This section summarizes the new feature in this release:

64-bit Java Runtime Environment: Vocera Server Version 4.4.5 migrates certain components to a 64-bit Java Runtime Environment in order to leverage the additional memory available when compared to the 32-bit processes used in previous versions.

This additional memory is advantageous to large deployments with more than 3000 active users who may be experiencing issues with cluster synchronization.

Vocera Server Version 4.4.4 is a maintenance release that does not introduce any new features.

This section summarizes the new features in this release.

This section summarizes the new features in the 4.4.2 release.

This release does not include new fixes, enhancements, and improvements.

Enhancements to the Vocera Server:

Voice Server scalability for VCS Clients - The Voice Server provides web services to Vocera Collaboration Suite clients when the clients are connected to the internal WiFi network. The scalability of the web services component has been enhanced in the 4.4.4 release to support up to 10,000 active VCS clients if the system is configured to meet or exceed the minimum server specification. The 4.4.4 installer will be enabled if the server meets the following minimum specifications:

• CPU with at least 4 physical core processors [Intel Xeon (R) E5-2660v2 or better]
• 8 GB RAM
• 120GB target drive free space

Fixes for Vocera Server:

• Fixed: Staff Assignment performance optimizations – In previous versions, the staff assignment application would encounter performance issues when used with large deployments containing many simultaneous online users. The performance issues would cause delays while logging in, selecting units, making assignments, and searching for users. Optimizations have been put in to place to provide enhanced performance for systems with a large number of simultaneous logged in users.

• Fixed: Bulk import of AP locations incorrectly causes duplicate AP MAC addresses to be entered into the system - Bulk import operations now remove the duplicate AP MAC from the old location before assigning it to the new location. (Issue 20403)

Fixes for SIP Telephone Gateway Server:

• Fixed: VSTG PBX hold operations cause RTP errors - The VSTG used to restart when receiving a hold request from the PBX. With this fix, the VSTG properly handles all call hold operations (Issue 22680)

Fixes for Badge Properties Editor (BPE):

• Fixed: (For B2000, B3000, or B3000n badges only) BPE resets the Channels To Scan value back to the default even when they are properly set and saved to 2.4GHz or 5 GHz - When the Channels to Scan property is customized and saved, BPE fails to save the setting and resets the channel scan back to the default values. This error causes an incorrect value to be saved in the badge.properties file and results in unexpected behavior. The Badge Properties Editor has been fixed to save the customized settings and not revert back to the default values. (Issue 24377)

Fixes for the Vocera Report Server:

• Fixed: Cannot filter by user when site name has been changed - If a site name is changed on the Vocera server, suddenly the option to select a user when filtering by site is no longer available for the site whose name is changed. This problem has been resolved (20071)

• Fixed: B3000N is not visible as an option on reports with a device type filter – The B3000N badge type was not visible as an option in reports containing a device type filter. This problem is now resolved. (DE4735)

• Fixed: When a specific site is selected the user/group filter selection does not work when setting the parameters for certain reports – For the following list of reports when attempting to add a user or group filter after selecting a site an error will be displayed, “There is some problem fetching user data. Please contact your system administrator”.
  • User Activity Report
  • Recognition Results by User
  • Recognition Results by User - Detail
  • Speech Recognition Trend
  • Integration Messages Group Activity, Ordered By ID
  • Integration Messages Group Activity, Ordered By Time
  • Integration Messages User Activity, Ordered By ID
  • Integration Messages User Activity, Ordered By Time
  • Integration Message Activity, Ordered By Transaction ID
  (Issue 25053)

For Vocera Server:

• Fixed: VMP Messages sent to badge during a user logout causing VS failure - In rare circumstances, the server fails when a VMP message is sent to a badge user while the user is logging out. With this fix the server no longer fails. (Issue 23655)

• Fixed: In the Staff Assignment user interface user recieve the error message, "Unexpected Exception" when selecting the unit - In configurations with VMP server synchronization enabled, the Vocera Server user is removed and created as an address book entry. This causes an error in Staff Assignment since the system incorrectly tries to query the presence information in the address book entry. With this fix Staff Assignment will no longer attempt to query the presence information of the mismatched entry. (Issue 23048)

• Fixed: Release_ptt.wav can be played when initiating a silent emergency broadcast - When the silent emergency broadcast feature is enabled and intiated, the user initiating the broadcast hears a PTT release chirp. With this fix the badge no longer plays the PTT beep. (Issue 22355)

