atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems End Of The Line For The Partner ACS?

If the Partner is discontinued say in 2 years ,
there should be enough product in the supply
loop for 6 more months.

Followed by partners available from migration
to go to the refurb market there should be product for another 10-12 maybe 15 years.

If there not grounded as Ed advised they should be around for a very long time.

Just an observation ........

The past 5 years or so I have removed from service a few Merlins and several Partners, and two (if I remember correctly) ACS.

None were grounded and all except for one ACS died due to power / lightning issues. I service a Partner in a body shop that is mounted directly to the metal building. I added an UPS/surge on the AC, gas protection on the COs, and had a ground added from the unit to the power ground. They are doing road construction in front of the place and they are moving the power poles. Constant power issues. He has lost air compressor motors, lights, you name it. He has lost computers and other electronics but not even a blip on the phones.

Did I do wrong?

Ed, whether you use a 2 slot, 5 slot or standalone makes no difference. You use the same line cord and the ground connection is a green screw on the processor itself. That supplemental ground is more a UL/NEC issue because if the line cord is pulled it leaves the system ungrounded and the premises wiring floating, possibly at the same potential as the CO line wiring that is also on the system.

I have written about Partner grounding several times. Because the designers dropped the ball by not connecting the green ground screw within the module with a piece of wire directly to the power connector ground at the rear of the module, (instead they used a common ground trace on the PC board) any difference in potential between the line cord receptacle ground and the supplemental ground can destroy the module. That's why if you do use the supplemental ground (and I pretty much don't) it absolutely must be connected to the same point as the line cord ground. You can't trust cold water lines, building steel, etc. as the Avaya documentation suggests. There might not be a problem when you install the system but I've seen processors destroyed several years later when things change.

As for the general longevity of Partner, I regularly see systems (Partner Plus and Partner II) over 10 years old. Matter of fact I see National chains like Old Navy and Crate and Barrel using refurb Partner Pluses and MLS phones even for new installs. For most small business even the older systems provide more features than they will ever need.

And no, I have not noticed any decline in quality of Partner (with maybe the exception of the phones) that would lead me to believe that a new system, properly installed, wouldn't last 10 years or better also. Matter of fact I believe that the power supplies that were the usual cause of a modules demise have been improved and the 5 slot carriers now provide better heat dissipation than the original.

It's very true that much depends on the environment and the steps taken to protect the system like protectors on the CO lines and a surge protector on the power. Of course much depends on whether those are quality devices and installed properly too.

-Hal

Well said Hal.

Can't help but comment on 2 lines from posts above.

"Well, maybe. How are you going to ground a system using a two-slot carrier? While I agree that they are decent systems, it wasn't until the ACS came along that the Partner became a real contender in the market with features"

The Partner, from near day one of introduction in 1990, has held the #1 marketshare position in the United States. #1 is a real contender in my book.

"Followed by partners available from migration
to go to the refurb market there should be product for another 10-12 maybe 15 years." At least... think about how easy it is to still get Merlin system parts. Long term parts availability, even if refurbished, is what makes this brand (even through 3 names) great.

My local competitor (Sells Vodiva now, formerly sold Executone) tells anyone with a 10 year old system "Sorry, can't get parts anymore." regardless of wheather it is true or not... just to sell a switch.

Because the ACS continues to do very well in the marketplace I doubt that Avaya would pull it soon without a viable replacement.

Its like saying the Toyota Camary has been around for so many years, we are sure Toyota is just going to stop making it. Why would they do that when they are selling so much of it?

The Partner is a great system that will probably be around for many years to come, in my opinion.

I'd like to offer a few thoughts about the unofficial timeline and see what others think.

Avaya says that they are looking at the end of 2010 for the Partner's retirement (about 4 years from now).

From what people who are familiar with the One-X have posted, the system does not expand as much as the ACS. There are a few operational quirks mentioned as well.

My W.A.G. is that Avaya chose 2010 thinking that the 4 year cushion will give the company enough time to tweak the One-X to the point where it could replace a Partner ACS system of any size.

If Avaya has indeed released many of the employees that worked with traditional telephone systems, the chances of seeing a new traditional telephone system to replace the Partner ACS are slim to none.

Doesn't that seem like a long time to work out the bugs?

Richard

I guess it probably is. It was just a thought. :shrug:

Actually nothing you say surprises me. Just look at Avaya's track record lately.

1) The ACS R7 is a disaster.

2) The Transtalk became a disaster. They have no cordless solutions anymore other than a little 2 line. (Yeah, I know they have some WiFi versions for the IPO) They are all overpriced to boot compared to say Panasonic.

3) They haven't updated their Partner promotional literature in years. They have a new line of phones and literature still showing the old ones. How long have the Series 2 phones been out now?

In short Avaya is becoming an embarrassment for anybody trying to sell it. I'm tired of making excuses to customers who want cordlesses, about the literature, about why we don't use the R7.

If they want to discontinue the Partner and push the One X and IPO fine, but I can't sell that crap. My customers don't want it!

As far as I'm concerned, if they don't want to put any effort into the Partner they should pull the plug now rather than ruining everybodies reputation with their incompetance.

-Hal

Hal, those are very harsh words but I feel the same way, Avaya either needs to sh-t or get off the pot. I to will not sell the One X or the IPO as they are crap and there are to many other products out there that blow it out of the water and actually work right.