Hipath 4000 Version 5 - Is it capable of true wireless IP phones

[Nortellian]

We have a 4000 at version 5. We have 10 spectralink wireless ip phones that register to a polycom media gateway which is connected to a digital card on the 4000 switch. This is a cumbersome setup as each mecdia gateway can only handle one 25 pair amphenol cable. Therefore because we want to add another 125 wireless phones it would take at least 5 more media gateway's, 5 digital cards and 66 blocks to connect the digital port to the amphenol running to the media gateway. Is there a way that a 4000 can have true wireless ip setup? I am a nortel technician primarily just learning Siemens.

 

[Iamnothere]

I have never worked with the SpectraLink phones. In the USA, they are the Hicom 300 & HiPath 4000 replacement solution for the Siemens CMI "cordless" phones. The Siemens CMI phones could not be released in the USA because the required channel/band was reserved by the US military. Thus SpectraLink is the "cordless" offering in the USA. This solution uses the SLMO board to extend the TDM-based Optiset ports to the SpectraLink devices. I am assuming that your "wireless IP phones" also use the SLMO board, and the gateway converts the TDM into IP/wifi.

The HiPath 4000 handles its native IP phones, optiPoint HFA and OpenStage HFA, much more efficiently via the STMIx board. Siemens offers both wired IP phones and wireless IP phones (WLAN Pro). Perhaps this customer could be persuaded to try the Siemens native solution(s) rather than a third-party solution. An STMIx board can support up to 240 IP phones with access to 120 voice channels. which is much more efficient than 24 phones per SLMO.

 

[Nortellian]

Thanks for the reply. I am the customer and don't want to use the cumbersome slmo to media gateway. I want to use a stmix board. I sent your reply to Siemens and below is the reply I recieved from Siemens.

From Siemens: The STMI card is our SIP gateway card. It is being tested in the lab with Polycom's Phoenix line of SIP phones that are scheduled to GA this Spring.
The STMI card does not support the currently available Polycom IP phones.

 

[Iamnothere]

Now I am confused. By STMIx, I was referring to the STMI2 and/or STMI4 boards, both of which are supported on HiPath 4000 V5. On the HiPath 4000, STMIx boards support Siemens optiPoint HFA (h323-based IP phones), and the newer OpenStage HFA phones (also h323-based), plus SiP Subscribers, IP & SiP Trunking, and other features. But since there was no mention of SiP in this thread, I assumed that your IP phones were h323-based. I accessed Polycom.com, read a little about their media gateways, and saw zero references to either SiP or H323. I would like to help you, but perhaps I misunderstood the problem/question. I did not state that the STMI supports Polycom phones. I clearly stated that it supports Siemens optiPoint HFA and OpenStage HFA phones. So what was the point of forwarding my response to Siemens? Is there an issue with Siemens? Just curious.
Meanwhile, back to your problem. Are your SpectraLink or Polycom phones SiP-based? Are you wanting to know if they will work directly with the STMI board? Are you wanting to ditch these phones and purchase Siemens phones? Please help me understand the situation.

 

[Nortellian]

We had zero ip phones at this site. We went to Siemens and asked for 10 wireless ip phones. They set us up with the polycom media gateway setup. Since then we have a request for 125 more wireless phones. Because the slmo to media gateway is so space consuming we asked Siemens for a different solution to add 125 wireless phones. Siemens came back and said the only solution was the slmo to media gateway solution. They did not tell us about their own wireless ip phones. I do not understand why they are not telling us about their own solution and only presenting the polycom solution.

 

[Nortellian]

Siemens has now let me know they do offer wireless ip phones but they may not be suited for my environment due to battery life and durability. They are coming out with a new line next year that may better suit me. For now Siemens is utilizing polycom.

 

[Iamnothere]

Thanks. Now I understand. Good luck!