End of Support (EoS) Announcement for End Users and Workspaces on Legacy Hybrid Call Service (Expressway Call Connector Architecture Only)

First Published: October 29, 2020

Hybrid Call on the Call Connector architecture is now EoS and will next go End of Life (EoL). See the EoL notice for more information.

Our previous announcement from May 2020 about Call Connector support can be found here.

See the following table to understand what works for call service for users and devices after the Call Connector architecture is no longer supported:

Calling service for	Call Connector	Device Connector	Calling in Webex (Unified CM)
Webex (Teams) Users			✓
Devices		✓

This EoS notice only applies to Hybrid Call Service on the Call Connector architecture. This notice does not impact customers who run other Hybrid Services, including the Device Connector architecture.

Users
Devices

Impact

Webex app users—After the EoS deadline listed above, calls in the Webex App app on the Call Connector architecture may no longer work for users and the Call Connector solution will no longer be officially supported.

As covered in this previous announcement in May 2020, the service was no longer offered for new customers. After EoS, new and existing customer organizations that are created in Webex Control Hub will longer be able to set up the legacy Hybrid Call Service with the Expressway Call Connector architecture for enterprise calling integration with the Webex App app.

User devices—Personal mode devices associated with users may no longer have PSTN access through the Call Connector solution.

Requirement

If existing customers need enterprise calling capabilities in Webex App, they must deploy Calling in Webex App (Unified CM) for continued support. This solution provides softphone capability to Webex App users. In this architecture, the Webex App app registers directly to Unified CM.

When Webex App is registered with Unified CM, the solution provides enterprise calling capabilities—audio/video calls and mid-call features such as mute, consultative transfer, merge/conference, sharing, and so on. Direct access to call settings such as call forwarding (CFA), single number reach (SNR) and visual voicemail is also supported. The Webex App app also interfaces with Unified CM-registered desk phones to provide remote call control capabilities in Deskphone Control (DPC) mode. For a full list of supported features, see the Calling Features section in the deployment guide.

Additionally, customer administrators can now set up call preferences for the organization to prioritize enterprise calling work numbers or Enterprise SIP URIs with a Single Click option. This simplifies the end user calling experience. Enterprise calling between users alerts remote users on their Webex App client and IP phones for a consistent call alert experience.

Direct registration to Unified CM provides these benefits:

Direct connection to Unified CM leading to a faster connect time than the Call Connector solution
Direct media when Webex App apps are local within enterprise network
Additional calling capabilities with a roadmap towards Jabber calling feature parity
Reuse of existing Mobile and Remote Access (MRA) and Jabber Client Services Framework (CSF) configuration for client-side integration (unlike the server-side integration in the Call Connector architecture)

Next Steps Before the Deadline

Webex app users—Before the End of Support deadline, customers that are currently deployed with legacy Hybrid Call Service for end users must migrate to Calling in Webex App (Unified CM) to avoid service impact and continue to have calling functionality in the Webex App app.

User devices

For users who have personal mode devices configured and enabled for PSTN access: If those users do not require PSTN any more, you can leave these devices as they are and migrate.
If the users require PSTN support, you must migrate to the Webex Device Connector solution. You can then use Webex Control Hub to enable Hybrid Calling (Device Connector) for the Personal Mode devices.

Documentation

Deployment Guide for Calling in Webex (Unified CM)

Migrate Existing Organization to Hybrid Calling for Webex Devices

Enable Hybrid Calling for Personal Mode Devices

Impact

Cisco Webex Devices in shared mode or personal mode may no longer work on the Expressway Call Connector architecture. Calls that leverage this solution for PSTN access will no longer work.

Next Steps Before the Deadline

The Webex Device Connector solution ensures that Unified CM-backed calls for your Webex devices will continue to work. Follow the guidance below:

Shared Devices—Before the End of Support deadline, customers that deployed Webex Devices in Shared Mode (Workspaces) must migrate away from the Call Connector solution to the Webex Device Connector solution. The Device Connector provides a migration wizard to help you with these steps. See the documentation that follows.

Shared devices in Workspaces were automatically migrated to the Device Connector solution on April 30, 2021.

Personal Mode Devices—For users who have personal mode devices configured and enabled for calling through the Call Connector solution: If those users do not require PSTN access, you can leave these devices as they are and migrate.

If the users still require PSTN support, you must also be on the Webex Device Connector solution. You can then use Webex Control Hub to enable calling for the Personal Mode devices.