hardware

It Looks like with a maintanance contract you can get support for these phones out to 2015.

The end-of-life notices for these phones can be found at the URL below:

Ok this is cool!  A Self Clustering Wireless Access point with 802.1n capability.

The  Cisco^® 541N Wireless Access Point integrates with other Cisco Small Business Pro products to enable wireless applications including mobile data, secure guest access, voice over WLAN, and wireless video monitoring.  As part of the Cisco Small Business Pro portfolio, mobility solutions are easier to configure, install, and support. 

Key Features:

Draft 802.11n Dual Band: User-
selectable 2.4 or 5 GHz

Ease of configuration and administration
with Clustering Technology

Advanced features: Strong security,
QoS, rogue access-point detection,
transparent roaming, auto-channel
selection, and captive portal guest access

POE or Powered options

Complete device GUI or CCA cross-
launch management tools

Link to more information: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10492/index.html

Excitement is building for the beta version of Cisco Configuration Assistant version 2.2.

Two of the most interesting features center around the Cisco SPA525g phones introduced earlier this year.

SSL VPN CLIENT
In case you were wondering why Cisco re-introduced SSL VPN support in CCA 2.1 this is the reason why. 

Cisco is introducing a new beta firmware for these phones that has a built in SSL VPN client. 
That's right, using the built in SSL VPN features of the Uc500 and a supported phone with the new firmware you can have a remote teleworker without a Cisco ASA or Router at the remote site.  The remote phone will use one of the 10 VPN licenses that comes included with a UC500.  Cisco is also including a wizard in Cisco Configuration Assistant 2.2 to help setup this functionality.

There is one thing to note. When working as a SSL remote phone the switchport will not allow a laptop to piggyback on the connection.  I'm told this has to do with the horsepower of the phone when performing VPN functions.

Video Monitor
The Cisco SPA525G has something the "high end" Cisco 7970 series does not.  The ability to show MPEG-4 video.  It looks like with the beta firmware you will be able to hook up to 4 Cisco 2300 Series IP based video cameras per phone and be able to see live video.  An interesting note is that CCA may be using Bonjour networking from Apple to located devices on the network.

I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy of the beta by this weekend to do some serious feature testing.

There is a bunch more due out in CCA 2.2 but I thought I would start with this as a teaser :)

Ted

Cisco has a new model of Unified Communications 500 Series - The UC 540 being announced later this week. The UC520s will still be available and are not being discontinued.
 

Product Overview:

The Cisco UC 540 is part of the Cisco Small Business Pro Series of products and is available in two models, an FXO (analog) model and a Basic Rate Interface (BRI) base model. The product standardizes integrated Wi-Fi and increases the Voicemail storage to up to 32 hours. In addition, it offers easy licensing to transition from the base system to up to a 32-user system. The licensing SKU provides license upgrades in steps of 8 - multiples of this SKU can be installed to achieve the desired user count. The product is supported by Cisco Small Business Support Center and the support contract offers three year of Cisco Small Business Pro Service

UC540W-FXO-K9     USD List Price 3095     UC 540 system with built-in Wi-Fi, 4 FXO, 4 FXS, and 1 voice interface card (VIC) expansion slot supports 8 user license in this base model

UC540W-BRI-K9     USD List Price 3095     UC 540 system with built-in Wi-Fi, 2 BRI, 4 FXS, and 1 VIC expansion slot supports 8 user license in this base model

L-UC-PRO-8U=      USD List Price 1095     Software license upgrade, authorizing an additional 8 users (eDelivery), can upgrade the system to a maximum of 32 users

CON-SBS-SVC4      USD List Price 499      Three year Cisco Small Business Pro Service

Cisco UC 540 can be sold by Cisco Partners who are Select Specialized or higher. The product is available only on the Wholesale US Price List (2-tier only). Partners should check local distributor for pricing.

I just noticed the the SPA525G has some newer firm

Corey Andrews at VOIP Supply has a look at the cool SIP only linksys desk phone.  
http://blog.voipsupply.com/new-products/first-look-cisco-spa-525g-deskto...

This is a pretty full function WI-fi desktop SIP based phone with Bluetooth support.  It even has a USB port that you can plug a memorystick into to play mp3 audio files.  For those of you with CME, CallManager you can configure this phone to work as a standard SIP phone.  I'd probably use a 7975G on my systems, but this is a cool addition as a Pure SIP phone for those Using the Linksys LVS or other SIP phone systems. Now for the Cool Part. . . . for UC500 it supposedly works usingCisco’s proprietary SPCP protocol.  This Would be a pretty cool phone for the UC environment.

So, I was browsing over at 6200networks.com and saw a post by Joe Harris, where he uncovered a new router platform.