacks from so many of our customers, partners, and analysts. It is gratifying to see RP 1.0 is loved by so many people! I know there are still lots of things we can do better and improve. I want to thank so many people who supported us along the way in creating the best telephony solution for SMB!

CRN’s recent scorecard on RP 1.0 is a good summary on RP 1.0. We are working agressively to achieve all 5’s from Features to Profit Potential. We hope to do this rapidly for our customers and partners in RP’s future releases. Thank you again!

Early Reactions to SP1 Announcement

sprague — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:06:08 GMT

We are getting several press mentions about today's SP1 announcement. Take a look at the mentions from bMighty, CRN, TechTarget, TelecomWeb, and TMCNet. Harry Brelsford talked about it in his newsletter today as well.

Also thanks to those of you who are blogging about us, especially Allen Miller Computer Consulting, Chris Rue (who stopped by for dinner with us last week!) and others I'd like to mention too if you let us know your URL.

I've switched to a very early SP1 build for my own Response Point systems and let me tell you: SIP trunking is wonderful. Fortunately it's a free (and easy) upgrade if you buy RP now, so jump into the world of Response Point and enjoy!

Microsoft Continues to Innovate Rapidly With Service Pack Release for Small-Business Phone System

sprague — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:06:54 GMT

We issued the following press release this morning:

REDMOND, Wash. — March 24, 2008 — U.S. small businesses can soon take advantage of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone service on Microsoft Response Point phone systems to improve their business communications. Today at the third annual Microsoft Small Business Summit, Microsoft Corp. announced it will release a feature update, Service Pack 1 (SP1), to its Microsoft Response Point phone system software this summer, available free via a simple download.

“Small businesses rely heavily on the phone to communicate with customers and want a solution that allows them to reliably reach as many customers as possible at a low cost,” said Xuedong Huang, general manager for Response Point at Microsoft. “Response Point SP1 will make it easy to transition from traditional analog service to the promise of digital voice services.”

Response Point SP1 will enable small businesses to easily supplement their existing phone service with VoIP services. As customers become more comfortable with the reliability and quality of service offered by VoIP, they can seamlessly move from analog to VoIP without needing telephony expertise.

Recognizing that small businesses have ebbs and flows in employee hiring, SP1 will take advantage of the flexibility of VoIP to allow small businesses to scale much more rapidly and cost-effectively than with traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) lines. If IP service is in place, using a simple VoIP account setup wizard in the Response Point Administrator, a small business can connect with Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) to add new VoIP phone numbers in a matter of minutes. The process to install traditional analog lines can take days or even weeks. According to small-business research firm Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc., a small business with 10 to 19 employees can save an average of $8,000 in the first year by purchasing an IP-based phone system such as Response Point.

SP1 will also address the desire of small businesses to maintain a local presence through the use of a local VoIP phone number. VoIP providers allow businesses to select a local phone number for use in remote locations, alleviating costs to the business and customers for long-distance and toll-free numbers. Using a local phone number, small businesses can also secure their presence in local customer resources such as the chamber of commerce and local White and Yellow Pages.

Response Point SP1 also helps small businesses maintain close and responsive relationships with customers through support for Direct Inward Dialing, a key feature enabled by VoIP. A small business can configure Response Point to route known inbound callers directly to a particular extension or pool of extensions. Small-business owners can furnish a main number or individual employee extensions to ensure that someone is available — virtually anytime or anywhere — for important customers.

Response Point hardware vendors Aastra Technologies Ltd., D-Link Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. will ship end-to-end Response Point phone systems, pre-loaded with SP1, this summer. The SP1 release will coincide with Aastra’s Response Point phone system debut. “Response Point is a great complement to our portfolio of enterprise and enterprise IP communications products,” said Yves Laliberté, executive vice president at Aastra. “We chose to incorporate Response Point into our line because we believe that Microsoft has done a very good job of designing the software from the ground up to address the unique needs of small businesses and it will be well supported by Microsoft’s channel partners. The integration of Response Point’s system software with our scalable and flexible corded and wireless SIP phones will allow us to offer compelling desktop and mobility solution to small-business customers.”

Startup Environment Breeds Rapid Innovation

Microsoft developed Response Point in Microsoft Research, where the team deliberately organized and acted like a business startup. “The environment within Microsoft Research has allowed the team to stay focused on solving the customer problem while developing creative solutions. Response Point Service Pack 1 is a testament to Microsoft’s focus on rapid but pragmatic innovation,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of the Startup Business Accelerator at Microsoft. “Not only has the team listened and responded to their customers, but they have also done so with amazing speed and agility.”

Learning Opportunities for Partners and Small Businesses

Small businesses, value-added resellers and Microsoft channel partners can learn more about the benefits of Response Point SP1 by participating in new classroom training and information sessions:

• Twelve-city Response Point training tour. A new 12-city series of classroom training courses for VARs and channel partners will be offered April through June in cities throughout the U.S. For more information or to register, those interested can visit http://www.microsoft.com/partner/media/homepage/us/default.aspx.

