Presentations from the 2009 AGM

Closed Session Notes (download 110K  )

Vision of Aastra – Tony Shen/Hugh Scholaert - Q&A Session (download 550k pdf )

MX-One Roadmap and update (download 2.2M pdf  )  M.Wheeler

The Aastra terminals update (download  1.6M pdf )  A. Brannan

MX-One Messaging (download  1.6M pdf ) Steve Gore (AVST)

MX-One Applications (download 2.75M pdf ) A. Brannan

Damovo Case Study - planned migration project to TSE at Southampton University   C. Richardson/N. Spencer

Telent partner-Power consumption & Telent update and vision  (download 607K pdf) S. Davies (telent partner) & B. Swallow

Aastra working with analysts (download 525K pdf) M. Calvert

Aastra UK - who are we? (download 550k pdf ) M. Calvert

Summary

Just a short summary, please see the individual slide presentations for more info. We apologise in advance for some of the  slide packs where the presenter used transitions in their powerpoint presentations that overlap and this has resulted in some confused pdf formats. If requested full power point versions can be forwarded, contact us for details. The AGM was an interesting event this year in that it represented a first year milestone being reached by Aastra post the Ericsson era, and it also marked a significant swing of the enterprise PBX customer base with server based sales figures now just easing past the sales of traditional telephony switch (related to MX-One). Included in the AGM event was the demo facility and the majority of feedback we have received from attendees were that it was useful to have active equipment available to suppliment the presentations delivered. Having the event spread over effectively 1.5 days did release some time for members to network and also meet with vendor representatives and support persons along with partner representatives. In attendance were members, and the main partners 4 partners of Aastra in the enterprise space, Damovo, telent(PNM), Westons, NCS. Thales were not in attendance and it seems they will become a negligable service player in the future.

The closed session was a relatively quiet affair with no major issues reported, it is we think fair to say that  the MX-One TSE and Solidus releases have become relatively trouble free with the service packs introduced in the latter part of 2008. Main criticism raised is the inconsistency of patch pack management from the partners.

Advice ..  ensure that you have negotiated within your service agreement that patch pack installation is included as an automatic activity if you want to ensure your system is always at the latest patch release.

The presentations

T. Shen and H. Scholaert emphasised Aastra's strong financial credentials in terms of growth against a background of its competitors difficulties. The Aastra roadmap is firmly committed to providing an open communication platform for customers to migrate toward at their pace. They emphasised the key role of SIP and their strength in open system development and how they will support customers and partners in making sense of the unified communications world or as they describe it Aastra's  'Process Integrated Communication' (PIC).

The MX-One core system presentation sets out upgrade paths and highlights options for TSW, TSE including the proposed roadmap for MX-One version 4 (including features and functions). Aastra re-iterated the support for MX-One TSW  until at least 2015. Clearly the migration path is with the server platform (TSE) with 3.2 now released and with version 4 expected to be launched the end of this year (that would mean available for customers in early Q1 2010). Aastra also announced a new discounted upgrading campaign with up to a 35% discount available (you will need to discuss this with your partners to find out what exactly the offers contain).

The terminals presentation ran through the wide range of IP terminals including Dect and WiFi handsets available on MX-One. The new SIP range was also included from Aastra to compliment the 4000 and 5000 ranges already available (the Aastra based SIP client family 675x range) along with the ViPr video conference terminal. The soft clients were included in the applications presentations. Two additional phones are due to be released to suppliment the 5446, these are currently on field trial at telent.

Top Rated presentation AVST representative presented the MX-One Messaging platform and explained the evolution of the messaging product from VMX, through One Box to its present MX-One Messaging form. This included a short taster for what is next due in version 5. AVST have agreed to support the user group members with free advice on messaging.  This offer was made because it was highlighted that very few users realised what they already had available to them from their existing messaging platform. Whether it be poor information, or poor implementation the messaging platform is being under utilised and AVST are happy to advise members how to do that. To access this advice please go to the messaging section in the members area.

Applications update continued on with Solidus and CMG and also examined the range odf options you have to implement various forms of unified comms deployments. One thing that was stressed is that the CMG platform has the option to be implemented across various manufacturer platforms including Cisco.  The Aastra roadmap shows a greater overlap of applications into the future lots of application options and that is why the term PIC is being used by Aastra to highlight it is the business need that will determine the right choice of application solution.

Southapmton University was the featured case study from Damovo which overviewed a migration from BC12 to MX-One TSE. The case study highlighted the decision and planning rationale behind project decisions being taken. The second part of the presentation highlighted the considerations of service support in a server environment and gave some interesting food for thought.

The presentation from telent was delivered in two segments the first was a presentation on power consumption by a telent partner organisation. This was really a generic power consumption measurement solution that looks at power consumption across the organisation and not specifically at communications usage. The second element was an introduction to telent vision given by their new general manager Bob Swallow who introduced himself and outlined telent capabilities and their direction for the future.

The final two presentations were deliverd by Aastra identifying what the analysts activities and also their views were on the organisation. The last presentation highlighted the Aastra UK organisation and changes that have taken place to-date. Aastra have indicated they are engaged pro-actively with the analyst community and have made a significant change in the UK to bring more local support to their partners and directly to end customers. They have indocated an intent to step up the dialogue with end customers to grow their brand recognition within the user community. Important to them, not necessarily important to the user.