• Fixed: Staff Assignment user is not updating user after logout and next login - When a user logged in to Staff Assignment with the same browser session as a previous Staff Assignment user, Staff Assisgnment incorrectly displayes the previous user’s name. With this fix the interface shows the correct and current user name. (Issue 22175)

• Fixed: Paging a user with email address gets VMP is not available prompt - On Vocera Server without an intergrated Vocera Messaging Platform, a page is sent to a user who does not have pager number entered into the system. An incorrect prompt is returned to the sending user, “I’m sorry the Vocera Messaging Platform is currently unavailable…”. With this fix the system now plays the correct prompt indicating that the recieving user does not have a pager number. (Issue 21392)

• Fixed: VS backup during cluster failover may be corrupted from an upgrade - An interruption in the Vocera Server backup process results in an incomplete backup zip file. With this fix, the server saves the in-progress backup as a temporary file so that if the process is interrupted the server will not try to restore the incomplete backup file using a later date. (Issue 21059)

• Fixed: VCG Reconnection should send email alert - When VCG reconnects to the Vocer Server after an outage, an alert email is sent to the administrator notifying them that a successful reconnection has occurred. (Issue 18017)

• Fixed: Search order on VMI messages is confusing - The search order for locating the correct recipient for an incoming VMI messages has been changed to:

  1. User ID
  2. Group Name
  3. Group Extension
  Previously the search order was User ID, Group Extension, and followed by Group Name. The previous search order was problematic and resulted in messages going to the wrong destination. (Issue 14779)

For Vocera Report Server:

• Fixed: Telephony usage trend report shows misleading data - VSTG goes offline with an active call and the Report Server displays an incorrect value for "Max Number of Ports in Use" on the Telephony Usage Trend Report. With this fix, the “Max Number of Ports in Use” is now accurately shown. (Issue 20407)

• Fixed: A department without sub-departments will not show up in the Incoming Calls to Groups reports - Departments without configured sub-departments do not show incoming calls in the Incoming Calls to Groups report. With this fix the scenario now works as expected. (Issue 18825)

• Fixed: Integration group report doesn't show users with different home sites receiving messages - When an integrated message is send to user who's home site is different from the from the group, the Integration Messages Group Activity Report does not show the message as being delivered to the user. With this fix the scenario is now properly handled. (Issue 23183)

• Fixed: VRS connection to mail server does not work properly when using self-signed certificates with the SMTP over SSL option enabled – The SMTP over SSL option now works correctly when self-signed certificates are in use (20375)

• Fixed: User Activity report does not display auto-logout events –The User Activity report now displays entries showing when a user is automatically logged out due to being off network longer than the specified Auto-Logout period (18643)

• Improved: No autocomplete for password fields – Text autocomplete is turned off for password fields.

• Fixed: The Voice Server fails when the badge initiates a phone call to a number or extension that is busy with an existing call - The Voice Server no longer fails in this situation. (Issue 22831)

• Fixed: The Voice Server may fail during the setup of a badge conference if a user presses the Call button to accept the conference invitation and then immediately presses the Call button to disconnect - The Voice Server now handles the disconnect without failing. (Issue 22923)

• Fixed: Vocera Server report logs do not include auto-logged out events  – An issue where auto-log out events did not appear in the report server log is now resolved. Additionally, the User Activity report and the Simultaneous User Login report include the login/logout information for improved accuracy. (Issue 18675)

• Fixed: Email sent from Vocera Messaging is not delivered – An issue where email triggered from the messaging feature was not being delivered properly, is now resolved. (Issue 19722)

• Fixed: Broadcast Announcement is not correct  – An issue where the broadcast announcement was not the same as for non-broadcast announcements of the same type, is now resolved. (Issue 20791)

• Fixed: Joining completed broadcast causes server crash  – An issue where the server would crash when a user attempted to join a completed broadcast is now resolved. (Issue 21399)

• Fixed: Users are not removed from groups upon logout – An issue where users would log out but would still be assigned on the escalation list for assigned groups is now resolved. (Issue 21720)

• Fixed: Multiple badge log in attempts cause the server to crash – An issue where the server would crash during multiple log in attempts is now resolved. (Issue 21930)

• Fixed: Installer incorrectly indicated installation success when Tomcat is not installed correctly  – An issue where the installer did not report an error when Apache Tomcat was not installed correctly is now resolved. (Issue 22160)

• Fixed: VCS Voice login /logout events are not written to the report logs  – An issue where shared mode VCS client does a login and logout events were not recorded in the report logs is now resolved. Additionally, the User Activity report and the Simultaneous User Login report include the login/logout information for improved accuracy. (Issue 22264)

