Cisco

Update! History of the Cisco 7900 Series IP Phones

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UPDATED & CORRECTED in December 2018

The 7900 series IP Phones from Cisco has now been in the market for 20 years this year! These sets were the first after the acquisition of Selius Systems, the publisher of CallManager.

These are the classic, default choice for the true Cisco install base, while newer versions, the 6900, the 9900 and 8900 (and in the last couple years, the 7800, and 8800s, 6800s those “second generation” Cisco sets will appear at a later post.) Also this site attempts to conform to Plain English and so over uses of “79xx” will not be tolerated. 

 

 

A picture of 8 Cisco VOIP office terminals, 1 without a display (7905), and 1 with a full screen color screen (7970)
From Cisco’s website circa 2004 featuring most of the first generation of Cisco 79×0 series sets.

79×0 Series (1st Generation)

(where x indicates solely on it’s functionality, that latter “0” implies generation)

The first round of options at that time included

  • 7902 (blank set), a display, single appearance (realistically);
  • 7905 (a 7902 with a display) Both known by Cisco as “cubicle” sets
  • the 7910 (a black colored set, that looked like half the size of a full blown 7900s, but functions similar to a 7902 and 7905)
  • The infamous large screen sets known as the 7940, the 7960. The 7914 sidecar was available.)
  • And the 7970 (a Java based set with color and other goodies would roll out later in time; not available originally.) The LCD display had very low resolution, with a display for text; and graphics were primitive icons. Worse, these sets age, they don’t age well, due to its black and black display (I can’t say white per se, but the reader should understand.)

Cisco strongly sold these sets for their Skinny Call Control Protocol (SCCP or Skinny), as SIP and MGCP were available for downloadable firmware as an option. The SIP versions of this generation would not have the visual straight lines to separate appearances or features like Skinny, instead looking like softkey buttons. Also a SIP icon appeared on the top right with the S resembling a snake.

When the 7970 was released, it was a luxury set for executives or conferencing; as time would go one, each little feature in the 7970 would become standard in newer models with lower entry points. This “screen phone” was running with a Java applet to allow it to surf the web and do other fancy things.

Regardless, from the start, they licensed Polycom’s conferencing technology, according to archived pages, which was probably the strongest selling point of the Cisco IP Phones. In fact Polycom wouldn’t make VOIP sets till after the year 2000, of course they had the great sound quality on crappy software and flimsy hardware.

Cisco sold their 7920 mobile set, but the set wasn’t well used because of its dependence on WLAN, later WiFi. Wireless LAN at the time went so far, and could carry much less data and to extend the signal would be cumbersome. Many opted to stay with DECT (despite it being politically incorrect in the world of Cisco – because anything “digital” was deemed “analog”) ether using analog sets or IP (such as SIP) as the base unit. It wasn’t until 2013, Cisco settled on DECT – but offered such sets to the small market.

The 7980 was a video phone designed for the conferencing market. The set’s label on the front of the display indicates it used Tandberg technology, of which they acquired the company years later.

IMG_9994
Formerly owned this 7960 which failed to register in a Call Manager Express. Partly because I didn’t realize “TFTP” in the Cisco world refers to the PBX/IP KSU the system will reside on.

79×1 Series (Second Generation)

(where “1” indicates the newer generation where the x indicates the set’s functionality as previously described.)

As time went on beginning in late 2005; Cisco introduced:

  • The 7941 and 7961 sets. Other than prettier text, and tri colored LEDs for lamp status, the set was in fact based on Java; of which was a critical difference unlike the first generation, except for the 7970 and 7980. This gave developers the ability to make your desk set check the weather, a package from UPS, etc. Whether it was widely used is debatable. Around this same time period, the 7971 was released, with slight improvements. A massive issue if you are not fully familiar to managing servers but managing traditional phone systems; was the inability to use the local Corporate Directory out of the box, requiring Cisco IP Phone Services server to run such feature as an app on some server or gateway and some experience in coding.
  • Gigabit models were available if you asked for a 79×1-GE part number.
  • The phone supported Power over Ethernet (POE) or Cisco’s Inline power standards natively.
  • Introduction of the 7912 set, similar to the 7905 but it runs the Java operating system to run the phone’s applications and services.
Not my Photo – Cisco 7961 with a 7915 Module

Cisco also introduced a graphical sidecar as well. The 7915 was a grayscale and the 7916 was color

large_photo_7916
Cisco 7975 with the 7916 sidecar

79×2 (3rd Generation)

Where “2” indicates the third generation where “x” indicates the type of sets in the series

In the mid 2007, Cisco introduced the 7942, 7962 and a new set 7931.