• Response Point solution segment, “Phone It In.” On day two of the Microsoft Small Business Summit, Richard Sprague, senior director for Response Point at Microsoft, will discuss and demonstrate how Response Point addresses common small-business challenges. The segment will be available live online and on demand from 10 to 11 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, March 25, at https://www.sbsummit.com/Default.aspx.

Craig Mundie's Intercom Extension to Syspine Phones

Xuedong David Huang — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:02:00 GMT

While RP is designed for small business customers, we can’t prevent people from deploying RP in the household :-) One of our RP 1.0 customers is Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. Craig personally set up the Syspine RP system himself for his home. This was not a surprise as RP was designed with ease of management in mind. What surprised me was many of Craig’s innovative solutions that extended RP’s original design objectives. One such example is Craig created RP 1.0’s intercom extension. Craig added this intercom feature and delivered on Syspine RP system without having my team doing anything!

What Craig did is to create a user group that contains every RP phone in his house. He named this group/person “intercom”. As RP can support powerful voice dialing through the magic blue button, he successfully delivered his own “intercom” feature. Now by simply pressing the blue button on the RP phone and saying “intercom”, he is able to ring all the RP phones in his house.

Craig’s solution is so creative that this approach can address a broad set of telephony functions that aren’t included in RP 1.0. By creating a name entity of his preference and associate the entity with the calling action, RP’s powerful magic button brings many new telephony functions to life!

Necessity breeds innovation and RP’s ease of use enabled Craig’s wonderful act!

Response Point RTM'd

Xuedong David Huang — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 19:22:00 GMT

“Of particular interest is the ’Magic‘ button which brings voice recognition technology into the world of the SMB in a new way”

Steve Hilton—Yankee Group

"I've looked into Response Point, and it looks like a compelling solution for small businesses who just want basic PBX features like dial tone and voice mail."

Travis Fisher—Inacom Information Systems

These are the words from some of the well respected analysts when we RTM'd Microsoft Response Point this week.

Response Point, a start up experiment in the enterprise, started from a BillG think week paper (CommPC). With the support from numerous MS executives (Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Craig Mundie, Rick Rashid, Dan Ling, Kevin Turner, Scott Di Valerio, Eduardo Rosini, Mike Park, Anoop Gupta, and Gurdeep Pall...), we formed a “start up” in Microsoft Research because of the cross-P&L nature of our work. CommPC team received “Round A” funding from Bill Gates in March 2005. The project changed its codename to “Edinburgh” after we received Round B funding. The codename of Edinburgh was chosen because Edinburgh is the birthplace of Alexander Graham Bell - speaking the team’s high aspiration to reinvent phone systems from the ground up for our underserved small biz customers. Yes, we wanted to do this from the ground up, not to strip down an enterprise-grade system for small biz customers like many of our competitors did in the past.

I enjoyed the VC-funding model from Microsoft Research and I really think this nurtured the start up during the last 2 years. This not only forced our team to work and act like a start up but also gave us the freedom to think and act out of the box. Because we started from scratch, we had to first build up our team. We faced challenges to balance our starter-type of researchers and finisher-kind of talents. We brainstormed frequently, recruited some outstanding talents (both starters and finishers), created many prototypes and demos, engaged with lots small biz customers, partnered with our OEM friends (and lost a few too), shielded randomization from some of our internal groups, and finally shipped this great product. The best experience for me personally is that I am able to correct many mistakes on the fly and I can depend on so many talented people in the team to make things happen (frequently better than expected).

We know the small business market is underserved. 10% of US small businesses use VoIP solutions. Our team is proud that we are able to help the underserved customers. This is not an ordinary team. This is the group with a sense of mission and pride. This is why we will achieve our goals to address the pain points of small businesses and grow the market from 10% to 80%.

Like Steve Hilton from Yankee Group pointed out, the magic button will connect small biz users emotionally. We focused on the ease of use and ease of management and I am happy others are able to see the magic impact with Response Point’s magic touch…

I am incredibly proud of being a part of this small and elite team that made this happen!

What to know before you decide to sell VoIP

Jeffsmi — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:42:54 GMT

Mark Crall wrote a great post on his blog yesterday, citing 7 important things any Microsoft partner should know before jumping into VoIP. Since I have been telling partners how easy and natural a fit Response Point is with their existing offerings, I figured I would be remiss if I did not note Mark's sage cautions and words of advice.

My favorite points are how the term VoIP can mean very different things to different people, and how a great IP phone system still cannot compensate for a poor service provider or insufficient bandwidth.

Communications products at Microsoft

sprague — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:45:06 GMT

Rich Tehrani, Publisher of TMC, posts his summary of the various communications products at Microsoft, including Response Point. He notes that we have been going to small business customers to work with them as they try out our products.

He's right. We have close relationships with several small businesses that are trying Response Point right now, and it makes a difference in the way we approach our design. I've been making as many customer visits as possible since joining the team last month, and the main thing I've heard is what a hassle it is to acquire and then install and manage a new phone system. If you're a big company, you assign that problem to your IT or operations people, but if you're small you have to do it all yourself. The hassle is made worse because you probably don't have even know what products are out there, or which questions to ask.

What do you think? What's the best way for us to let small businesses know about Response Point? Please let us know your thoughts.