My question here is related to how a new phone/device makes it into EPM.
As an example, we have long had many Cisco phones support, but nothing new has been added for a long time.
Grandstream being another where we had a lot of phones supported, but there are newer models which have yet to show up.
Now I understand that part of our cost of having EPM licenses goes towards the enormous part of setting up and testing the templates for each of the devices from the different supported brands, but I havenât seen what I consider popular phone models get updated in EPM.
I also know that FreePBX want us to renew these licenses annually to continue to get support, but I feel like weâre not getting new devices added regularly.
If someone can elaborate on what should be expected that would be great!
In the meantime Iâm debating getting a client GRP series phones from Grandstream because they arenât technically supported, and Iâm guessing itâs closed off if I tried to figure out how to add it in and tweak the templates for the device.
Models are added with cooperation of the manufacturer. In the distant past uncertified models were added without an agreement in place, which is where the Ciscoâs came from.
Unless Sangoma is going to get serious about talking to manufacturers, EPM is going to be nothing but a cesspool of dead old gear.
If not, this needs rethought. Adding models under âBrand-Unsupported use at your own riskâ or something is needed. Even the more supported brands, such as Yealink, have models that never made it in because of the long time between âtalks with the manufacturerâ and all that.
What would be the alternative? I donât use EPM and I consider myself very familiar with the config files of multiple manufacturers, but if I were Sangoma I wouldnât just start adding templates and phones into the module without signing off with the manufacturer. Then they would be responsible for fixing it (more than they are now) when there are, inevitably, issues.
They would likely have to make it not a commercial module, which of course they wonât do.
I will probably get booâed for being a Sangoma shill. That said, this is their forum, soâŚ
Those phones look just like the Sangoma S series. Why not consider the phones that are made specifically for FreePBX/PBXact and definitely work with EPMâwithout having to also pay for EPM (it provisions Sangoma phones for free). They also have integrated apps that you canât get with GS phones.
If you want 3rd party phones that are well supported by EPM, and cheap, my pick would be Yealink.
Why would Sangoma want to reach out to endpoint manufacturers when they are selling their own?
Frankly I am surprised that more manufacturers arenât talking to Sangoma about certification. FreePBX and PBXact are not the biggest names but they arenât ânothingâ either.
Adding use at your own risk does not mean it cannot be commercial, because it is only adding a few bits of code for most to generate a basic file. Manufactures do not normally make huge changes to the base of their devices.
I gave one.
I only use EPM on systems I am handing off to a customer if they decide that is what they want after I describe their options. For systems I manage directly, I use a git repo and hand code it all from a few basic templates made as new models are purchased.
Mark it in big red letters. if someone opens a ticket, it is a billable ticket. simple as that. I hope they have support credit.
If we are saying as someone mentioned, that Sangoma has to reach out to the manufacturer, I can see where that doesnât work. Yes it would make it easier for everyone to say go to FreePBX, no brainer easy config for the devices and they support device X, this puts more people on FreePBX, sells more EPM and maybe other modules and increases user base. ( not a bad concept ).
If the manufacture has to reach out, what are their cost if any?
Is it just send some phones and write a nice letter saying âplease add our deviceâ?
I just want to understand the process and see the commitment and requirement from any side.
Again, every time I setup a PBX, I buy EPM, but it doesnât have up to date devices on some of the major brands that its already supporting for older devices.
Should that not be getting updated by someone? if not then who is responsible.
We have existing relationships with many manufacturers, but we donât spend our days monitoring new product offerings and cold calling manufacturers for details. We do reach out periodically and find out if they are interested in pursuing certification for anything new. We also encourage manufacturers to contact us if they are interested in certification, they can contact me or @mwhite to kick off the process. There is obviously a financial and hardware cost involved and it generally only partially offsets dev and support cycles.
Some manufactures refuse to participate, or do so half-heartedly such that that weâre left waiting calendar years for a commitment, which is one reason youâll see advice here in the forum to say âcontact the manufacturerâ when requesting new device certifications.
Thanks for the response!
This is understandable.
Can you share the fee amount you charge for the manufacturer?
I know lets say Microsoft and other manufacturers in the past can have some pretty high numbers, so it may be $10K/20K to add a device and I can see where that would discourage these manufacturers.
Is there a way for me to update the tables which contain EPM data for a new model?
I know I can use a similar model, however there may be slight details which stop that from working perfectly.
This probably doesnât make sense to disclose and may even vary based on the manufacturer.
Not without violating the license agreement. Also any efforts made would likely be wiped out on module update
A little inside baseball:
The endpoint manager as designed takes a bit of effort to maintain. Jason Parker use to do this as one of his primary roles. After recent staffing shifts I donât know who is doing it now. To add and test any given device requires a non-trivial amount of engineering time. It also requires someone who knows that code because it isnât super straight forward.
In any case with new adventures we put a lot of focus in to learning from the past. A perk of building things from the ground up is you get to ask where you fell on your face in the past. A primary focus for said task was to make adding devices easy enough that it didnât require a heap of engineering time or necessarily an engineer at all. For an endpoint management solution to be useful it sort of needs to be easily maintained or find a lot of cash to maintain it.
The disclose aspect makes sense, just trying to see if itâs a number that a manufacturer would consider unreasonable like lets say $10K per device.
Having a general idea helps me to consider calling our Sales rep at lets say GrandStream and pushing some buttons, which may or may not make a difference.
In respect to the violation, not looking to do that.
I was involved a little when I had a big project back in the OSS days, and paid to get the SPA504/514/525 added. That was when Andrew wasnât a FreePBX team member⌠( wow that was a long time ago ).
Just trying to accomplish 2 things.
Set an expectation that when I renew a license for each of my clients PBXâs that there will actually be value.
See how I can get newer common phones added.
For reference someone mentioned use Sangoma phones and donât buy EPM and I have used S705âs but wasnât pleased with how they worked compared to others. Although there were a few nice features.
Please contact the manufacturer, particularly so in Grandstreamâs case. We can tell them that requests are coming in, but I suspect things go smoother when they hear it from their own customers.
