The ATEA Mobile Login Service (AMLS) is a smart-phone based application that makes it easier for users to log in to Cisco desk phones.
The smart-phone application provides a simplified login user interface−eliminating the need for users to enter user IDs and PINs on the keypad of their deskphone. In addition to this, the AMLS is location-aware. It can automatically initiate the login process whenever a user returns to a location they have been logged in to a desk phone before.
AMLS is an ideal tool for mobile users that commute between offices regularly.
Overview
Cisco IP telephony supports Extension Mobility, which allows users to log in to their Cisco desk phone. The benefit this provides is that users can move between offices or locations and their desk phone configuration can follow them. Users retain access to their speed dials, call forwards and phone applications.
One challenge with this is the need to log in to the phone using the keypad. Many people find that entering user IDs on a numeric keypad to be cumbersome. Also, the requirement to remember a phone-specific PIN can also be troublesome, especially if it is not used every day.
Smart-phones present an opportunity to improve the process of logging in to Cisco desk phones. Modern smart-phones are already widely used to provide identity authentication and the smart-phone’s user interface is vastly superior to most of today’s desk phones. More interestingly though, is that smart phones are also location aware. A smart phone can be used to trigger activities based on the user’s location.
AMLS provides a tool that Cisco desk phone users can use to easily log in to their Cisco desk phone. The improved user interface makes the login process much simpler and eliminates the need to remember the Cisco PIN every time.
In addition to this, AMLS can be configured to remember the phone the user logs in to and provides the option of automatically logging in to the same phone the next time that the user returns to the same location. What this means is that the process of logging in to a phone has become far less tedious. A user’s desk phone could be automatically logged in, even before the user sits down at their desk. This would be of most value to users that commute between a number of offices and that need their phone profile to follow them automatically.
How It Works
The ATEA Mobile Login service consists of three components:
1. The ATEA Mobile Login server
2. The ATEA Mobile Login smart phone application
3. The Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM).
ATEA Mobile Login Server
The ATEA Mobile Login server is an Apache Tomcat web application that accepts login requests from users’ smart phones, and then interacts with the CUCM to action the requests. Residing on a dedicated, back end server, The ATEA Mobile Login server is the intermediary between the smart phones and the phone system itself.
ATEA Mobile Login smart phone application
The ATEA Mobile Login smart-phone application resides on users’ smart phones, and provides users with a simplified tool for logging in to Cisco desk phones. In addition to this, the application can remember where the user was when they last logged in to each phone, and either prompt them to log in to the same phone again, or even silently log them in automatically.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager
The Cisco CUCM is the heart of the Cisco telephony system, and is the component that performs the phone login process, under the control of the ATEA Mobile Login Server.
This system requires the ATEA Mobile Login server, which is a web application that runs in the Apache Tomcat 6.0 application container. You can download the Apache Tomcat 6.0 application container at http://tomcat.apache.org, Contact mobileloginsupport@ateasystems.com for a copy of the ATEA Mobile Login server web application.
