IP Office Release 12.1

IP Office Release 12.1 went GA on December 5, 2024 and here’s what to expect with the update.

R12.0 License is Valid for R12.1

There is no specific 12.1 license – the R12.0 license is valid for both 12.0 & 12.1. Version 12.2 may be released sometime in 2025 but we don’t know if it will require unique licenses or not.

Linux Versions contain IPv6 Support

The Linux versions of IP Office (Server Edition, Virtualized, etc.) now contain IPv6 support. It appears this support only extends to communications between SIP phones and/or a session border controller. There is an implication in the release notes indicating external SIP trunk IPv6 support does not exist at this time. The 500v2 chassis does not support IPv6.

Upgrade to R12.0 Before Going to R12.1

Much like the R11.1 > R12.0 upgrade, we think you will need to be on the latest version of R12.0 before going to R12.1. There will almost certainly be no way to go from R11.1 or older directly to R12.1

IP 500v2 Still Supported

Avaya indicates the IP 500v2 chassis is fully supported in R12.1 and is still the appliance platform we should expect in the near term. Further out there will likely be an IP 500v3 with updated components, but it doesn’t sound imminent. There is probably no reason to think that any of the expansion cards or modules that were supported in R12.0 would not be supported in R12.1 with one major exception regarding the UCM.

UC Module to Stay on R11.1

Due to 32 bit hardware there will be no upgrade path to take either UCM v1 or UCM v2 modules to either R12.0 or R12.1. Apparently Avaya will support scenarios where an IP 500v2 is upgraded to 12, but the UCM stays at R11.1.3.xx. The visualized plan moving forward will be to use Application Servers exclusively. Any current UCM customers, whether v1 or v2, already have a Preferred Edition License which allows the use of an Application Server.

Those are the major news items so far – we will edit this post as more information becomes available! Technical documentation for IPO R12.1 should be available here after the release date.