Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Describe Cisco Unified Presence Features
Cisco Unified Presence Server (CUPS) extends the basic Presence capability of Cisco Uni-
fied Communications Manager (CUCM) (on-hook, off-hook, or unknown) to include ad-
vanced capability and availability signaling. The availability and capability of colleagues
and business partners to communicate (Available, Busy, and Away status for various de-
vices) is immediately visible and can be additionally enhanced using their calendar status.
Enterprise Instant Message (IM) capability is available both within and extended beyond
the enterprise to external contacts, including Group Chat, Persistent Chat, and compliance
features, such as IM logging and IM history.
The primary goal of CUPS is to reduce communication delays by providing instant and
useful information about the capability and availability of the person you are trying to
contact. Users can indicate whether they are available, and by which methods, including
desk phone, mobile phone, IM, or conferencing application. This signaling capability can
be extended to existing applications to allow contact with the right individual to be
quickly established. This helps resolve support or customer issues more quickly, eliminat-
ing phone tag and the delays associated with e-mail exchanges.
CUPS is tightly integrated with CUCM, which provides call control and native Presence
signaling (on-/off-hook status). CUPS itself provides a central collection point for user ca-
pabilities and status by way of standards-based signaling using Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP), SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), and Ex-
tensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). A variety of client interfaces are avail-
able, including Cisco Unified Personal Communicator (CUPC), which provides a rich and
tightly integrated user experience.
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Cisco Unified Personal Communicator
CUPC provides a single interface for the most commonly used Cisco Unified Communica-
tions tools. From the CUPC application, users can initiate voice calls (either through desk-
phone control or in softphone mode). Contacts are listed with their enhanced Presence
status, providing click-to-communicate functionality by phone call, video call, chat,
group, chat, and collaboration interaction with a simple interface to transition from one
medium to another. Chat is enabled using the Jabber Extensible Communications Platform
(XCP) using XMPP as the chat protocol.
CUPC Operating Modes
CUPC operates in two modes:
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Deskphone mode:
CUPC can control the user's desk phone to place calls. The IP
phone must be registered with CUCM and associated with the user. CUPC uses Com-
puter Telephone Integration Quick Buffer Encoding (CTIQBE) for IP phone control.
Figure 14-1 illustrates the protocol interaction when CUPC is in deskphone mode.
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