Cisco Unified Presence Components

Cisco Unified Presence is a very flexible, powerful and often confusing product.  The confusion comes simply from the number of ways that it can be used and implemented to provide a number of different services.  As such, this post is intended to lay the groundwork for additional learning in the world of Unified Presence.  If you're like me - your first question is "what does it do?"

Cert Alert:  The CCNA Voice certification requires that you be able to "Describe Cisco Unified Presence".  This post builds the foundation to do exactly that.  I also recommend that students pay attention to the "Additional Information" at the bottom of the post.

Unified Personal Communicator

In it's simplest form, Cisco Unified Presence magnifies the value of the Cisco Unified Communication System by utilizing two main pieces of information about each user:

1. Availability Status - Is the user actively using a particular device?  I.e., phone, etc.
2. Capabilities - What services can be accessed by the user?  I.e., web collaboration, video conferencing, basic audio, or enterprise instant messaging.

This information is then used to provide services to users through the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator (CUPC), an application that runs on the user's desktop.  In lieu of CUPC, presence information can also be used by Cisco Unified Communications Manager applications or 3rd Party applications in various ways.
The Cisco Unified Personal Communicator (CUPC) provides the following features:

1. Extensive Communications:  high-definition (HD) video, presence, IM, voice and voice messages from a single application
2. Efficiency:  get immediate answers by knowing who is online and available
3. IP Telephony and Video:  operates as a soft phone with HD video, or control your desk phone from a single application
4. Extend Collaboration:  multiparty web, audio and video conferencing
5. Optional Features:  only use what you need, such as simply soft phone and IM

Read further to see all of the potential components used by Cisco Unified Presence and the protocols required to connect them.

Cisco Unified Presence Potential Components

 

(From Cisco Unified Communication System 8.x SRND)

1. Cisco Unified Presence server
2. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM)
3. Cisco Unified Personal Communicator
4. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace or MeetingPlace Express
5. Cisco Unity or Unity Connection
6. Cisco Unified Videoconferencing or Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express VT
7. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Server v3.0
8. Cisco Unified IP Phones
9. Third-party presence server
10. Third-party XMPP clients, such as GoogleTalk, AOL, and IBM Lotus Sametime
11. Third-party applications

Additional Information

1. CUCS 8.x SRND, Cisco Unified Presence
2. Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco Products and Services