Traditionally Polycom has always attempted to keep all the different Phone Models supported as long as the hardware allowed this.
Older Phone models are categorized as legacy phones as explained => here <=
A common question often asked is why certain firmware versions are release after the release of another seemingly newer version.
There has always been a difference between versions as explained below:
- Major releases are used to introduce completely new features or even Hardware.
As an example UC Software 4.0.0 introduced the VVX 500 phone.
The X.X.y or y.X.y part of a Software version shows that these are Major releases.
- Maintenance releases are following up major releases and address mainly bug fixes and some new features or back ported features from other released versions.
The x.x.Y or x.x.Y.YYYY part of the Software versions shows that these are maintenance releases.
A good example for the above is the release of UC Software 5.1.3 (26/Nov/2014) after the release of UC Software 5.2.0 (30/Sep/2014)
Polycom leaves the decision to the user or service Provider if they want to install the latest Major release including new features or a Maintenance release addressing specific issue found in a Major release or prior Maintenance release.
A common mistake is made by users assuming that the seemingly “latest” software should be utilized for their environment when the release is not compatible or has not been tested against the server that is being utilized.
Above is common for UC Software 4.1.0 or 4.1.1 for the SoundPoint IP or SoundStation IP range as these two releases are for usage with Microsoft LYNC server only.
The General Section within the Software release notes usually state what Servers are supported.
Example UC Software 4.1.1 release notes:
For these phones UC Software 4.0.x is the latest supported version if a SIP server is used.