New features in InformaCast are designed to further enhance the capabilities of mass notification, paging, and physical security for the Cisco Unified Communications Platform.
New features in this release include:
The following features have been added to InformaCast v7.1 to enhance functionality and improve user experience:
• Phone Updates for CallManager Express. You can now rebuild the phone cache (on the Phone Updates page) as frequently as once per minute. Previously, you could only rebuild the phone cache every hour when using CallManager Express.
• InformaCast Session Timeouts. It is now possible to control InformaCast’s session timeouts from its user interface instead of modifying the web.xml file. The Session Timeouts link in the Edit Configuration menu allows you to control not only the length of active sessions between InformaCast and your web browser, but also the length of active sessions between InformaCast and your phones, which was not possible before InformaCast v7.1.
• Skip Broadcast Initiator Logic Reworked. InformaCast v7.1’s logic has been modified so that if the audio source of a live message (which is either a phone, speaker, or Desktop Notification System machine) is initially contained in the list of recipient devices, it will be removed. For example, if a live broadcast is sourced from a phone and sent to the All Devices recipient group, that phone will not receive the message, even though it is a member of the All Devices recipient group.
• SLP Parameters. It is now possible to control InformaCast’s SLP parameters from its user interface instead of modifying the web.xml file. The SLP Parameters link in the Edit Configuration menu allows you to control how InformaCast responds when a speaker requests the location of a configuration file server during its boot process, how InformaCast responds to a device or application’s request for the location of an InformaCast SOAP service, and the location of your Configuration File Server.2
• LDAP Improvements. Several improvements have been made to the LDAP environment in InformaCast v7.1:
Different Kinds of LDAP Directories Are Now Supported—Previously, only Microsoft Active Directory and OpenDS could be integrated with InformaCast. Now, user authentication in InformaCast can be done via OpenLDAP, Sun Java System Directory Server, Apache Directory Server, and any other kind of LDAP v3-compliant server. To allow this change, a number of new fields were added to the LDAP Integration page of InformaCast.
An Additional Authentication Method is Now Supported—Earlier versions of InformaCast only allowed using simple LDAP authentication. This authentication method might pose a security risk if used over an unencrypted communication channel. InformaCast v7.1 now also supports user authentication via Kerberos v5, which is more secure, and can be used with SSL for better protection. Another advantage of Kerberos is that the configuration of LDAP integration in InformaCast can be done using the LDAP administrator’s regular login name instead of the distinguished name that consists of a number of components. With the addition of Kerberos authentication, several new fields were added to the LDAP Integration page.
• New User Role. There is a new role called messageSenderDNsRestricted. This role is very similar to the messageSender role, except that when a user specifies directory numbers (DNs) in the IP Phone Extension (DN) field on the Send Message page, those DNs are analyzed. If a given DN is not contained in a recipient group to which the user has been granted access (through the use of user or group filters), that DN will be removed from the list of recipients.
• SOAP Interface Changes. The SOAP interface has been rewritten, using Apache CXF as the new underlying infrastructure. This change allows developers to initiate live and ad-hoc messages programatically and provide dynamic audio within the SOAP request (u-law or HQ format is required for audio). Backward compatibility in the SOAP interface has been preserved, meaning that applications using the old interface, such as DORA, don’t need any updates. To deal with the changes made to the SOAP interface, a Programmer’s SOAP Guide is being developed.
• Section 508 Compliance. Section 508, an amendment to the United States Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is a federal law mandating that all electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. In compliance with Section 508, InformaCast v7.1 has a number of improvements:
Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables—Data tables have the column and row headers appropriately identified (using the tag). Tables used strictly for layout purposes do not have header rows or columns.
Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers—Table cells are associated with the appropriate headers (e.g. with the ID, headers, scope, and/or axis HTML attributes).
Electronic forms comply with assistive technology—When electronic forms are designed to be completed online, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. All form controls should have text labels adjacent to them. Form elements should have labels associated with them in the markup. Dynamic HTML scripting of the form should not interfere with assistive technologies.
A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links—Skip navigation allows assistive technology to jump over repetitive information on a page. The value of this can be understood by noting how many times a webpage refreshes when simple actions are taken. This ability allows the user to save a lot of time.
• Cisco Communications Manager v8. Support has been added for Cisco Communications Manager v8. Please Note: InformaCast v7.1 has been fully tested as integrating with Cisco’s most recent release of CUCM v8.0. However, please note that Cisco Unified CallManager 4.x is not a supported environment for InformaCast v7.1. Prior versions of InformaCast will continue to be supported with 4.x. Click to view the Dates of Service
• Intercom Functionality. Intercom functionality between two phones, or a phone and a speaker now provided through PushToTalk v2.3, a separate application offering from Singlewire.
• Newly Supported Phones. InformaCast now supports new Cisco IP phones: 6921, 6941, 6961, 7937, 7971, 8961, 9951, and 9971.
• Key Pair Regeneration. For any users experiencing browser problems with importing InformaCast SSL certificates, there is a new section in the Troubleshooting chapter dealing with regenerating a key pair.
To learn more and download a 30-day free trial of InformaCast, visit us at www.singlewire.com/talkwithus.
