Cisco Jabber 12.0 – What’s New and Exciting

If you are a sports fan like me, particularly American football, the number 12 is synonymous with excellence. From Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw and Jim Kelly to Tom Brady, the number 12 is identified with some of the best players ever to hit the field.

Recently, Cisco released Jabber 12. In this article, we will look at all that is exciting and new in Jabber version 12.0, and see if it lives up to the magic of the number 12.

What is new in Jabber 12.0

From Multiline Support, to the Jabber Bot SDK, there are a number of new and exciting features within version 12.0 that will benefit the 50 million+ users of Cisco Jabber.

Multiline Support

Of all the new features, the one generating the most buzz in the industry is multiline support. This new feature is designed for users who rely upon multiple lines as part of their daily work environment. Multiline Support enables users to place or receive calls from up to 8 assigned directory lines.

• Recents Tab enables users to keep a record your call history (incoming and outgoing) for each line, eliminating the need to keep track of this manually.
• Change lines allow users to quickly make voice and video calls within the Jabber client choosing from the drop-down list which registered line they wish to use.
• Select a preferred line for making calls.
• View missed calls and voicemails.
• Use call forwarding, transfers, and conference calls on all lines.
• Access contact lists even when instant messaging is disabled.

This functionality was the sole reason for Cisco IP Communicator (CIPC) to still be around after so many years without any updates. Now that multiline is available in Jabber, Cisco has now announced an upcoming End-of-Life for CIPC.

Bots, Bots, Bots

For bot developers, the company has introduced the Cisco Jabber Bot SDK. Available through Cisco DevNet, the Jabber Bot SDK provides a Node.js framework for quickly developing XMPP chat bots based on the public domain BotKit project. Jabber bots can be designed for multiple uses including sending alerts, responding to messages, launching chats and calls. The sky is the limit.

Android Auto Support

For Android users, Jabber 12.0 introduces support for Android Auto. This new feature works with Android OS version 5.0 or later and provides a simplified user interface that allows users to listen to Jabber chat and instant message notifications without having to take their eyes off the road to read them. To respond to a message, users can reply with speech-to-text.

Automatic replies can also be set up to notify coworkers that you are driving and will respond back as soon as possible.

For a complete list of all new features Cisco Jabber 12.0 for Android, please click here. {{cta(’78a110df-71a3-49dc-8379-7d0099b999d9′,’justifycenter’)}}

Other New Features available with Jabber 12.0

• Phone Mode with Contacts Deployment: Users can now deploy Cisco Jabber in a phone-only mode with contacts, with the option of enabling presence for users. Contrary to “Phone Only Mode” available in previous Jabber versions (and still available in 12.0), “Phone Mode with Contacts” requires the deployment of a CUCM IM&P server for contacts list storage. 

• Turn On or Turn Off Single Number Reach Destinations: Your users can choose numbers from the available single number reach destinations in Cisco Jabber from the Phone Controls.

• Mute Cisco Jabber Calls: Configure your user’s microphone to be automatically muted for their Jabber calls.

• Ignore Incoming Calls: Users who don’t have voicemail set up for them can now choose to ignore an incoming call.

• Enhanced Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) Support: If a user enters a DTMF signal that is not supported by the system that Jabber is calling, then Jabber ignores the DTMF input from the user.

• Schedule Meetings from Cisco Jabber: Enables users to leverage the capability of Outlook to schedule a meeting during a chat in Jabber.

• Mac Calendar Integration for Meetings: users can integrate their Mac iCalendar with Cisco Jabber.

For a complete list of all new features Cisco Jabber 12.0, please click here.

Does Cisco Jabber 12.0 live up to the magic?

In a nutshell, yes. With all of the marketing push behind tools like Cisco Spark, it is good to see that Cisco is still developing this popular all-in-one communication tool. Unlike Spark which is Cloud-based, Jabber is the ideal solution for on-premise deployments. The new features, in particular multiline support, make this versatile work tool even more essential for business deployments.

Although it would be nice to see in version 12.0 the interoperability of Jabber and Cisco Spark, this feature is expected to come out in the next major release (expected fall 2018). Lucky 13.

If you are interested in learning more about Cisco Jabber or require assistance within your organization, please contact our Professional Services Team.