Name that Ware January 2012

The Ware for January 2012 is shown below. Click on the image for a much larger version.

Ok, let’s get the obvious bit out of the way with — it’s a speakerphone of some type, as evident from the gross construction. The question is what make and what model?

I wanted to highlight in this ware a couple of interesting construction points. A speakerphone needs to have excellent echo cancellation, otherwise you get feedback from the speaker to the mic. This speakerphone does a great job in the physical construction to create as much isolation as possible. First, the speaker is isolated from the rest of the body on an “island” of plastic. The housing itself uses a rubber gasket with an air-tight (hot-glue filled) through-hole providing a quality acoustic suspension speaker enclosure.

Then, the microphone is basically in a cradle of rubber. There’s a rubber gasket to isolate the microphone enclosure from the case, and then the microphone itself is suspended in yet another rubber holder. The hole for the microphone to the outside world is generously sized to eliminate the resonant filtering effects of going through a tube, and then the whole assembly is angled with respect to the table to mitigate reflections from the housing to the table.

Even though there is a substantial amount of DSP in the box doing echo-cancellation, there’s nothing like good and simple mechanical design principals to make a product even better.

16 Responses to “Name that Ware January 2012”

  1. Alex says:

    That MAC address (0004F212D642) is assigned to Polycom, so I’m guessing it’s made by them.

  2. Alex says:

    Based on little more than reviewing Polycom’s current product lineup, I think this is a Polycom SoundPoint IP 560.

  3. Nigel says:

    I suspect its not part of their current line up which have subtly changed the overall shape.

    Looks suspiciously like the Polycom IP 600 I have sitting on my desk, but I am not sufficiently motivated to dismember the phone to check the internals.

  4. Kevin Groce says:

    Polycom SoundPoint IP 450 is my vote because, Stetron makes speakers for polycom, no power jack means POE, and Micrel chip is 10/100 switch.

  5. Eric Hill says:

    Looks like a Polycom SoundPoint IP 650, and I just deployed two dozen of those just this week. :)

  6. Kevin Groce says:

    Sorry I goofed Polycom SoundPoint IP 501 as I don’t think the 450 had a POE only option.

  7. Sean Harlow says:

    I believe Kevin is correct, it’s an IP501.

    It’s Polycom’s full-size body, so it’s not a 450, it’s a 500 through 670.

    The lack of gigabit means it’s not a 560 or 670.

    The lack of a silver stripe on the top of the case means it’s not a 550 or 650.

    That leaves the 500, 501, 600, and 601. I’ve never handled a 500 or 600 myself, but I know the 601 has a proper DC input jack right next to the ethernet jacks. This one doesn’t, and instead has the keyed connector for Polycom’s stupid inline power where the DC adapter is plugged in to the ethernet cord. That was a major frustration point for me the last time I deployed 501s, so as the rage builds upon seeing that connector I have to agree it’s a 501.

  8. Sean Harlow says:

    I should say it could also be an IP500, as they used the same stupid power connection on those, but I’d still assume 501 since the 500s were EOL long ago and in over six years of working in VoIP I still haven’t seen a single one, where I’ve seen (unfortunately) hundreds of 501s.

  9. Cheetah says:

    Yes, an IP501 sounds like the most likely solution. Here’s a picture of an older board revision (that’s the IP500, the direct predecessor of the above phone – essentially the same thing, but with smaller flash memory):

    http://www.buytelephoneparts.com/polycom/pcb/soundpointIP500sip501sip_marked.jpg

    The 501 comes in a PoE and an AC adapter version. I don’t see a power jack, so my best guess of the part number is: 2200-11531-025

  10. Adrian says:

    Polycom SoundPoint IP 430 SIP

    At least judging from the shape and location of microphone, screws, etc. I didn’t dare to open the one on my desk to verify :-)

    • Keenan says:

      This was going to be my guess as well, as it looks identical to the one I had that died and I tried (unsuccessfully) to fix. Of course, most of their models probably look pretty much the same…

  11. Scott Roberts says:

    SPIP 501, SIP, 63 (P/N 2200-11531-001)

  12. Kazriko says:

    I knew as soon as I saw it that someone else would get it first.

    Yes, it looks exactly like the Polycom phone on my desk aside from no power plug.

  13. charles vaughn says:

    I believe its the Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 with HDvoice, because it has the two port gigabit ethernet switch. P/n 2200-12670-025.

  14. Rob Wyatt says:

    Definitely a voip phone, looks like the shape of a polycom but I am not too familiar with the model numbers.

    Pulse H2005ANL is base 10/100 voip module, the Micrel ksz8993 is 3 port 10/100 switch, the issi is an sram, the tms320vc5472 is a TI DSP (i think).

    rob