Exploring Third-Party Options
It’s a question we hear from customers all the time, “We’re already using InformaCast for our mass communication needs, and it’s tied to our IP speakers and phones, so can we also use it to stream live music?”
While we strive to give our users one solution to meet all their needs, the short answer is no. InformaCast is not designed to accommodate long-running audio streams broadcast over IP phones or speakers. It works best with short-form broadcasts used to spread information.
However, some IP speaker vendors allow their speakers to pick up a separate multicast stream. This happens independently of InformaCast and would give organizations the ability to stream music. InformaCast would also still be able to interrupt this audio stream to broadcast critical messages should the need arise.
Leveraging DialStreamer
InformaCast does offer one option for music streaming with its DialStreamer feature. This allows someone using their Cisco IP phone to dial an audio stream they can then listen to. In addition to music, this feature can be used to connect to a weather radio stream if severe weather is approaching, or other devices like a TV if the audio cannot be heard due to noise levels. This solution only works for people dialing into the stream to listen, it cannot be broadcast over an audio system or IP speakers.
Shorter Custom Tones
Even though long-form audio streaming isn’t available with InformaCast, it does offer several custom audio options organizations can use to personalize messages and signal emergency communications. InformaCast uses .wav files in audio broadcasts. These files can be customized by the user and uploaded for use in various messages. Customers have used this feature for everything from emergency alerts to mimicking the sound of a school’s mascot to signal morning announcements.
Learn more on our Paging page.