# CUCM to Webex Calling Migration > A CUCM to Webex Calling migration is three projects, not one. The tooling, which phones convert, PSTN options, licensing traps and what never moves. *Source: https://trybussolutions.com/cucm-to-webex-calling-migration/ · Trybus Solutions · Chattanooga, TN · 423-633-1817 · info@trybussolutions.com* - [Home](https://trybussolutions.com/) - Company[About us](https://trybussolutions.com/about-us/) - [Careers](https://trybussolutions.com/careers/) - Solutions[Collaboration](https://trybussolutions.com/collaboration-unified-communications/) - [Networking & Connectivity Solutions](https://trybussolutions.com/networking-connectivity/) - [Cybersecurity Solutions](https://trybussolutions.com/cybersecurity/) - [Cloud & Infrastructure](https://trybussolutions.com/cloud-and-infrastructure/) - [Governance, Risk & Compliance](https://trybussolutions.com/governance-risk-compliance/) - [Digital Workplace](https://trybussolutions.com/digital-workplace/) - Services[Implementation & Migration](https://trybussolutions.com/implementation-migration/) - [Managed Services & Support](https://trybussolutions.com/managed-services-and-support/) - 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A Business Edition appliance is aging out, a support contract is up for renewal at a number that no longer makes sense, or someone above them has decided the phone system should not be a thing the company racks and patches anymore. The planning then tends to go wrong in a specific way: it gets scoped as a call control swap. It is not. It is three projects that happen to share a cutover weekend, and the one everybody underestimates is the third. What follows is how we scope [collaboration and unified communications](https://trybussolutions.com/collaboration-unified-communications/) migrations, and where they reliably run into trouble. ## The short answer A CUCM to Webex Calling migration breaks into three tracks that run on different clocks: - **Users, devices and numbers.** Cisco ships tooling for this. It is the most predictable part of the project. - **[PSTN](https://trybussolutions.com/navigating-pstn-migration-with-webex-calling/) connectivity.** A separate procurement and carrier project with its own lead times, and the most common cause of a slipped cutover date. - **Everything on the old system that does not exist on the new one.** Analog endpoints, integrations, call-handling features, codes and workflows. This is where the schedule actually goes. Scope the third track first. If you scope it last, you will discover it during testing, which is the worst possible time. ## The deadline you are actually working to If a Business Edition appliance is driving this, the published Cisco milestones are worth having in front of you, because "end of sale" and "end of support" are years apart and people conflate them: Two things follow from that table. First, if you are on M5 hardware, the date that will bite you is **28 May 2027** — the last day you can renew a service contract — not the 2028 support date. Second, if you are on M6, you have runway, but the hardware is already past end of sale, which changes the spares conversation. Check the specific bulletin for your part numbers rather than trusting a summary, including this one. Cisco publishes these per-SKU and the dates differ between the appliances, the embedded virtualization licenses and the software. ## What the migration tooling does Cisco provides a migration path inside Control Hub, under *Services → Upgrades & Migrations* , that moves users, devices, numbers and locations from Unified CM onto Webex Calling. Practical constraints worth knowing before you plan the waves: - Devices need to be running **phone firmware 14.1 or later** before they are eligible. That is often a prerequisite project of its own on an estate that has not been touched in a while. - Tasks are capped at **1,000 users and 1,000 devices per migration task** , so a large estate is inherently a batched exercise. - You feed it BAT/CSV exports of your Unified CM users and devices, and it maps device pools to Webex Calling locations. - It expects the Webex Calling entitlement to be in place first, and users to exist in Webex — typically via Directory Connector. The tooling is genuinely good at what it does. Just be clear about what it is: a bulk provisioning engine for users, devices and numbers. It is not a feature-parity translator. ## Which of your phones survive This is the question that decides a meaningful chunk of your budget, and the answer is more generous than most people expect. Cisco supports converting many enterprise firmware phones to the multiplatform (MPP) firmware that Webex Calling uses. Running CUCM today? Trybus Solutions has moved on-premises Cisco Unified Communications Manager estates to cloud calling without a service outage. The plan starts with your existing configuration, not a blank template. Three details that catch people out: - **Hardware version matters.** Note the V03/V04 minimums on parts of the 7800 range. A fleet bought over several years will not be uniform, and you cannot tell by looking at the phone. - **Conversion consumes a license SKU** — L-CP-E2M-78XX-CNV= for the 7800s and L-CP-E2M-88XX-CNV= for the 8800s. Budget for it per phone. - **The 8821 is the one that hurts.** If you run wireless handsets in a warehouse, hospital or plant, they are not converting, and replacing them is a separate design exercise involving Wi-Fi coverage, not just handsets. Do the inventory with a real query against your CUCM database, exporting model and hardware version. A spreadsheet somebody maintained by hand will be wrong, and the error will show up as phones that do not come back after the cutover. ## PSTN is a separate project Webex Calling gives you three broad ways to reach the public network: Cisco's own calling plans, a cloud-connected PSTN provider, or your own SIP trunks through a local gateway. The technical choice is usually straightforward. The *timeline* is not, because it involves carriers. Number porting is the critical path on most of these projects. It depends on your losing carrier's responsiveness, the accuracy of your customer service records, and how many separate accounts your numbers are spread across — which, in an organization that has done any acquiring, is usually more than anyone thinks. Start the CSR pull in week one, not week eight. We covered the mechanics in more detail in [navigating PSTN migration with Webex Calling](https://trybussolutions.com/navigating-pstn-migration-with-webex-calling/). ## The