September 1st, 2014 by The Modulis Team
Cisco End of Life Products
End-of-Life Products
Modulis customers and visitors, below are some end-of-life products for which Cisco announced End-Of-Life and End-Of-Sales notices:
Cisco Phones Compatible With Asterisk:
Today, most Cisco phones can be upgraded to SIP even if they are SCCP or MGCP. This list of phones includes models: 7940, 7960, 7941, 7961, 7910, 7911, SPA501, SPA502, SPA504, SPA509, SPA525, and more.
Note: The Cisco SIP firmware release is designed and tested to interoperate with the Cisco call control application only. Although SIP firmware is IETF RFC 3261-compliant, it is not supported by Cisco TAC or Engineering for use with non-Cisco call control systems.
Connecting Cisco Phones With Asterisk:
Converting Cisco CP-7960G VoIP Phone to SIP
Simply turn on the phone. Click on the Settings button:
Scroll down to Status:
Select Status, and then scroll down to Firmware Versions:
Under Firmware Versions, you will see following options:
App Load ID, Boot Load ID, Version, etc.
Focus on App Load ID: P0030800600. The third digit is 0, which shows that SCCP firmware is currently enabled; if the third digit is S, it stands for SIP. If the third digit is M, it stands for MGCP.
To perform the phone upgrade you will need a TFTP server, which you can easily download from Solarwinds or CNET. It’s a free download. The phone and TFTP server need to be on the same network to complete the phone upgrade. Phone firmware upgrade files can be obtained from the Cisco website; once you have the files, place them inside the root directory of the TFTP server. Within the list of upgrade files, there is a file named OS79XX.txt. It contains the name of the firmware that the phone will be upgraded to. Focus on the third digit in the firmware name; it should be an S.
Next, select Erase Configuration to erase all of the configurations from your phone:
Once Erase Configuration is complete, go to Network Configuration Setting and select Alternate TFTP option:
Still in Network Configuration, select option 8 and edit the IP address of the current TFTP server:
Once validated, the phone will start talking to our TFTP server and it will automatically pick up the SIP firmware that we specified on the TFTP server. After a successful upgrade, you will see SIP appearing in the upper right corner:
Next, go to Settings — > Status — >Firmware Version
As you can see from the Application Load ID: P0S3-07-5-00, the SIP firmware has been enabled on the phone. We can now use this phone with any SIP proxy or SIP provider!
For a comprehensive list of instructions: http://wiki.siftah.com/Cisco_7960G_IP_Phone_on_Asterisk
Cost Effective Asterisk vs. Cisco
Asterisk is very cost effective as compared to Cisco products:
- Asterisk is open source; you can customize, edit, and modify its code according to your application requirements. Cisco is a closed-box application; no modifications or customizations can be performed with its applications.
- Asterisk does not require a license while Cisco products require a number of licenses; for example:
Take your business to new heights with the Modulis/Asterisk open source solution!
