GotSpeech.NET

Has anyone deployed a complete end-to-end *software* solution, ie no hardware TIMs?

I understand that there are a few VOIP companies that facilitate SIP over TCP.. so they act as the PSTN/VOIP gateway, and MSS is the VOIP endpoint. Can someone recommend some actual companies that seamlessly integrate with MSS2k7?

For example, i found these guys.. http://www.vailsys.com/mss/index.html.. i'm yet to hear from their support on how things work.

Do i need OCS in the above mix.. ie i read some articles about configuring the mediation server (didnt dive deep)..

assuming a softphone SIP client can connect to MSS2k7 without OCS in between, then i assume a VOIP provider (say Vonage) can give me a PSTN phone number, where the VOIP provider directly connects to MSS2k7?

If yes, what all needs to be configured?

thx!!

Don't you need at least a SIP gateway which you can setup in the Administrator Console as a trusted host?

We have an Avaya SES that can work with Speech Server, but there is an unresolved issue that Microsoft is still working.  We were successful with a call, but the speech server voice doesn't come out the phone until almost 2 minutes into the call even though it's talking the entire time.  It does immediatly recognize speech from the phone.  The problem is that the Avaya SES switched call paths and unfortunately Speech Server doesn't recognize this for a while.  In this case, we are routing the calls through our PBX, but they could also be routed directly to Verizon on a SIP trunk.  Until Microsoft can resolve the issue, we continue to use Dialogic for production calls. 

Yes, our solution is totally SIP based.

But we had to roll our own SIP proxy, which is not trivial.  Most SIP phones and terminator/gateways don't speak TCP, and there are other compatibility issues with MSS that are hard to get around even if they do.

could you expert folks help me understand how a sip-gateway / sip-proxy (are they the same thing?) get configured with MSS? and what specific software products did you install?

 Who is the PSTN-VOIP provider in this case?

i just stumbled across Marshall's excellent post at http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/archive/2008/03/17/5-things-microsoft-must-do-so-ocs-2007-speech-server-can-grow.aspx, and it worries me that MS still hasn't clarified this architecture.

 Martial, i guess i'm not aware of Avaya's offerings.. do they offer a pstn number which can be gateway'd to MSS?

We have an Avaya PBX, so our plan was to use some of those resources to make speech server calls.  The Avaya SES talks to the PBX or other call resources (SIP Trunk) and also talks with speech server.  Unfortunatly, it does not work in our failover environment.  If you do not have an Avaya PBX, there is no reason to go with an Avaya SES.  They do not offer a PSTN number which can be gateway'd to MSS.

 

Speech Server requires a trusted sip peer. This means it has to have the IP address configured. If the SIP provider can only give you a range of IP addresses then you will need a SIP proxy that can respond to the range of IPs and only present one IP for connection to Speech Server.

If the provider doesn't support TCP the the proxy or gateway will need to handle the conversion to TCP. Several gateways, proxies and software PBXs have been discussed in the forums here. You can check those threads for more info.

You do not need to install OCS or a mediation server.

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Marshall Harrison
Microsoft MVP, Office Communications Server


www.GoldSys.com
W: 303.447.2774
H: 904.342-6205

the gotspeech guy

thanks Marshall!

you are probably the authority on the subject.. are you aware of a public PSTN-VOIP company that will configure nicely with speech server?

If someone could write up a brief how-to guide, ie 1) get a pstn number from a voip company that allows software sip endpoints 2) get the sip ip addresses that need to be trusted 3) choice of sip proxy etc, that actually worked for them, even for demo purposes, that will really help.

We have been trying to get MS and Avaya to certify with each other since January and they are both dragging their feet. Since we can’t put anything into production that is not certified for support and the gateways just are not the route we want to go for the full system integration (even issues with the gateways on full SIP-to-SIP). At this point the business owners are looking for new solutions so it looks like we may completely scrap the MS Speech Server and go with a proven system that we don’t feel like we are beta testing with. It just doesn’t seem ready for a large call center, which has PSC mandates on service levels.

Guys, anyone tried pbxnsip at www.pbxnsip.com ? i have tested long back and it was good experience, i have used it as software gateway with SIP trunk provided by career as well as with asterisk as softepbx at the back end.

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- H
http://www.Goyam.com
# (+91) 98201 87323
(Ignited by Speech Solutions)

the mysteries of getting a good search result..

 thx to Harry, i started researching IP PBX's like PBXNSIP.. and found two threads that answer part of my question.

http://gotspeech.net/forums/thread/5464.aspx

to

http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/archive/2008/01/07/ocs-2007-speech-server-hosting.aspx 

which led me to:

http://www.iping.com/speech/index.aspx

 Wow! Someone actually has a testable hosting solution! Why the heck isnt this advertised better, especially on Microsoft's speech server site?

 Anyone with experience with iping?

On the subject of an IP-PBX, can someone please recommend a cheap PSTN-VOIP provider that will interoprate with PBXNSIP? Can someone also post the steps of configuring PBXNSIP to talk to speech server.. i tried to follow this thread which talked about dialing plans.. http://gotspeech.net/forums/thread/3683.aspx

 Cmon folks.. this must be an FAQ by now. Please help.

Very cool.  What's the cost to use their service?

I blogged about iPing back in January - http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/archive/2008/01/07/ocs-2007-speech-server-hosting.aspx

Martial - David should know Darryl Sheppard. If he doesn't remember him then have David call me and I can refresh his memory. 

 

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Marshall Harrison
Microsoft MVP, Office Communications Server


www.GoldSys.com
W: 303.447.2774
H: 904.342-6205

the gotspeech guy

well their support so far has been a little non-responsive.. i'm unable to upload samples with prompt databases, like the MixedInitiatives sample.. it did work well with the HelloWorld sample which uses TTS.

btw, not to hijack the thread to reviewing IPing, i'm still waiting for a recommendation for a public VOIP provider that integrates with PBXnSIP.