FINALLY an OCS Conference Phone: SNOM Meeting Point

Someone FINALLY released a conference phone solution for OCS! While there are a lot of solutions that require being tethered to a PC via USB, the SNOM Meeting Point is the first standalone conference device that doesn't require you lug your laptop to the conference room. While it's a GREAT solution, and currently the only one available, it does have some flaws. Read down for a full review.

SNOM, while not terribly well known in the US has a large and passionate following in Europe. They have a modular approach to devices. A bunch of different hardware options then a full menu of firmware options to install. I'll focus on the snom OCS edition for this review. While this firmware can be loaded on nearly all the snom devices I have only played with Meeting Point conference phone. However I would expect the other devices to act similarly.

Everytime I go out to do an OCS voice design I get asked the same question, "So what do we do for conference rooms?". Until now the answer has been a tough one. Either leave a USB speakerphone in the conference room or use the mediocre speakerphone function of a tanjay phone. If you leave a USB speakerphone like the Polycom CX100 you still need someone to bring a laptop to the conference room and ensure they have network access (on the real network, not a guest/conference room network) and you also risk the small device walking away. If you put a tanjay in the room you end up with 10 people all crowded around a little phone. Even then the quality is poor with lots of background noise. With the snom Meeting point, you just plug it into the wall and the network, do a ~5 min configuration and you're ready! No need for anyone to login or bring their laptop. It just works, which is exactly what a conference phone should do!

First, the good

• The Meeting Point will normalize dialed numbers according to the location profile assigned to the signed-in user. No need for users to "learn" the device, it works just like one would expect it to.
• Setup is literally 5-10 minutes with an easy to use web GUI. Just plugin the account info and it autoconfigures the rest of the settings (assuming you have the "OCS edition" firmware)
• Sound quality is quite good despite being only G.711 (see below). It rejects background noise at least as well as the benchmark polycom "spider" I use for comparison.
• It doesn't require a laptop or desktop!! The "stand alone" factor is the greatest strength and what makes me recommend this product.

And now, the bad...

• First of all, you won't find anything SNOM makes on the Microsoft UC "certified devices" list. While I can assure you device setup is pretty simple, Microsoft won't do anything to help you with setup or troubleshooting. I had a few hiccups and couldn't find any help but I would imagine the support structure to be clarified and streamlined as the solution becomes more widely available.
• Second, no RTAudio. Remember that GREAT voice quality you're used to from the Microsoft MTC demos and from "tanjay" handsets? You won't find it in any snom device. Snom's north american PR rep assured me it's on the roadmap but we all know what that means... a big MAYBE.
• Third, it only works internally. While you can easily have a tanjay sitting on your desk at home, the snom OCS edition software doesn't seem to work as a remote access solution. While this isn't a big deal for the meeting point product, it could be limiting for larger enterprise deployments looking at snom's other handsets. My Polycom CX700 lives on a desk in my home office. Since I work almost exclusively remotely this would be a deal breaker in a handset for me. Note: I haven't actually tested the snom ocs software remotely, this is gleaned from their support page.
• The software doesn't seem to automatically adjust presence information consistently as you would expect from an OCS client. Normally, if you pick up the phone your "gumdrop" goes to orange or "busy". Sometimes the meeting point's presence icon stays green when it's active, no matter if it's on or off hook, and yellow when idle. Other times it will go to orange but it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason. 

Overall, I think it's a good solution. I've been waiting on someone, anyone, to release a conference phone that didn't need to be connected to a PC. Leaving a PC in the conference room just of phone access or having to bring your laptop with you is unacceptable for most companies and adds unnecessary time to starting a meeting. The Snom Meeting Point is best of class (even though it's a class of one) and I applaud them for stepping up to provide a solution and fill a void in the OCS device portfolio. Despite the negatives, my feelings on the product are overwhelmingly positive. Just a few tweaks and additions to the software would make it even better.

• Microsoft
• VoIP / Convergence
• conference phone
• Microsoft; OCS; office communications server
• UC
• unified communications
• VoIP