atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems Nortel still a viable consideration?

Another thing to consider with Nortel’s viability… Think about the amount of DMS switches there are out there in the Telco network. If they just closed shop every Telco out there would have to be in a panic over the stability of the entire PSTN.

Good point. We run 2 DMS switches and all the independent telco's immediately around us also operate with DMS. Nortel (at least the carrier class division) won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

I discovered that our system has the Norstar Compact DR2 panel that was installed in 1991. A local Nortel dealer stopped in today and dropped off a Nortel phone that we like (T7316). Is the DR2 panel too old to take an upgrade that will allow us to have Voice Mail & Auto-Attendant? Again, thanks for all the guidance. We're not trying to do this ourselves; just seeking your advise & guidance on what route to take: 1. Upgrade current system, or 2. Install completely new system. Thanks again!

I would replace it with a newer model. I am not sure if the DR2 software supports T series phones (but I think it does), but look at it this way: If you can upgrade to a newer software to support the new telephones then that is noce. BUT, the phones are the cheaper part of the equation, that system is from '91 - it is 18 years old, it could die and then your software upgrade would have been for nothing.

If I were you I would spend the money to buy a new cabinet and keep the telephones. Then when the phones start to die you can replace them, but your system is still alive and running great. You have an assortment of options depending on your size. You could have an MICS, CICS, or BCM 50. BCM is the newest model and the most likely to stick around...but there are plenty of parts available for MICS and CICS.

Steve

Software upgrade would cost you about $100, plus programming. Think about it. The KSU could die, but then again so could one that's a year old.

Unless you're looking for a lot of bells, horns & whistles, yours with a s/w upgrade will keep on ticking.

You can put a DR 5 or DR 5.1 software into your cabinet and it will integrate a flash voice mail, but to be fully voice mail compatible, you should be using a DS version cabinet with DS software. Without Disconnect Supervision it is possible that calls answered by the the voice mail will not disconnect when the remote party hangs up.

IMHO it is a mistake to upgrade a non DS cabinet. You would be better served to upgrade the cabinet to a MICS or CICS and reuse your phones. As Dave said you could replace your phones with T7316's when the need arises .

In addition to the DMS switches you'll find pretty much all over the PSTN, a lot of carriers (especially in Canada) use their transport nodes heavily. Everything from a simple OC3-Express to 192's to DWDM.

They aren't going anywhere.

I agree, Nortel will remain vialbe. However will customers want to by from a company in bankruptcy? Auto makers are a example. Nortel may become a tough sell.

NoJitter.com

if true, hate to see this happening. Nortel's been good for a whole bunch of us over the years.

Well, I've had a couple of dealers come in, take a look over our system, then give us some quotes. The dealer I favor gave us 2 quotes; one using Refurb Equipment (DR5 w/StarTalk Flash 2VM/Auto Attendant), the other quote using a new MICS 8x32 w/4.1 Software and the same StarTalk setup. One other feature I want to make sure we get is Caller ID. Again, the current cabinet we have is a DR2 4x16 (not sure what software or how to find it?). We currently have 14 phones and I'd really only need to add 2 more phones. That maxes out the 16 ports; do you have to have available ports to use the StarTalk VM or Caller ID functions? As MooreTel states, I'm not even sure we need to upgrade the DR2 cabinet; just upgrade the software. Thanks!