• Fixed: Certain VAI API actions with a pre-4.4.1 server.jar against a 4.4.1 server cause a VAI Exception – VAI operations against a 4.4.1 server using a pre-4.4.1 VAI library no longer result in a failed operation or a Java exception. (Issue 22299)

• Fixed: VRS connection to mail server does not work properly when using self-signed certificates with the SMTP over SSL option enabled – The SMTP over SSL option now works correctly when self-signed certificates are in use (20375)

• Fixed: User Activity report does not display auto-logout events –The User Activity report now displays entries showing when a user is automatically logged out due to being off network longer than the specified Auto-Logout period (18643)

• Fixed: Special characters + and % need to be supported in messages to mobile and Cisco clients – The server now encodes + and % characters properly so they can be sent and received with mobile and Cisco clients. (Issue 18301)

• Fixed: The server may crash when a call is put on hold before an attempt to transfer a call – The server now handles this multiple call scenario properly. (Issue 18582)

• Fixed: If a smartphone running Vocera Connect roams off network while receiving a call, the server does not follow the user's specified forwarding rules – If the user has forwarding enabled, the server now honors the user's forwarding rules whether he is using a badge or Vocera Connect. (Issue 20027)

• Fixed: Session number reuse in startaudio signal causes incorrect audio flow – This issue sometimes occurred when a device roamed off network, causing an erroneous near hangup to be sent from the server, which affected another active call. The server now sets the line to null so that it is not reused. (Issue 20849)

• Fixed: Text messages from VMP that have a pipe (|) character can result in an invalid Vocera Server backup file – The special logic around pipe characters in VMP messages was removed. Pipe characters in VMP messages no longer cause invalid Vocera Server backup files. (Issues 21307, 21385)

• Fixed: New features prompt needs to tell users to wait until the Genie is done speaking before accepting a call – The prompt that users hear the first time they log in describes how Vocera has changed the way you receive incoming calls, and it now instructs users to wait until the Genie asks them to accept the call before saying "Yes" or "No." (Issue 21398)

• Fixed: VCG client switching VCG's in the middle of the call causes a server assert – The Vocera Server now handles this situation and does not end the call when a reconnect to another VCG is expected. (Issues 21945, 22022)

The following changes in behavior occurred in Vocera 4.4.2 and continue in successive releases:

• VRS requires reboot after install or uninstall  – As of 4.4.2 you must reboot the server after installing or uninstalling the Vocera Report Server.

• Confirmation prompt when calling back – When the “Call back” option is selected on a VMI message the genie will now play a prompt – “Okay, calling back” before placing the call. This alerts a user the call back is proceeding and allows time to cancel if the call back was done in error.

• Change in speech recognition confirmation threshold on VMI message response – The speech recognition confirmation threshold has been adjusted to reduce accidental false recognitions on the response options played after a VMI message is received. Some users may notice they the genie requests a confirmation frequently (genie says “I think you said…”) as a result of the change. If you have any questions about the change please contact technical support for more information.

• Badges configured to use TCP-to-Genie can assert because of network errors – When a TCP error event is invoked, the error is presented, but the failover to UDP does not occur. This will be fixed in an upcoming release. (Issue 13189)

• When you remove a headset, the B3000 sometimes assumes the Call button has been pressed – If you remove a headset from the B3000, the badge could assume incorrectly that the Call button was pressed. If you are on a call, removing a headset could end the call. (Issue 15639)

• The badge does a full roam in CCKM mode – The badge sometimes does a full roam when CCKM is enabled on the badge and AP. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming release. (Issue 16122)

• Badges placed in the charger with their batteries sometimes hang – When a B2000 badge is placed into a charger with its battery, the badge can sometimes hang (the display is frozen and the badge does not respond to button presses). (Issue 6987)

  Workaround: Remove the badge from the charger, pop out the battery, and insert the battery again. To avoid the problem, charge the battery without the badge.

• When CCKM is enabled on the badge, and not the AP, the badge does not associate with the AP – In certain configuration scenarios, where CCKM enabled on the badge and disabled on the AP, the badge gets stuck in SFAP mode. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming release. (Issue 7942)

• Badges configured to use TCP-to-Genie can assert because of network errors – See known issues. (Issue 13189)

• The badge does a full roam in CCKM mode – See known issues (Issue 16122)

• Speech cutouts due to overhead beeps or other background noises – Acoustic echo cancellation sometimes causes speech to cut out when there are overhead beeps or other background noises. (Issue 19874)

• Text messages limited to 150 characters – Text messages that you receive on the phone are currently limited to 150 characters. (Issue 11420)

• Vocera Smartphone phone does not show the Reply option on receiving a message when VMP is not connected – If a User Console text message is sent to a user with a Vocera Smartphone when VMP is not connected, the message does not have a Reply option. A Vocera Smartphone hotfix is planned to fix this issue. Please contact Vocera Technical Support for details. (Issue 20495)

• Not all listed ring types are supported – "Ring," "Vibrate," "Vibrate and Ring," and "Silent" are the supported ring types. "Ring once" and "Increasing Ring" translate to "Ring". All other ring types except "Vibrate and Ring" and "Silent" type behave like "Vibrate".

