Singlewire will be upgrading the InformaCast Mobile infrastructure to introduce the following new features.
Lessen Server Loads with Distributed Activation. Distributed activation, included with High Availability, allows you to install and configure multiple InformaCast Fusion on-premises servers. Your IP phones, IP speakers, and InformaCast Desktop Notifier instances are then split between them in activation groups. A distributed activation environment activates your applicable recipients faster by distributing the on-premises servers’ loads. Distributed activation is not server redundancy: if one on-premises server dies, another on-premises server will not take over the malfunctioning server’s recipients. Distributed activation requires several configuration changes or additions to the normal setup of InformaCast Fusion. Discrepancies between how InformaCast Fusion functions in a standalone vs. distributed activation environment will be noted as they occur.
Gain Site Survivability with Survivable Remote Site Notification (SRSN). SRSN, included with High Availability, provides site-level redundancy in conjunction with Cisco’s SRST router for several InformaCast Fusion features. If your WAN/Internet connection goes down, a local InformaCast Fusion on-premises server can handle DialCast and LPI notifications as well as the bell schedules for all recipients included in its activation groups. SRSN is not multi-site server redundancy: if your WAN/Internet connection goes down, initiating a DialCast from a phone assigned to an activation group on one on-premises InformaCast Fusion server will not include the recipients in an activation group on a separate InformaCast Fusion on-premises server. SRSN requires several configuration changes or additions to the normal setup of InformaCast Fusion. Discrepancies between how InformaCast Fusion functions in an SRSN versus a non-SRSN environment will be noted as they occur.
New InformaCast Fusion Appliance. The InformaCast Fusion on-premises server is now available as a physical appliance in addition to a virtual one. The InformaCast Fusion appliance (model number IPTA-IFSD) has an Intel Celeron N3160 1.6GHz quad core processor with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid state drive (SSD). Having a physical appliance instead of a virtual one allows you to located your on-premises servers at remote sites so that InformaCast Fusion services continue in the event of a WAN interruption.
New InformaCast Desktop Notifier Notification Window Controls Added to InformaCast Fusion. A Style dropdown menu on the General tab and a corresponding Desktop Notifier Settings tab are now available on the Notification Profile Details page, and they control the look of the InformaCast Desktop Notifier’s Notification window. Previous versions of the InformaCast Desktop Notifier had you controlling the look and behavior of the Notification window through a policy configuration file (IDN_Policy.cfg), which could be confusing and cumbersome. The InformaCast Fusion web interface now provides those same controls, improving their usability.
There are three default styles available from the Style dropdown menu: Normal, Warning, and Emergency, and each option comes with a specific look, e.g. screen size, background color, and font settings. A fourth option, Custom, will allow you to make changes to the Desktop Notifier Settings tab when selected, and the look is customizable to fit your specifications.
New InformaCast Desktop Notifier Command Display Controls Added to InformaCast Fusion. Previous versions of the InformaCast Desktop Notifier had you controlling the commands that appear in users’ InformaCast Desktop Notifier menus with a policy configuration file (IDN_Policy.cfg), which could be confusing and cumbersome. The InformaCast Fusion web interface now provides those same controls through the Desktop Notifier Settings page (Admin | Settings | Desktop Notifier). On this page, you can set the menu display status for the Stop/Start Broadcasts (Windows 7 only), Clear, and Exit commands as well as set a new logo (the Singlewire logo appears by default) for the Notification window.
New Controls for Scrolling Speed. The Scroll Speed Adjustment dropdown menu on the Desktop Notifier Details page allows you to increment/decrement the value set in the Scroll Speed dropdown menu on the Fusion Settings tab of the Notification Profile Details page. Positive values increase the scroll speed; negative values decrease it.
Separated InformaCast Desktop Notifier Devices from IP Speakers. Computers running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier are now separate devices (and have a separate device view) from IP speakers. Previously, computers running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier were listed along with other IP speaker types on the List IP Speakers page. There is now a new left navigation menu option, Recipients | Desktop Notifiers, and selecting it will bring you to the List Desktop Notifiers page where you’ll have similar controls to the List IP Speakers page:
– See a list of all of registered computers running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier
– Reboot the InformaCast Desktop Notifier on all computers running it
– Delete all non-registered computers running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier
– Add an individual, registered computer running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier
– Adjust the volume of the computers running the InformaCast Desktop Notifier
Newly Supported VMware Version. InformaCast Fusion 3.5.0 now supports VMware 6.5.
New VMware Management Tools. InformaCast Fusion now uses Open VM Tools, "a set of services and modules that enable several features in VMware products for better management of, and seamless user interactions with, guests." Open VM Tools offers the same services as the previously used VMware Tools, and simplifies your management because you no longer have to manage these tools' upgrades separately in vSphere: Open VM Tools upgrades are nearly transparent to you, occurring only during InformaCast Fusion upgrades.
New Rules for Encrypted Handling of Data in Motion. InformaCast Fusion’s encryption rule changes include the addition of Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-validated cryptographic modules. These modules provide a new set of rules for how InformaCast Fusion makes and receives connections over TLS and SSL. InformaCast Fusion always uses these approved cryptographic modules, there is no ability to turn them (or FIPS mode) off, or replace these modules with others. These rule changes also allow you to define cryptographic trust with other systems with which InformaCast Fusion communicates by configuring a setting for SSL certificates to be automatically or manually imported into InformaCast Fusion’s trust store for each TLS or SSL connection.
Improved Communication Speed of LPI Paging Zones. The speed when switching from an ongoing notification to one of a higher priority has been improved for LPI paging zones. Previously, when an ongoing notification was preempted by a higher priority notification, the phone call InformaCast Fusion established with the LPI paging zone needed to be torn down and a new call had to be established before the higher priority notification could be heard. This took some time and led to users missing the beginning audio of the higher priority notification. In this release, the higher priority notification will use the already-established call instead of creating a new one. Speed is improved and users won’t miss out on audio.
Paging Gateway Bundled Within InformaCast Fusion. The latest version of the Paging Gateway is now bundled within InformaCast Fusion. If you already have the Paging Gateway installed, you can now upgrade your Paging Gateways directly from your InformaCast Fusion on-premises server.
Posted Jan 31, 2018 - 15:05 CST