Lync Hacker: Step by Step Native #Lync DoorBell Using #snom PA1

 

Lync administrator Daryl Sensenig is using full Enterprise Voice at Tents for Rent and wanted to extend Lync as far as possible so he put his hacking skills to use to turn the snom PA1 into a complete native Microsoft Lync door bell. I appreciate Daryl giving permission to repost his solution and if you have any ideas to improve or if you have a low cost external/weather proof door bell to suggest, comment below.  Here is what he did…

I spent a lot of time figuring out how to build a door phone for Lync 2013. The documentation was very poor and fragmented. So, I thought I'd share how I did it so that others could benefit.

1. I started with the Snom PA1 and updated it to the UC edition firmware.
2. I purchased an AIPHONE LE-A and a mini mic from Amazon.
3. I setup a ring group for the doorbell in Microsoft Lync
4. I entered the UC account data into the PA Web UI.
5. I setup speed dial "1" to be the doorbell ring group.
6. I set auto dial to "after 2 seconds" It is located in Advanced > Behavior > Auto Dial
7. I set it to auto answer in Identity 1 > SIP > Auto Answer. This allows me to call it if necessary.
8. I inserted the mini mic into the "mic in" jack.
9. I opened the AIPHONE and soldered wires from the AIPHONE speaker and connected them to the "Speaker" connectors on the PA1.
10. I connected the wiring harness to the KBD (keyboard) port of the PA1 and soldered the white and purple (6 and 7) wires onto switch on the board in the AIPHONE. Thus by pressing the button on the AIPHONE, it dials the number 1 and after 2 seconds, speed dials my doorbell ring group.
11. I connected the wiring harness to the I/O 2 port of the PA 1. The black wire is ground, brown is always 12 V (good as a power supply for a relay). Yellow is pin 3 and purple is pin 4. These can be connected to a relay for a door strike, door opener and etc. I haven't done this yet, but I plan to. The first PA1 unit I had did not supply 3.3V to pin 3 and 4 when activated. So, I had to get another unit.
12. You can turn these pins on by dialing 3# or 4# when in a call to the PA1. You can also turn them on in the web UI: Preferences > PA1 controls > Pin 3.

There were numerous other steps and dead-ends that I ran into before I came up with this simplified list. I've eliminated all my "wrong" steps to keep it simple.

Please let me know if I've missed anything. I hope this is helpful to those who would like to do the same thing.

My total costs were:

• $105 for the PA1
• $24 for the AIPHONE
• $5.05 for the mini mic
• Total out of pocket $134.05
• Lots of time, hassle, forum reading, posting and soldering

My next project is an outdoor doorbell. I'm looking for an affordable weather resistant door bell. If you have any ideas, please post.

Connecting the Call Switch (below)

Call switch connection

snom PA1 and

snom PA1 Connections

Attribution:
https://twitter.com/djtentman
http://paevent.com/tfr/

More discussion:
https://forum.snom.com/index.php?showtopic=12303&hl=video
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/d99ef94b-0f17-4f94-83d7-0cf36006516e/compatible-door-entry-systems-for-lync?forum=ocsinterop

Lync Client Device That Does Loud Speaker, Public Ringer, Door Phone and DTMF Automation!

snom has released a very interesting Lync interoperable device that quite a few interesting features:

• PA/Loudspeaker/Intercom
• Public Ringer/Ringer over PA
• Door Phone/Door Controller
• Automation/Remote Control

This device would be interesting enough as the first Lync PA device, but when you add all the various things it can do together, plus that it can be a SIP or Lync device, PLUS a MSRP of $169... this device is just interesting.

Read more here:
http://www.snom.com/en/products/sip-paging/snom-pa1/

snom 821 Officially Listed As Compatible With Microsoft UC

I was just was notified that snom 821 and 300 are officially designated as compatible with Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2. The phone will also work with Lync 2010 as Lync is backward compatible with OCS devices.

While some vendors have taken the approach of resisting interoperability with Lync snom has entirely embraced supporting Lync, which is really an extension of snom's ongoing effort to be an open handset interoperable with almost every communication solution out there.

snom is among a very small handful of vendors who have Microsoft approved devices for Lync. And in that small group snom has taken a different approach than both Polycom and Aastra: They have written a Lync compatible firmware from the ground up instead of using the "Lync Phone Edition" firmware. This makes some very interesting features and device options possible:

• IPv6 enabled now
• SIP and Lync/OCS Registrations possible at the same time
• Use snom as SIP phone now and have Lync option available in the future
• snom has option to add innovations / differentiation not in the "Lync Phone Edition" firmware.
• Bridge PBX & Lync: Ability to change Lync Presence (Office365?) based on PBX SIP Calls
• Very low cost and non-traditional end point devices are possible (Example: snom PA1, snom m9 Dect)

Some of the benefits of going the Lync Phone Edition firmware route:

• RTAudio - very resiliant and wideband audio codec (great calls even on datacard reported)
• Very easy/integrated provisioning
• Outlook Integration
• USB connection to PC can make very unified experience

One of the challenges with snom handsets in the past has been provisioning but a free provisioning tool has been released to ease this issue. (If you have experience mass implementing the snom OCS edition I would love to hear your experience below.) Others mention that the road to Lync compatibility has been a journey. One of the continuing challenges with snom in an OCS/Lync environment is around high availability.

I am hearing the snom's innovation around Lync will continue in full force. What will we see next? My advice is to keep your eye on snom related to Lync.

Visit the Official Lync IP Deskphones page:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg278172

** Because of twitter title I want to note that snom 300 and 821 is not Lync 2010 certified. As the Microsoft site notes it is OCS 2007 R2 compatible, and because of this it works with Lync **

snom PA1 SIP Loudspeaker First Impression Video

I just had the chance to review the snom PA1 SIP Loudspeaker unit. Wow, nice unit. Easy to setup. Well made (metal!). Power over ethernet. Reasonable price: $150-$200. Uses snom's legendary firmware.



ps-A source has confirmed there will be an OCS firmware for the snom PA1. It has not quite been released yet.

SNOM Adds SIP PA Announcement Unit to Lineup

Snom is certainly not sitting around! The new snom m9 DECT phone just showed up on their website and now they are offering a SIP PA Announcement system unit too. POE or traditional power, Web management interface, 4Watt amplifier, pass through ethernet, multi-cast, and 4 free progammable output pins. I haven't seen pricing or availability date yet. Also I'm hoping it features the Snom SIP stack. Take a look for yourself:

 

http://www.snom.com/en/products/sip-paging/snom-pa1/

http://www.snom.com/uploads/docu/data_snom_PA1_en.pdf