• Rebooting the phone clears the speakerphone setting – If you reboot the phone, the speaker phone setting is cleared. When the phone is updated remotely by MSP and it is rebooted, the speakerphone setting will be set to the default (off).

• Phone stuck in "Searching for Gateway" mode – Occasionally, the phone will get stuck "Searching for Gateway". If this happens, reboot the phone.

• Call history is not currently supported on the phone – The phone currently does not have a Call History list that you can use to call users whom you called or who called you previously.

• The Welcome Tutorial does not describe how to use the phone – The Welcome Tutorial that's available when you say the command "Play Welcome Tutorial" is badge-specific and does not describe how to use the phone's features.

• Internet Explorer requires configuration before it can work.

  To enable Internet Explorer on the Vocera Smartphone:

  1. Press Start > All Programs > Internet Explorer.

  2. Press Menu > Tools (option 9).

  3. Select Options (option 3).

  4. Select Connections.

  5. Uncheck the Automatically Detect Settings checkbox.

  6. In the Select Network list, select Work.

  7. Press Done to close the Connections window.

  8. Press Done to close the Options window.

• Incoming calls to Group Summary or incoming calls to Group Detailed does not show all groups - The Incoming Calls to Group Summary report and Incoming Calls to Group Detailed report fails to display calls to sub-groups. (Issue 24791)

• Non-administrative users are unable to use the Client Redirect Utility to log into the Administration Console or User Console – Users without administrative access to the local machine are unable to use the Client Redirect Utility to access the Administration Console or User Console on the active Vocera Server. (Issue 12008)

  Workaround: Log into the Administration Console or User Console by entering the URL for the active Vocera Server rather than using the Client Redirect Utility.

• In Internet Explorer 8 or later, the Client Redirect Utility opens a new window rather than a new session – If you install the Client Redirect Utility, click the Administration Console shortcut to open the Administration Console, and then click the User Console shortcut to access the User Console, a warning message will appear telling you that you must open a new Internet Explorer session. (Issue 12249)

  Workaround: Choose File > New Session, and then enter the URL for the User Console.

• Client Redirect Utility does not work if SSL is enabled – When SSL is enabled on the Vocera Server, the Client Redirect Utility can no longer find the active Vocera Server. (Issue 14619)

  Workaround: Log into the Administration Console or User Console by entering the URL for the active Vocera Server rather than using the Client Redirect Utility.

• Cannot use voice commands to assign access points to locations at sites other than your home site – If your Vocera system has multiple sites, you cannot use the "Begin Tour" command on a badge to assign access points to locations at a site different from your home site. If you try to assign an access point to a location at another site, the Genie will not recognize the location name, and therefore responds, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand." (Issue 15164)

  Workaround: Import access points data into the Vocera system using the access points data-loading template.

• If VTS is no longer running, the Dialogic system service is not stopped automatically – If VTS has been stopped or shut down from the Telephony Control Panel, or the server has crashed, the Dialogic system service is not stopped automatically, which means existing calls are not dropped and new calls are still accepted by that telephony server. This affects telephony redundancy. (Issues 7277, 8294)

  Workaround: Use the Dialogic Configuration Manager (DCM) to stop the Dialogic system service on the inactive telephony server to ensure it does not accept new incoming calls.

  To stop the Dialogic system service:

  1. Choose Start > Programs > Vocera > Telephony Server > Dialogic Configuration Manager - DCM.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation dialog box.