licensing detail that changes your seat count Webex Calling licensing is not a flat per-user number, and the Standard tier carries a restriction that catches people mid-project. Per Cisco's published feature matrix, a Standard user can use **either a physical device or soft clients, but not both** , and is limited to one assigned device. Professional supports up to five. Features that sit on the Professional tier include virtual lines, executive and executive assistant, single number reach, directed call pickup, and the user portal. AI Assistant for calling is not offered on Standard. The practical consequence: the tempting move of putting your "basic" users on Standard falls apart the moment those users want a desk phone *and* the app on their laptop. Model your seat mix against actual usage before you sign, not after. ## What does not come across Cisco documents several Unified CM capabilities as unsupported on Webex Calling. The ones that most often force a design change: - **Forced Authorization Codes and Client Matter Codes.** If you bill clients by call — law firms, agencies, professional services — this is a real problem and needs a different answer before you commit. - **Least Cost Routing and Tail End Hop-Off.** Multi-site organizations that route calls out of the nearest gateway to save toll charges lose that design. - **On-premises audio conferencing** using Unified CM features. - **Corporate branding on phones and music on hold.** Small, but it is always someone's favorite feature and it always comes up in UAT. On the other side of the ledger, the migration removes on-premises call control, Unity Connection voicemail, and the Expressway pair you were maintaining for mobile and remote access. That is three fewer clusters to patch, which is usually the actual business case — and if the goal is to stop running infrastructure altogether, that is what [managed services and support](https://trybussolutions.com/managed-services-and-support/) is for. ## Where this goes wrong The failure modes are consistent enough to list: - **Analog was never counted.** Fax lines, elevator phones, gate intercoms, paging and alarm dialers do not appear in a user count and do not migrate. They change your gateway design and your budget. This is common enough that it gets its own article — see [analog endpoints and cloud calling](https://trybussolutions.com/analog-endpoints-cloud-calling-migration/). - **Firmware was treated as a detail.** The 14.1 floor means a firmware campaign has to complete before migration waves start. On a distributed estate with phones that are rarely on the network, that takes weeks. - **Porting started late.** Every other task can be compressed. Carrier timelines cannot. - **Integrations were assumed.** Call recording, contact center, CTI-attached applications, paging systems, door controllers, and anything using JTAPI or TAPI need to be individually confirmed, not assumed. - **Emergency calling was left to the end.** Location data, notification routing and per-site emergency numbers are a design decision with legal weight, not a configuration step. ## A realistic sequence - **Discovery.** Full endpoint export including hardware versions, analog inventory, integration inventory, DID inventory by carrier account. - **Design and licensing.** Seat mix, PSTN approach, location model, emergency calling design, analog re-homing plan. - **Prerequisites.** Firmware to 14.1+, directory sync, and [network readiness and QoS](https://trybussolutions.com/networking-connectivity/) for real-time media — the step that decides whether calls sound acceptable on day one. - **Porting initiated.** Early, and in parallel with everything above. - **Pilot.** One site or one department, including at least one awkward case — analog, a recorded line, an integration. - **Waves.** Batched inside the tooling's limits, with the old platform still running. - **Decommission.** Only after the last analog device and the last integration is confirmed working. Timelines vary enormously with estate size and how much analog and integration debt is present, which is precisely why the discovery step is not a formality. This is the shape of the [implementation and migration](https://trybussolutions.com/implementation-migration/) work on a typical mid-market estate; a multi-site enterprise with several carrier accounts and a contact center attached runs longer at almost every step. ## Sources - [Cisco — Migrate Unified CM to Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/x974bd/Migrate-Unified-CM-to-Webex) - [Cisco — Migrate enterprise phone to Webex Calling firmware](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n19c71/Migrate-Your-Phone-to-Webex-Calling) - [Cisco — Convert 7800 and 8800 series phones between Enterprise and MPP firmware](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/unified-ip-phone-7800-series/guide-c07-742786.html) - [Cisco — Features available by license type for Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n1qbbp7/Features-available-by-license-type-for-Webex-Calling) - [Cisco — BE6000M/BE6000H (M5) end-of-sale and end-of-life announcement](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/business-edition-6000/business-edition-appliances-eol.html) - [Cisco — BE7000M/BE7000H (M6) end-of-sale and end-of-life announcement](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/business-edition-7000/business-edition-7000m-m6-7000h-appliances-eol.html) - [Cisco Community — Unified CM to Webex Calling: what changes](https://community.cisco.com/t5/collaboration-knowledge-base/unified-cm-to-webex-calling-what-changes-with-webex-calling/ta-p/4805682) Vendor lifecycle dates and licensing terms change. Verify the current bulletin for your specific part numbers before making a purchasing decision. ## Keep reading - [MigrationAnalog Endpoints and Cloud Calling8 min read](https://trybussolutions.com/analog-endpoints-cloud-calling-migration/) - [MigrationCloud Calling Migration5 min read](https://trybussolutions.com/cloud-calling-migration/) - [MigrationNavigating PSTN Migration with Webex Calling7 min read](https://trybussolutions.com/navigating-pstn-migration-with-webex-calling/) ## Move off CUCM without a service outage We export and translate your existing configuration, run a phased cutover by site or department, and keep both platforms in service until the last user is migrated. Or call [423-633-1817](tel:+14236331817) · [info@trybussolutions.com](mailto:info@trybussolutions.com)