IT professionals don’t often like to think about licensing. Most people would rather learn new technologies or fix existing ones. However, licensing is equally important and can be confusing.
It is important to know the differences between CUCL and CUWL licensing when it comes to Cisco CCNP Collaboration certification. CUCL stands to Cisco User Connect Licensing, and CUWL stands to Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing.
This post will help you understand the differences between the two licenses and how to maximize the benefits for your organization. Let’s begin with CUCL licensing.
What is CUCL Licensing exactly?
CUCL licensing offers two types of licensing: user based and device based. Each set has two types: the user type has Enhanced or Enhanced Plus, and the device type has Essential or Basic. Let’s take a closer look at each type.
CUCL — Essential
CUCL Essential is one of the four CUCL licensing options. This license will work with Analog Devices and Cisco 3905 handsets. The essential license can only be used on one device. It does not support Jaber for Windows/Mac, or Jabber for smartphones or tablets.
These licenses are very basic. These handsets can be found in lobbies or break rooms. They won’t usually be assigned to an end-user.
CUCL — Basic
CUCL–Basic is the same as essential, but it can also be used for other phone types. Cisco 7811, Cisco 7821 are the two types of basic licenses. These phones are far more advanced than those discussed before.
For example, the 7800 series phones can be cloud deployed. They are also equipped with the latest security enhancements, gigabit Ethernet switch ports, and other features. The basic license is the last device-based, so let’s get into the first user-based licensing option, the enhanced license.
CUCL — Enhanced
All Cisco devices are included in the enhanced license. The CUCL — Enhanced license allows you to use all Cisco devices, from the 3900 series up to the 8800 series. Video conferencing is available on the higher end phones. If your organization requires video conferencing, it is important that you get a user-based license rather than a device-based one.
Cisco uses Jabber to conduct their video calls. All Enhanced licenses allow you to use Jabber on Windows/Mac, all smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, the Enhanced license supports only one device. Let’s take a look to the last CUCL license, the Enhanced Plus.
CUCL — Enhanced PLUS
CUCL Enhanced Plus is the exact same license as enhanced except that it supports two devices instead of one. Let’s now move on to the next type Cisco licensing: CUWL licensing.
What is CUWL Licensing exactly?
Remember that CUWL is Cisco Unified Workspace License. It says workspace. This is a distinct difference from the CUCL license which splits the licenses by device or user. In other words, multiple devices can be supported by a CUWL. It is simple if you remember the word workspace in CUWL.
There are two types of CUWL licenses: UWL Meetings or UWL Standard. Let’s start with UWL Standard.
UWL — Standard
Cisco’s Expressway Firewall Transversal is brought to life by the UWL Standard. This provides a secure channel for voice and video travel outside your organization. Unity Connection is also included with UWL Standard.
What is Cisco Unity?
Unity Connection is Cisco’s voicemail and unified messaging platform. Unity allows users to check their voicemail on a phone or computer. It also supports speech-to text description and video greetings. It is essential for daily business operations.
It is important to remember that Unity Connection can be added to any CUCL licence
