Aastra releases Response Point to SIP standard firmware

June 8, 2010 by Garrett Smith

It looks like Response Point is officially kaput.

This morning Aastra telecom announced their first software to take your existing Aastra Response Point phones from their proprietary protocol (that only works with Microsoft Response Point systems) to an open SIP-Standards based platform. This will allow your Aastra RP Phones to communicate with any SIP based platforms such as Broadsoft and Asterisk.

The new firmware applies for all Aastra ā€œRPā€ phones including the 6751i RP, 6753i RP, and 6757i CT RP models and is available for download here.

The only catch to the firmware process is that once you perform the upgrade to go from RP to SIP, you CANNOT go back to RP. So be very careful and ensure 100 percent that you are ready to go to SIP protocol. Once transitioned to the SIP Standards based protocol, the Aastra models will NOT function with Response Point and will now act and be treated like any other SIP based Aastra phone. This means that future firmware updates would be consistent with the regular line of SIP Aastra phones including the 6753i, 6755i, 6757i CT. These updates can be found on the individual product website on pages on http://mitel.ca/ .

In regards to the ā€œMagic Blue Buttonā€ that all RP phones are suited with, the voice recognition will no longer function. After converting to the SIP standards software the Blue button will no function as the following:

  • 6751i ā€“ Blue button will function as a Swap key
  • 6753i ā€“ Blue button will function as a Line 3 key
  • 6757i CT ā€“ Blue button will function as a Line 4 key
  • 6757i CT Mobile handset ā€“ Blue button will function as a Re-dial key

This is smart move on Aastraā€™s part as it will give their current Response Point users the option to transition to an open SIP based solution without having to Ebay their current hardware. If you donā€™t already know, Microsoft Response Point has been EOLā€™ed by Microsoft and will be completely discontinued this August.

Maybe Aastra will release firmware to take the RP Base unit (RP-500) to theirAastra Pro Link 160 solution. That would be pretty nice; this way a solution that is falling by the wayside can be transitioned to a fully functional and supported solution by Aastra. These are only my feelings though at this moment and currently Aastra only supports the transition on RP Aastra Phones.

So what do you think, any Response Point users out there thinking about doing this transition? What are your reactions to this release?Ā  What are your plans for your current RP system? Was it that successful and is it still?


6 Comments

  • Jamie

    They need to provide a migration path for the base unit as well.

    • Garrett Smith

      @ Jaime

      I agree with that statement, however, it don’t this will happen.

      The Aastra line of Response Point point phones are the same as their SIP phones – they’re simply using a different firmware. So the migration path given for the phones is really just loading the standard SIP firmware onto the RP version of the phones.

      The basestation is different.

      The basestation was designed specifically for the Response Point software. I suppose the basestation could be reloaded with firmware, but what would that be?

      Aastra has Aastralink PRO software, but I’m not sure about the compatibility with the basestation. As well, Aastra did not make the RP software, so they may not even be able to “touch it.”

  • Herman

    So does this mean that DBC 425 can not be used on asterisk

    • Hi Herman,

      I submitted a ticket for you. Our team will be reaching out shortly.

      Thank you,
      Evy

  • CB

    Does anyone happen to have the conversion files for a 5751i RP hanging around? They seem to have been lost to time but I figured Iā€™d ask anyway.

    • VoIP Experts

      Looking into this for you! I will send you a direct email if I am able to locate the files!

      Mary

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