IMG_2484
A Cisco 7931 taken at a local Nashua, NH Staples. This replaced a Vertical Networks solution which used 24 button sets. Most Staples on the East Coast had already dumped Norstar systems with Vertical in the last 7 years. Cisco originally sold these and marketed these sets for the retail market.

In 2008, Cisco released the 7931. It looks like a traditional Key or PBX set with the old fashioned desi key strips, most likely responding to a shock to the system of end users who wasn’t ready to let go of the tried and true solution of paper designation strips. The set can support up to 24 lines/feature/URL keys and cannot support any sidecars.

The 7942, the 7962 sets had bitmapped display (that could handle graphics similar to the 797x, just in grayscale.)

dsc_0619
Model of a Cisco 7962 taken at the NH Telephone Museum in their modern day collection. This can run bitmapped graphics, Gigabit Ethernet and Power over Ethernet.

Given the “cubicle” version of the 7900s, Cisco went back 1 digit, and introduced the 7911 at this same time. In short, the Cisco 7911 is the “latest” generation of the “cubicle” line

The phone has a large, 4-bit grayscale graphical LCD (Figure 2) that provides features such as date and time, calling party name, calling party number, digits dialed, and presence information. The crisp graphic capability of the display allows for the inclusion of higher value, more visibly rich Extensible Markup Language (XML) applications, and support for localization requiring double-byte Unicode encoding for fonts.

Cisco’s datasheet for the 7962 set

By this point Cisco shipped these sets with dual image firmware of Skinny or SIP, as many decided SIP was the future or “standard”, but massive tradeoffs occur when going to SIP. In these versions, the SIP and Skinny screens are the same (horizontal lines separating the line/feature keys.) Tradeoffs include, a half-duplex speakerphone, the ring tones sounding tinny and the voice quality isn’t like talking to a sea shell compared to using SCCP. But you can’t fix stupid with everyone defending “open” systems.

79×5 Series (4th and Final generation)

DSC_0519
Example of a Cisco 7965 set at a Citi bank in New York City, taken in Midtown Manhattan in April 2015 by this publisher.

The 3rd generation and 4th generation was release concurrently. At the same time, Cisco released the 6900 series.  When Cisco released the 79×5 sets in late 2007, they basically giving everyone a 797x, but on a smaller footprint. You can set up applications similar to the 797x on a similar size of the 796xs and 794xs. Gigabit Ethernet was standard. The sets have full color and touchable screens, multi colored LED buttons and a 4 direction with a center OK button in the middle. The 7975 reflected that latter change, as the 4 way buttons before had no center key. Also the last generation of the video conferencing set, the 7980 was released under 7985 (but end of life notifications for that set was settled in 2015)

The sets were not seen in many desktops till the teens, perhaps enterprise cutbacks due to the Great Recession and the 2008 Financial Crisis, of which Cisco had taken a direct hit, as many UC customers were in the financial industry

In short, as time would go on, the only “7900” sets one could order and acquire a license was:

  • Cisco IP Phone 7945
  • Cisco IP Phone 7965
  • Cisco IP Phone 7975
  • Cisco IP Phone 7985 (End of Life circa 2011)

 

The End

Remarkably, the millions of 7900s came to an end in the summer of 2018 where Cisco announced the End of Sale. The final End of Support will occur in 2022. At the time of the E.O.S. announcement, only the “4th generation” except for the 7985 was still on the market.

The reasoning is the age. Inside the Cisco 7900 IP Phone is a specialized computer designed to make and receive telephone calls. The original CallManager, was essentially as primitive as a consumer POTS service. The Cisco 7900 Series IP Phones have used H323 to make the phone tick. However SIP is software based, and a lot of it’s magic lives inside the phone, and for SIP to work effectively it needs more memory and CPU cycles. This isn’t to be officially known to the customer, all VOIP set makers just tell customers to upgrade to later generations, and as time went on Cisco added more processing, Flash memory, etc to handle a desktop smartphone for the lack of a better word.

