Originally posted on TMCNet.com.
The current pandemic has necessitated that our Unified Communication & Collaboration platforms allow for efficient, flexible, and agile business operations, while also being cost-effective. We need one platform that meets various business communication needs, expediently and seamlessly delivering collaboration tools and a host of communications services. These features, services, and tools include desktop sharing, presence, mobility, voice and video calling, audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, video surveillance, facility access, intercoms etc. This platform can be on-premises or in our redundant data centers, managed locally or from the cloud to support an agile, cost-effective deployment and maintenance model. Communications platforms should easily integrate with third-party business and facility applications, improving business efficacy. Thus, the above referenced multi-modal communication platform plays the chief role in supporting cost-effective business communications.
The UCM6300 Ecosystem consists of distinct components: the UCM6300 series IP PBXs, UCM RemoteConnect, Wave app, and the Grandstream Device Management System (GDMS). UCM RemoteConnect (Beta) is a cloud automatic NAT traversal service for secure remote connections between remote users/devices and the UCM6300 series. The Wave app for web, desktop, and mobile allows remote video and voice collaboration on the UCM6300 series, enabling communication with any device, user, or SIP account on the UCM6300 series. GDMS provides zero-touch cloud management and provisioning service for the UCM6300 and all Grandstream devices. Hence, it offers a single interface to troubleshoot, monitor, manage, and provision.
The UCM 6302 (see image above), comes equipped with the following attributes:
Fig. B Grandstream’s UCM6302-3 Gigabit ports-2 FXS & 2 FXO ports
Fig. C Functional & interoperability testing of Grandstream’s UCM6302
The UCM6302, has three self-adaptive Gigabit ports that support PoE+, so we will power the unit by connecting an ethernet cable between the WAN port and a port on the Microchip Technology (News - Alert) PDS-408G Digital Ceiling PoE switch for network connectivity and PoE (PoE class 4). Once the unit booted up, the LCD display showed the UCM’s information and, by pressing the “Home“ button, we could now see the unit’s model name, IP address, system time, etc. Next, we used the Web UI to log in and access the UCM6302 to manage its status as well as configuration.
On the Web UI, the menu section, “System Status,” showed us the dashboard, system information, current active calls, and network status.
It is indeed a very easy and intuitive web-based menu driven configuration interface. (See Fig. D).
Fig. D UCM6302 System Status-Dashboard
The system Setup Wizard proved to be very useful. It allowed us to expeditiously setup system attributes, like system password, network settings, time zone, extensions, trunks/routes, and provided a summary of the pending configuration. This allowed us to review changes before applying them. For our testing, the system was now ready with various aspects of the required basic operational configuration (see Fig. E). It indeed saved valuable time on the setup and deployment.
Fig. E UCM6302 Extension/Trunk-Extensions
We successfully registered the UCM6302 and placed inbound/outbound test voice calls with the ITSP’s external SIP trunk/UCaaS platform in the cloud through the on-premises Patton Networks SmartNode SN5570 Series eSBC. On our test Wi-Fi network, facilitated by Grandstream’s GWN7630LR 802.11ac Wave-2 Wi-Fi access point, we quickly established SIP registration/connectivity of Grandstream’s GXV3370 IP Video Phone, WP820 SIP Wi-Fi Phone, GRP2614 Carrier Grade IP Phone, Wave for Android (see Fig. F), and Wave Desktop for Windows 10. (see Fig. G). We were able to place internal station to station calls, external calls and join audio and video conferences on the UCM6302.
Fig. F Grandstream‘s Wave for Android
Fig. G Grandstream‘s Wave Desktop for Windows 10
Setting up the UCM6302 was very easy and we also onboarded it on to GDMS in the cloud. It was easily deployed and managed. Grandstream’s Wave for Android & Wave Desktop for Windows 10 proved to be intuitive communications tools that allowed us to stay connected, chat, share files, attend meetings via the UCM6302.
We briefly reviewed the UCM RemoteConnect (Beta) service, offered via GDMS, which allowed us to use a UCM Public Address to register and communicate with other devices and users without any additional settings on our network. With just a web browser using WebRTC services, we swiftly connected and started working remotely. We were able to register our UCM extension, make point-to-point calls, join meetings, share presentations, chat during conference calls, the transition from a group chat to a conference call, create, schedule, manage, and join video conference calls, etc.
During our extensive functional and interoperability testing, the UCM6302 delivered multimodal communications that were simple, cost-effectively, reliable, and efficient. It allowed our entire test team, agnostic of the device they used, to stay connected and be easily reachable.
Conclusion
In the realm of multi-modal communications, Grandstream’s UCM6302 is a state-of-the-art IP PBX appliance that offers users a single Unified Communication (UC) platform for converged voice, fax, video, chat, video surveillance, and much more. It offers features, security, performance, and flexibility in a very cost-effective and powerful plug-and-play package that can be easily deployed and managed to leverage cloud technology.
Ready to learn more about our UCM6300 IP PBX? You can take a self-guided tour of the GUI and see all the capabilities of the devices via our UCM Demo Tool. Click below to get started.