This article highlights the new features and updates of our QORUS Enterprise 7, which was released to enhance the performance and capabilities of Speakerbus products, with the aim of improving our solution stack to meet the demands of clients and third parties.
Our solutions have been enhanced with these updates to more effectively cater to the needs of our financial clients and partners.
UX Enhancements
Handset Privacy Default
Privacy (when activated) prevents other users from barging in on a call. Privacy can be set / unset by a user at any point during a call by pressing the Privacy function key. The introduction of a Handset Privacy default option allows the user (or system admin in iManager) to pre-set the initial state of all new calls to be either Privacy On or Off, depending on their preferred selection.
Inverted Record on Demand
Speakerbus' Record on Demand (RoD) feature, introduced in Enterprise 4, is a distinctive voice recording tool. It allows authorized users to choose which calls to record. For users with RoD enabled, recording is initially set to "off," but can be activated before or during a call. Recording stops automatically at the end of the call unless the user selects RoD again.
Inverted Record on Demand is a new choice where recording is set to “on” by default and may be switched off prior to a call or at any point during a call, to stop recording. At the end of the call, recording resumes for all future calls, unless the user selects RoD again.
All recordings are captured in the usual manner via a third-party voice recorder platform.
AYRE Audio Enhancements
AYRE's acoustic processing parameters have been modified to enhance the audio quality for the unit's speakers. Additionally, an acoustic limiter has been implemented to provide additional gain to the speakers without negatively impacting the echo cancellers.
Further improvements have been made to the handling of received G711 packets to enhance audio levels.
A new operational mode called "Speaker Mono mode" has been specifically designed for AYRE. In this mode, all audio output is directed to both speakers simultaneously, increasing the perceived volume of the speaker.
User Menu Redesign
System and user menus have been combined into a single view under the menu icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This puts all user options in a single place for ease of use and frees up space in the top-level bar for upcoming features.
*The original system menu has moved into a sub-menu of the single menu.
Platform Enhancements
IPv6
The Speakerbus QORUS is now IPv6 capable and can be deployed in specific IPv6 environments, the following diagram details the deployable solution.
iCMS supports the configuration of iTurrets, Gateways, PBXs and server connections using both IPv4 and IPv6.
iG330 and iTurret can connect to services and servers using IPv4 and IPv6 protocols (depending on the service and server’s respective configuration).
iCS supports IPv4 or IPv6 exclusively and does not support both protocols simultaneously.
Connections between iCDS and 3rd Party Voice recorders currently remain at IPv4 only.
The iCDS monitor tool also continues to support IPv4 connections only.
The following Software / Firmware Versions are required as a minimum for IPv6:
- iCMS 4.000
- iCS 3.101
- iD808 4.100
- iG330 3.000
- iCDS 2.410
iCMS Provisioning API
A major new addition for Enterprise 7 is the creation of a standards-based REST API that provides a remote admin user with access to the iCMS database through a set of https endpoints.
Initial functionality includes managing Users (Add, Edit, Delete), User Groups, User Permissions, User Policies and Templates, Read/Write programming of PBX appearances and reporting capabilities for various database entities such as Voice Services, CloudBase, Call Regions and Sites.
A special user account for API access is required and managed through iManager independently to the standard user accounts. These user credentials are then used to authenticate with the API, obtain a Token and issue commands.
iManager Enhancements
Enterprise 7 includes several changes to the iManager environment to enhance the product, augment system admin and extend our reporting capabilities. iManager enhancements include:
- iManager URL change to [hostname]/icms/imanager
- New corporate branding, Speakerbus logo updated.
- Acoustic Shock Protection user preferences for SE 708 and ALTO (iD704) devices only.
- Added support for Avaya PBX SIP Signalling Protocol
- Allow offline devices, iCS and iCB servers to be designated as Out Of Service
- Allow synchronising of all devices on a site or call region,
- Added new audit events for user log on and log off from deskstations and ARIA.
Report Enhancements
Based on customer feedback, a number of existing iManager reports have been updated to include extra detail and several new reports added:
- Added IPv6 Address to iSeries Devices and iSeries Gateway To Gateway Connections reports.