  3. In the Dialogic Configuration Manager window, choose System > Stop System.

• Choppy Audio when multicast is enabled on clients with multiple VCGs – Multicast should not be enabled for clients with multiple VCGs. Using multicast may result in choppy audio and other degradation of system communications. (Issue 18824)

• Cannot ignore a Vocera call by pressing the red Power/End button on Cisco wireless IP phones – If you receive a Vocera call on a Cisco wireless IP phone, you cannot reject the call by pressing the Power/End button (the red button on the keypad). Instead, the Power/End button turns off the ringer. To reject a Vocera call, press the Reject softkey. (Issue 15125)

• Cisco wireless IP phones do not display an appropriate error when the Vocera Server is down – When the Vocera Server is not running, Cisco wireless IP phones display a screen that reads, "Warning - Not Available" instead of a message that clearly indicates that the Vocera Server is temporarily down. (Issue 15134)

• Cisco wireless IP phones are not automatically loaded into the Vocera system for device management purposes – When a Cisco wireless IP phone connects to the Vocera Server, it is NOT automatically loaded into the system for device management purposes. Vocera Server does not support device management of Cisco phones. (Issue 15135)

• Badge Status Monitor in Administration Console does not display the location of Cisco wireless IP phones – When a Cisco wireless IP phone is connected to the Vocera Server, its location is not shown in the Badge Status Monitor, unlike other Vocera devices. (Issue 15137)

• Keypad lock on Cisco wireless IP phone does not get enabled if the Vocera popup is displayed – If you press the application button, the Vocera popup prevents the keypad lock from being enabled. Workaround: Exit the Vocera popup to return to the home screen; the keypad lock will be enabled after the appropriate interval (15, 30, or 60 seconds). (Issue 15237)

• Entering an invalid CUCM IP address on the Telephony > Cisco tab of the Administration Console causes Vocera Server failover – If you enter an invalid Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) IP address (for example, 10.37.62.5444) on the Telephony > Cisco tab of the Administration Console, and then click Save Changes, the CUCM does not return a signal back before the JTAPI connection times out, causing Vocera Server to failover. Make sure you enter the correct CUCM IP address before clicking Save Changes. (Issue 15306)

• Cisco wireless IP phones do not support SSL – Cisco wireless IP phones do not support SSL, and consequently they cannot connect to the Vocera Server if SSL is enabled on the server. For information on how to allow Cisco wireless IP phones to connect to the Vocera Server when SSL is enabled, contact Vocera Technical Support. (Issue 15365)

• Cisco wireless IP phone switches to speakerphone mode when answering a call by pressing the application button or the Accept softkey button – Cisco wireless IP phones automatically switch to speakerphone mode when you answer a call using either the application button or the Accept softkey button. (Issue 15368)

  Workaround: Use the green Answer/Send button to answer calls instead.

• CUCM configuration changes to Cisco wireless IP phones are not read on the Vocera Server unless you force JTAPI to reconnect – CUCM configuration changes (such as line changes) are not re-read by the Vocera Server unless you force a JTAPI reconnection on the Vocera Server. Currently, the best way to do this is to log into the Vocera Administration Console, go to the Telephony > Cisco page, cut the value from the Last Line field, paste the value back into the Last Line field, and then click Save Settings. (Issue 15370)

• Vocera Connect for Cisco Yes/No softkeys communicate with the Vocera Server on port 8080 even when SSL is disabled – Although Vocera Connect for Cisco generally uses TCP inbound port 80 to communicate with the Vocera Server when SSL is disabled, the Yes/No softkeys for the application are using TCP inbound port 8080, which may not be opened. (Issue 16100)

  Workaround: Enable inbound TCP connections to port 8080 on the Vocera Server. For a list of other ports that need to be opened, see the “IP Port Usage” appendix in the Vocera Infrastructure Planning Guide.

• Messages softkey button not displayed on the Vocera status screen after pressing the application button – If you press the application button to place a Vocera call, the Messages softkey button is no longer displayed on the Vocera status screen. (Issue 16745)

  Workaround: Use the Message softkey button on the Home screen to display the Vocera Message Inbox. However, your system may have configured the Message softkey button to access voicemail messages instead.

• Error not displayed when you try to call a user who has gone off-network – If you try to call a user who has gone off-network, the Vocera Server takes up to 30 seconds before the call attempt times out and the server reports an error. Consequently, if you try to call another user before the Vocera Server is finished trying to make the first call, the second call attempt will fail and you won't see an error for the first call. (Issue 14239)

• Microsoft Excel produces inconsistent output for empty columns when you save to CSV, causing import problems for Vocera. – Microsoft Excel has a known problem in the way it saves data to CSV format. It saves text files in 16-row blocks. If the last column is empty, when you save the file to CSV format Excel may save certain rows with a different number of commas. This causes problems when you try to import the CSV data into the Vocera system. (Issue 10344)

  Here’s Microsoft’s KB article about the problem: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=77295.

  Workarounds: Before saving an Excel file to CSV, perform one of the following workarounds:

  • Replace all empty cells in the sheet with a space.

  • Add a dummy last column. In each cell in the column enter a space or a period.