MVS for Cisco: Some Things Change, The Big Ones Stay the SameMVS for Cisco: Some Things Change, The Big Ones Stay the Same

If you're a 100% BlackBerry shop, they've got an answer for you. If you are the more typical mixed environment, you're still looking for an FMC solution for non-BlackBerry users.

At their Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) in Orlando last week, Research in Motion (the BlackBerry folks) had a couple of announcements regarding their fixed-mobile convergence add-on, the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS). The MVS is a cellular-only (i.e. no Wi-Fi voice support) adjunct that can be connected to virtually any vendor's PBX and provide single number accessibility and simultaneous ringing (i.e. when the user's desk number is called, the MVS can ring their desk set and mobile device simultaneously) for BlackBerry devices.The MVS has always been a strange duck in the FMC pond. When I had first reviewed it some years back my major question was: if my IP PBX can do simultaneous ring, what do I need this thing for? The answer was that the MVS integrates nicely with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and the MVS client for the smartphone allows the user to employ the device's native interface (e.g. the "Send" and "End" keys). Most other mobile clients use an add-on client that require pull-down menus and other less-than-ideal interface characteristics.

RIM had two announcements regarding the MVS at WES. First, Verizon will now be marketing the solution; I didn't realize this was news because the RIM folks were demonstrating the product in the Verizon booth at VoiceCon last month. The other was a special version of the product that will work with Cisco's Unified Call Manager (CUCM) version 6.1 or later. That solution was developed by RIM as part of Cisco's Technology Developer Program.

That too was a bit of a surprise, as Cisco had been supported on the MVS. In an analyst briefing this morning, Sean McManus, Manager- Voice Solutions for RIM cleared up the confusion. While the feature set with Cisco is essentially the same, the architecture has changed. One of the shortcomings of the MVS has been the fact that the media (i.e. the voice packets) passed through the MVS. The PBX connects the incoming call to the MVS, which in turn places calls to the user's desk phone and mobile device; the call to the BlackBerry mobile device is made via a request through the BES.

The problem with that approach is that the server capacity limits the number of simultaneous voice connections that can be supported. As a result, a single $4,000 (plus $4,000 installation) MVS could support 1,500 users, the maximum number of simultaneous calls was a couple of hundred (they never liked to say exactly how many). The big change that has come about with the Cisco implementation is that the call will now be anchored in the IP PBX rather than in the MVS. Rather than connecting the call through the MVS, the MVS and the CUCM merely exchange SIP signaling message. This is what we refer to as a SIP Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA). While it might sound like a minor change, getting the MVS out of the media path increases the capacity from 1,500 to 10,000 users.

In the RIM architecture it is difficult to separate the BES from the MVS. For example, RIM can extend presence status to the BlackBerry mobile, but that is provided through an interface between the BES and the Cisco Unified Presence Manager. The MVS has nothing to do with it and the user can get presence even if they don't have an MVS.

Conclusion RIM's marketing plan for MVS is targeted primarily at the North American market, and they are counting on the cellular carriers for lead generation. Their own MVS specialists will then work with the customer. The carriers' incentive for producing those leads is to head off any of those pesky users who might be looking to move their mobile voice traffic onto their wireless LAN- that idea is anathema to the cellular carriers.

The bigger drawback is that MVS is designed to be a BlackBerry FMC solution, not an "FMC solution". There is no MVS client for non-BlackBerry devices and no access to those critical BES provided functions. So if you're a 100% BlackBerry shop, they've got an answer for you. If you are the more typical mixed environment, you're still looking for an FMC solution for your non-BlackBerry users.

In the end, the search for a fully-functional FMC solution continues. However, if you're a 100% BlackBerry shop and enriching the cellular carriers (while avoiding your own WLAN investment) is on your list of corporate objectives, the MVS is a good answer.If you're a 100% BlackBerry shop, they've got an answer for you. If you are the more typical mixed environment, you're still looking for an FMC solution for non-BlackBerry users.