- Added Intercom Logon ID, Intercom Dial Number and Recording Mode to User Deskstation report.
- Added Mnemonic, Short Label and Long Label to Voice Service Provisioning report.
- New Group Call report.
- New Intercom Keys report.
- New Sites report.
- New User Voice Service Permissions report.
iCMS SA-less DB Installation - Hosted SQL DB installation
Removed sa account and sysadmin requirement for iCMS database installation.
iCMS Concurrent User-Based Licensing
Licensing model changed from a device limit to a concurrent logged in user limit.
Configurable SBC DB names - Shared SQL Instance
The iCMS database name is now customisable. It no longer has to be called the default name of “CMS”.
GCP Hosted HA MS SQL - Multiple guest DBs High Availability
The iCMS database can now be hosted on Google Cloud Platform along with Microsoft SQL Server for resilient anytime, anywhere access.
iCS Enhancements
- Private Wire SIP Trunk updated for Multicast to provide functionality to work with multicast SbRTP for hoot and MRD voice services.
- Added support for Private Wires over SIP Trunks harpinning as an alternative to requiring iG330s for intra Call Region calling.
- Call ringing duration extended beyond 1 minute
- SNMP variable included for combined CPU Utilisation
- Certificate installation also applies to port 2224
- Log transfer enhancements
- Package list included on the iCS web page
- Improvements to the conference list web pages
- Improvements to the registration and subscription web pages
- Improvement to web page to always show the heading banner
- SBUtils installation details added to web page
- Added ability to reset a line from the web page
- Package list included on the iCS web page
E.164 Dialling with iCS
For customers who wish to implement full E164 compliant numbering schemes, Speakerbus now offer support for Call/Line appearance addresses starting with a ‘+’.
Addresses starting with a “+” can co-exist with non-E164 numbers in the iManager database allowing customers to run mixed environments while they migrate between numbering schemes.
*This requires iCMS v4.000 or later
802.1x on iD808
802.1x is a port based authentication standard, where a port on a switch or router is configured to initially only allow a device to communicate with an authentication server. This server is tasked with retrieving the identity of a device and confirming that it is allowed access to the network.
Once the device has satisfied the authentication server the switch then allows the device access to the rest of the network.
Factory Default (iD808)
CM defaultfull has been replaced by a new ‘CM defaultfactory’ which will log out the user, if required, default all the CM variables (except for SOFTWARE_VERSION) to their factor settings in a safe way, delete all XML config files, delete all Cisco config files and delete any log files and any other miscellaneous files that contain historical data.
AYRE Root Certificate Management
AYRE has long had the ability to perform local certificate uploads into the device using SSH, but included in the latest version of iManager is a new Certificate option located under “Deskstations”, that enables Sys Admins to remotely upload security certificates either individually or across a range of units.
CPU Core Realignment for AYRE
The original release of AYRE made provision for the UX to run on a single dedicated CPU, but experiments indicated a performance benefit in allowing it to run across two (or more) cores.
Security Enhancements
- Support for secure wipe of device data automatically when deleting iG330, iTurret, SE 708 and ALTO and iD712 devices from iCMS.
- SFTP Server network service for device file transfer. Currently supporting iTurret only.
- SSH access for devices and iCB servers disabled by default.
- Allow customising the initial iManager security administrator for Windows authenticated installations.
Compatibility
iCDS Windows Compatibility Update
Added support for iCDS:
- Windows 2022
- Windows 11
Ended Support for iCDS
- Windows 2008
- Windows 2012 R2
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
iCMS Windows Compatibility Update
Added support for iCMS
- Windows 2016
- Windows 2019
- Windows 2022
Ended support for iCMS
- Windows 2008
- Windows 2012 R2
- SQL Server 2008 R2
- SQL Server 2012 R2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 and Oracle Linux 8 Support for iCS
- iCS application updated for compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 and Oracle Linux 8.
Please contact your Speakerbus Account Manager for more details.
