Innovaphone has got a tutorial on how to implement a panic alarm with a function key on an IP phone which uses a BC conference object. This is good, but depends on the availybility of the function key. The key wouldn’t be available if you’re not on the IP phone’s home screen.
I needed something that can utilise a dedicated hardware button. Another helpful tip came from Nicos innovaphone Blog using multicast announcements.
This enabled me to build the following using a http command with a Shelly button 1:
Configuring the PBX
Config on the PBX
This was done on an IP811 and IP112/222 IP phones running version 13r1.
Since different alarms for multiple floors were needed, I created several MCast Announce Objects. Each got their distinct name and number.
They all use the same multicast address.
Each object needs to be assigned an active group to which the multicast will be announced. I used two groups: one for alerting on the assigned floor and another for announcing every alarm for the members of the second group. This way it is possible, for example, to alert managers, break rooms or other kinds of first responders.
Every user object now gets assigned a group corresponding to their floor (or the second group, if the user isn’t on the floor but needs to be alarmed anyway). The user object’s groups need not to be active, they just have to be static members.
Config on the IP phones
Next, the IP phones need to be able to send multicast announcements. This can be allowed at the phone config. This setting can even be set for all phones by utilising a config template on the PBX.
At this point, the panic button key could already be implemented without a hardware button. Simply assign a dial function key with a multicast object number. This could also be done via config template for all phones at once.
Since I don’t want to use the IP phone’s function keys, the dial command will be sent via http using a dedicated hardware button. This can be executed only by an admin user on the phone itself.
The user will be an Additional Administrator Account in the phone config and should be different for each phone. This means that this part of the configuration needs to be done for each participating IP phone. The admin users do not need to be registered at the PBX.
Next page: Configuring the Shelly Hardware Button