Polycom HDX 6000. Phase One: A decentralized video conferencing solution in your organization

There aren’t a lot of articles on deployment of video-conference communication solutions (hereinafter videoconferencing) in organizations, but probably many of the administrators who received such a project were wondering what solution to choose, what configuration to order, where to start, how much it will cost, what features settings, etc.

Thanks to JaGoRcore for the article A quick guide to choosing a videoconferencing manufacturer about a comparative analysis of videoconferencing systems, which prompted me to write more on this topic from my personal experience of deployment, configuration and administration.

In a series of articles I will try to tell how the Polycom-based solution was deployed using the example of the organization where I work, from a decentralized with 2 points to the present moment: 10 points, a multipoint communication center and a provisioning server, which provides an opportunity to connect another 100 users with a soft client.

So, part 1 - 2011, from 2 to 4 points, a decentralized solution.
How we introduced, how we expanded, how we taught and trained users.

Start: purchase of the first equipment, equipment

2011 was a pilot year to launch this solution, in a few words you can characterize: poor standardization of settings, almost undocumented, it works - do not touch!

One fine summer day of the aforementioned year, the company, where I was the system administrator at that time, received as many as 2 devices (they are also called “codecs”) Polycom HDX 6000-720.

Also, in addition to codecs, the following kit was purchased (for convenience, I publish the full names and commentary):

  • EagleEye QDX, wall mount shelf for monitor / monitor / plasma
If you want to put the camera on a table or there is another shelf (you can even use drywall) - then this is not a mandatory item.

  • Pac 710, steel shelf for stands and trolleys MF PF
Shelf for installing a codec on a trolley.

  • PFCUb Black, trolley with height and tilt adjustment for Flat-TV up to 90kg / 63 "
Directly the cart where all the equipment is located. But in order to save budget, the codec can be put on the table, and the monitor hang on the wall.

  • Polycom SoundStation IP7000 (SIP) IP Conference Phone
But this is a very useful device. Firstly, a conference phone with 3 multidirectional microphones. Secondly, it can be used as an external speaker. Thirdly, it also performs the functions of a sip phone and can connect any audio call to a video conference.

In addition, it took, of course, the image output device itself: we took the LED TV. Initially, 40 ”was considered sufficient for a room of 20 square meters, the future showed that it was naive optimism, now the meeting rooms are equipped with 55” plasmas.
As it turned out, the manufacturer does not add the following consumables to the kit by default:
  • HDMI cable - HDMI 19M / 19M 1.5m
  • VGA-VGA cable
  • VGA-DVI adapter

I suspect that they can be ordered from the same distributor, but due to the nature of the company, we purchase them separately.

It turned out the minimum set costing about 400 thousand rubles. If we could do without "extra accessories", it turned out to be about 50 thousand rubles. cheaper. The amounts are approximate, as it all depends on the dollar at the time of purchase (yes, just so, do not be surprised) this month the numbers are almost the same.

Total initial budget is 700-800 thousand rubles. on 2 devices (and it’s pointless to take one if your video infrastructure is limited only by Skype). You can save on codecs and take Polycom HDX 4000, you can on a conference phone, you decide. We took just such a kit.

Basic configuration

I will describe briefly what exactly we configured on devices. A detailed description took me about 30 pages of instructions with screenshots on the assembly, installation and configuration of all this stuff, it happened after the trial operation and not in 2011. If you wish, in one of the articles I’ll tell you what instructions, documents and materials I “laid around” the process of transferring the service to another administrator.
By the way, everything is configured via the web interface, but the conference phone can also be configured using the built-in keyboard.

Polycom SoundStation IP7000

On the conference phone, only SIP and a fixed IP address were configured. On the first devices, they also configured the address book, but later refused - users do not use it.

Polycom HDX 6000-720

Most of the settings are optional and can be customized to your taste and color.

For example, we turned off auto answer for point-to-point. This unnerved users. And they set: Display the duration of the call - elapsed time, instead of default.
Be sure to set up the main screen - call order, recent calls and directory - favorites.
Of course, we changed the password , otherwise we would have to enter the serial number every time (yes, the primary password is the serial number of the device, this is written on one of the pages of the pound instruction).
Audio - Mute the keys, turn on the Polycom microphone.
Camera- I had to play with the white balance. We set up the second source on the computer and left the camera remote control. At the same time, the camera was set to motion, and the computer - sharpness. What does it give? - A clearer transmission of a static image (for example, a table), but in the case of active movement in front of the camera, a more comfortable image transmission.
Network settings - also set statics so as not to look for a device lost in the network, as well as use a static address for the address book.
I had to torment myself with call preference settings, dialing on the network , as a result, the first tiny instruction “not to forget” was invented.

Users

We set up, played around and led into the meeting rooms of 2 cities. Immediately in Exchange, meeting rooms were opened for reservations, the first instruction on working with shared calendars was sent out. But before delivering, they asked the question: and how will people use it?

After examining the documentation on the manufacturer’s website, we realized: there are 2 short documents of 2 pages each - using the remote control, using the device and TouchControl (which, by the way, have not been purchased so far). Total 4 pages, in English. Very wonderful, even I would say great ... for those who know the language and can understand an unfamiliar instruction from an unknown device in a minute, and even in English, but it is obvious that they are not our users. A complete user manual is 43 pages, also not on the great and mighty. (Now localized instructions have already appeared, but at that time with the support of the Russian language it was sad).

We looked at this matter and were upset. As a result, an extremely microscopic 2-page instruction with pictures and arrows was developed, which included only those functions that our employees would presumably need:
  • How to dial another chat room from the catalog
  • How to dial a city \ cellular and connect to a video conference
  • How to display content from a laptop
  • How to control your camera and the remote side


In the future, the size of the instructions in 2 A4 pages remained the same, despite the addition of new functions.
There were practically no questions, which is a definite plus.

Total

By the end of 2011, the number of devices reached 4 pieces, and in early 2012 it was planned to purchase 3 more in existing offices, as well as install a solution for multi-point conference calls, which I hope to talk about later. The use of videoconferencing in meeting rooms averaged 50% of the total booking time, the number of business trips to discuss hourly issues decreased.

Expanding the number of devices that are not the easiest to set up and assemble has also forced me to sit down to the documentation and standardize the settings.

Perhaps if our supplier were different, we would not have had to find out half of the features using the magic poke method and continuous tests. But in Russia there are not many official distributors, and it is not always easy to find out the features of the work of supporting everyone.

Perhaps if our supplier was different, we would not have stepped on a wild number of rakes, which I would also like to talk about, but this also has its plus - knowledge.

Ps I think that the next article should be: "The Polycom rake, and how we cheerfully attacked them."

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