atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Inter-Tel Telephones & Systems Axxess Expansion Cabinet

What are the requirements to expand to a second cabinet? Can you expand with any size CPU or do you need and Expansion CPU? Any guidelines on expansion would be helpful.

Thanks

It does depend on the size of the CPU. A CPU 64 would use 64 ports most likely before a second cabinet would be needed. This could also be true with a CPU 112, tho they are very rare now. I have added a second cabinet to CPU 128's and above many times.

When is an Expansion CPU needed?

OK, here is Axxess 101. You get 7 universal slots in a cabinet. If you need 8, then you need a 2nd cabinet, a 2nd P/S and a ribbon cable connecting cab 1 to cab 2. The CPU/CPC 64 will ONLY support 1 cabinet, so be careful. A 128 or 256 can support 2 cabinets. A 512 - 4 cabinets, etc. Also, there are 2 types of ribbon cables - wallmount vs rackmount. Class dismissed. Don't be shy with other questions.

What is the difference between an Expansion CPU and a main CPU. When expanding do all the expansion cabinets need the expansion CPU? That one has awlays puzzled me.

Good question. The main cabinet always contains the CPU/CPC, basically the brains. The Expansion cabinet connected via cable simply extends the port/card/timeslot count. So a 2nd cabinet has no CPC/CPU and is solely reliant on the main cabinet for ARS/VM/etc. The expansion cable is either 4" or 44", so it is not like the expansion cable is very far away. Larger ported systems (512/1024) have more flexibility because we can use fiber. Cool?