Just tossing my "ditto" into the ring here with Lelio, and Terry as a customer from higher education. Budget issues yadda yadda. I think Cisco UC products are worth it, but I also get asked "what other solution is out there for XYZ" from time to time, and it definitely helps to know. Some use-cases are probably small enough that its worth throwing a "boutique" solution at it.
Sometimes we're not even asked in central IT here - as decentralized as we are, I wouldn't be surprised to see Lelio's "fluxcollaborator 5000" show up in a dean's conference room tomorrow with the expectation to make it work. Luckily that type of thing is becoming rarer :) On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 2:49 PM, Terry Oakley <[email protected]> wrote: > I will chime in as well. From a higher ed funded institution (publicly > funded by tax dollars) the ability to find less costly solutions is always > at the forefront. We fortunately are a Cisco shop from VC to network but > we are constantly under pressure to find a cheaper solution. That in > itself causes a lot of dollars to be spent on purchasing a third party > product and then massaging it to work as intended. Sometimes the capital > dollars are easy to solve for the purchase, it is the operational dollars > that get hard to justify and even harder to acquire and resource. It is a > never ending battle to see where and what direction we will go with every > shrinking budgets. With so much invested in our infrastructure to date it > seems odd that that investment would not be valued but sadly it does not > always seem that way. Not like it is in the corporate side or what > appears to be like. > > > > Just my 2 (1 ½) cents worth. > > > > Terry > > > > *Terry Oakley* > > Telecommunications Coordinator *| *Information Technology Services > > *Red Deer College **|*100 College Blvd. *|* Box 5005 *| *Red Deer *|* Alberta > *| *T4N 5H5 > > work (403) 342-*3521 **| * FAX (403) 343-4034 > > > > > > *From:* cisco-voip [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf > Of *Lelio Fulgenzi > *Sent:* Thursday, February 1, 2018 12:39 PM > *To:* Anthony Holloway <[email protected]> > > *Cc:* Cisco VoIP Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [cisco-voip] anyone try solaborate hello? > > > > I think what you’ll find is that in a higher ed scenario, the ability to > dictate what products are used doesn’t go as far as in a corporate > environment. > > > > If someone wants a Cisco room based system, they’re shelling out thousands > of dollars. Even if a business case can be made, the money may simply not > be there. > > > > I was looking at bridging AV solutions with existing PC conferencing > solution, like Jabber and WebEx from Cisco, and found some interesting HDMI > to USB streaming devices. > > > > But this solution allows someone to participate in the enterprise > collaboration space, i.e. Spark and WebEx, with an economical solution. > > > > I guess I see this as hardware using the existing platforms. I’m ok with > that. For the most part. Something like HighFive which offers a > subscription conferencing service, I wouldn’t condone, cause that just > causes confusion. > > > > > > > > > > --- > > *Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A.* | Senior Analyst > > Computing and Communications Services | University of Guelph > > Room 037 Animal Science & Nutrition Bldg | 50 Stone Rd E | Guelph, ON | > N1G 2W1 > > 519-824-4120 Ext. 56354 <(519)%20824-4120> | [email protected] > > > > www.uoguelph.ca/ccs | @UofGCCS on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook > > > > [image: University of Guelph Cornerstone with Improve Life tagline] > > > > *From:* Anthony Holloway [mailto:[email protected] > <[email protected]>] > *Sent:* Thursday, February 1, 2018 1:27 PM > *To:* Lelio Fulgenzi <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Cisco VoIP Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [cisco-voip] anyone try solaborate hello? > > > > I'm kind of curious to know who on this mailing list would have tried it, > because this list seems to be made up of mostly people interested in Cisco > products and technology. Save for a few people of course, who have an > indirect Cisco interest. > > > > Granted, Cisco doesn't always make the first, the best, or the cheapest, > and alternatives in the market are a good thing, but, from my perspective, > which is through the eyes of a Cisco Engineer, I would never be installing > a COTS product which competes directly with Cisco's own offerings. Be it > this product, or a Microsoft product. > > > > Sure, I might see one in the field, but I wouldn't take any responsibility > for managing it. > > > > Since Lelio, you're on the customer side, is it different for you? Do you > have the freedom of just buying and trying any product you want, regardless > of manufacturer? Even when I was on the customer side for a few years, I > was still a Cisco Engineer, and only worked on Cisco products. Perhaps you > wear more hats than just Cisco Engineer, and that's our difference. > > > > Anyway, just curious. > > > > By the way, this product actually looks pretty cool and he price is very > affordable. So, my above comments are not tied to the product itself, more > to the idea of 3rd party COTS products competing against Cisco products, > when viewed from a Cisco Engineer's perspective. > > On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 2:13 PM Lelio Fulgenzi <[email protected]> wrote: > > Has anyone tried this product? > > https://www.solaborate.com/hello > > > > --- > Lelio Fulgenzi, B.A. | Senior Analyst > Computing and Communications Services | University of Guelph > Room 037 Animal Science & Nutrition Bldg | 50 Stone Rd E | Guelph, ON | > N1G 2W1 > 519-824-4120 Ext. 56354 <(519)%20824-4120> | [email protected]<mailto: > [email protected]> > > www.uoguelph.ca/ccs<http://www.uoguelph.ca/ccs> | @UofGCCS on Instagram, > Twitter and Facebook > > [University of Guelph Cornerstone with Improve Life tagline] > > _______________________________________________ > cisco-voip mailing list > [email protected] > https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-voip > > > _______________________________________________ > cisco-voip mailing list > [email protected] > https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-voip > > -- Ed Leatherman
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