Perhaps the makers of the hardware are ether no longer making chips, resisters, etc., or perhaps issues with licensing with those companies; leading Cisco to move onto different lines concurrent to the lifespan of the Cisco 7900s:

  • Cisco 6900 Series IP Phones
  • Cisco 8900 Series IP Phones
  • Cisco 9900 Series IP Phones

But lately Cisco has focused on a few newer models

  • Cisco 7800 Series IP Phones
  • Cisco 8800 Series IP Phones
  • Cisco 6800 Series IP Phones, as they are a bit more open to allow customers to buy phones and run them on their own call platforms (or phone systems)

Most importantly Cisco has focused on security. While the 7900 Series was “secure” in theory using firmware and secure versions of CallManager, the newer sets focus on using “signed” Cisco firmware that cannot be tampered by third party or companies outside of Cisco. With this scheme, the lifecycles could be shorter given how “certificates” have certain shelf life, so no one can try to tamper with the secure code.

Despite these newer offerings the 7900s are still very popular and sell well in the thirdhand market. These are perfect for hobbyists, home users, small businesses that depend on phones still and can last a long time. Security wise, shouldn’t be a serious issue till a few years after 2020, but a well designed multimedia network should be based with security in mind. Even though these sets are extremely overpriced in the firsthand for what little it can do, it’s has become a status symbol just like how AT&T was the status symbol with the Merlin (small systems) and 7400 (the large system) sets (albeit more superior!)

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POTD: Jacob Javits Center, Upper West Side, Manhattan

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The Jacob Javits Center, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the urban outskirts of New York City, is where conferences are held. Much less space than say the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s comparable size like Connecticut’s or the ones in Boston. Unlike Vegas, people are rude, uptight and do not take any selfies with showgirls. They will tell you explicitly to “not tag” them.

This was taken in October at the fall NAB Show, the convention for the National Association of Broadcasters. Unlike my visit in April, there was nothing to write home about.  In fact I spent more time outside the Javits Center

This Guest Services desk shows a Cisco 8800 series VOIP set. However, throughout my visit, my first time ever visiting the city beyond twelve hours – I saw sets that weren’t just Cisco in various businesses and organizations.

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POTD: Whole Foods Market Bedford, New Hampshire

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In recent weeks, the world’s newest Whole Foods Market opened in Bedford, NH. Built on top of the legendary Wayfarer Inn (known more during the Primary Election years), it’s also within hundreds of feet of the now torn down Macy’s.

As proof from Joe the UCX Guy from Chicago, many Whole Foods stores are Cisco shops. Interestingly, the WFM in Nashua, just miles on the Everett Turnpike, is wired for TDM telephony using Toshiba’s Strata system (opened in 2014 to replace a former Market Basket.) Building was totally gutted and rebuilt mostly from the ground up.

The store in Bedford is mixed with 7942s and the 6902s at the cashier’s lane. Paging works, as teenage girls don’t know how to lower their octaves and learn how to page professionally.

The 7900s are still in the market, despite the more cheaper quality sets being deployed more and more. The 7900s are in a depreciation mode. Current generations are all multi lines, Java based and/or colored displays and I was surprised to see a 7942 because I believe its End of Sale.

I snapped two pictures, one showing how much characters you can use to describe your telephone extension. If the characters can’t fit on the top black colored indication bar, it will break the description up in two screens

IMG_5994 IMG_5993

Personally, these devices are just “endpoints” – they are PCs acting as telephones. Sure Mitel, and Avaya and others sell the same thing (and acts the same way), but for sales people or the accountants, its just another device attached to the Internet and it shouldn’t be treated special like a office telephone. These phones are not easy to manage outside of expensive Cisco solutions or if you like to code and reverse engineer – be my guest! I feel like the 7900s were always a 2554 with Internet connectivity and a great audio quality of its SCCP signaling.

Other than that, Cisco just keeps on winning on selling “free” gear and report them as “profits” by smooching up to the CIOs and heads of IT departments at the Fortune 500 companies. You think I am kidding???