Hi - I'm looking for assistance implementing an feature on a Cisco Call Manager network. In the Avaya world, the feature is called "bridged appearance." In short, it allows a line appearance to appear on multiple phones, e.g., a broker and his assistant. In our case, the line rings on both sets, and can be answered by either user. Easy so far.
The catch is that both the assistant and the broker need to be able to talk to the client at the same time. I.e., the assistant answers the call, tells the broker to pickup, and both users talk to the client. The assistant can then hang up and the call is transfered to the broker.
I can sort of do this by using the barge feature. When a call comes in, the assistant answers it. The broker can the barge into the call, at which point a three way conference is initiated. The problem is that the audio streams are mixed on the assistant's phone, so, if they hang up, the call is gone. (On the Avaya, the conference is mixed in the switch.) Of course, the assistant could place the call on hold, and the broker could then pick up on the held line.
The issue is that this requires significant end user training. Does anybody know of a different way I could accomplish this? I'm not opposed to having some type of XML application written specifically for this. The key is that it has to be intuitive to use and preferably be a one-button solution.
Thanks in advance,
Bob
