Analog devices, Cloud PBX and Cloud Connector requirement

Copper Contributor

Hi,

We are looking to move from a 3rd party UC solution to Skype for Busniess (fully in the cloud, as we have no on-prem Lync or Skype footprint) but we have a number of analog devices that would need a solution in order to integrate them into the envirnment. My question is:

 

1) Is a small SBA the only way to do this, or are there even smaller 1-line 'adapters'.

2) does the presence of an analog requirement anywhere in our environment mean that we'd have to deploy Cloud Connector to service that endpoint and integrate it into the Cloud PBX solution? - Someone told me that SBAs cannot integrate directly to a cloud deployment.

 

My first plan is to design these analog devices out of our system, but I suspect that we'll probably have to deploy some localized hardware to support the odd few.

cheers,

Alan

16 Replies

Hey Alan. 

 

So we absolutely have on the roadmap a lightweight set of ATAs that can be used for analog devices.  Essentially the ATA will log into Office 365 like an IP phone does today.  Don't have a timeframe for availability at this time though.  So for the time being I suggest keeping the analog phones in place while you migrate users over to Cloud PBX and PSTN Calling. 

 

Thanks!

Jamie

Awesome news from @Jamie Stark on the ATAs, but to answer your question on the CCE/SBA questions, I believe you are on the correct path. I don't believe you can use an SBA with no other Skype for Business components on-prem, so CCE would be the way you would have to go, with an SBC that would allow you to fork your incoming calls between CCE and your on-prem PBX for the analog devices.

 

Best of luck as you move to Cloud PBX!

Thanks for input guys. We're a ways out from our migration, as we're waiting for GA in Canada, but are currently in the planning stages.

Agree with the above, we did a PSTN Gateway (SBA) deployed as a CCE, but we also looked at keeping around a couple of analog lines from the phone company for these things.

Jamie

I was wondering if there is any progress on the 'lightweight set of ATA' becoming available?

Would be really nice to avoid gateway/SBC.

 

Hey Robert

 

So there's not an update at this time unfortunately.  I've moved to a different part of the business (Skype Admin Console in O365) so I haven't been tracking this super close, but it came up in a recent conversation as still having an undefined date.

Jamie

Hi @Jamie Stark

 

Has there been any update on this? Our organization has already started a major migration to Skype for Business Online and we have over 60 analog devices that we need to tie into our Cloud PBX.

I think there are a lot of us right there with you Christian.  We are starting to roll these cloud systems out for clients, and this ATA issue is the one snag in the sales, engineering, and deployment process.  Everything from doorbells to elevators put POTS lines right back into the architecture. 

 

Does Microsoft have some prototypes they want systems integrators to test?  How about some firmware to flash a solid Cisco or other brand ATA with?  We will do the ground work, maybe even some of the leg work, we just need some bones to chew on.  Thank you.

@Jamie Stark If Analog phones will be able to register to SfB Online wouldn't we be able to track it here https://products.office.com/en-us/business/office-365-roadmap?filters= ?
I can't find anything so if possible can you try to publish it on the roadmap so we don't need to hunt you all the time for an update?

Thanks

/Markus

Hello Markus!  I've moved to a different area of the product and so don't have an update on this topic.  Adding @Paul Cannon who is now looking after the voice workload for comment.  Thanks!

+1.  it is ridiculous that we cannot setup an ata still! is there any update on this development or is it just another sfb wished for feature in the bucket of reasons why this product is never going to be a mainstream implemented pbx solution 

We have tested and have a working AudioCodes Analog adapter on our Skype for Business system. We are planning on using them at over 120 offices. We are using an MP114 from AudioCodes.

Best of luck!

@Mike Wheeler This is awesome! Would you mind sharing how you are using the MP114 to connect to your SFB deployment? We are also using this same device at over 62 of our locations and we are facing challenges with integrating it.

Any suggestions what is the best approach for registering analog devices with SfBO? 

@Christain Lupoe 

How did you get your MP114 to connect to your SFB deployment?

@rplsystems  We use MP114's in our deployment currently but it's all On-Prem at the moment.  You basically give it a static IP address, add your meditation server as a proxy on the MP114, assign a E164 formatted phone number to one of the endpoints, go into Topology builder and add it as a trunk, and finally create an analog device using Skype PowerShell.  

 

So far the only way I see that you'll be able to add analog devices for cloud deployments is through Direct Routing.  You'll need to add your SBC to your Cloud's tenant and then register your analog device to the SBC instead. Then you would send calls from the cloud down to your SBC which would then route it to your ATA. 

 

Another option would be to maintain two SIP trunks, one for your cloud environment and one for your on-prem environment and just keep all your analog devices on-prem.  In this situation you'll basically just be making a direct call from your cloud client to the on-prem device.  

 

We're looking at setting up SBC's in Microsoft Azure in different regions to support our users.  I'm curious to see if we can still setup the MP-114's to register with our Azure based SBC's and see if we can still route calls to and from them.  The SBC would basically see the MP114 as a "remote" user so hopefully this will still work.