2000 to sv8300: To Upgrade or Change Vendors?

[dschartung]

I know I'm asking this question in an NEC forum so I expect NEC affinity.

We've had a 2000 IVS for over 10 years now. Our options to upgrade are buy a 2000 IPS on the second hand market or upgrade to a sv8300. My IT consultant's firm has become a ShoreTel vendor and made a pretty good sell on that system.

We have 75 extensions and 20 FXS coming off our current PBX. I know very little about the sv8300 other than what is on the web. So, sv8300 users; love it or hate? Is that a good system for our size?

The ShoreTel system quoted was ShoreGear 220T1A and all the licensing upgrade to enterprise edition FXS gateway, etc . . .75 IP230 phones, Call Manager clients, etc . .

 

[belevedere]

For the price and features, the 8300 is a good choice. NEC is also running upgrade promotions all the time, so it may be a good opportunity to replace your 10 year old workhorse at a very good price.
If you are looking for price quotes from other vendors, i can assist you with that.

 

[dschartung]

belevedere,

Would you consider the ShoreTel system to be comparable? My biggest gripe about NEC is they are not very transparent about the system documentation or software. The NEC product site is hard to navigate and full of dead links. Most information is provided from an authorized NEC dealer on a need to know basis. It took me a while to understand the 2000 system without training and I am hesitant to go through this process again. NEC has never been a networking company, so do NEC dealers and vendors truly understand NAT, VLANs, routing, and QoS? That aside, the NEC PBX is very solid and I know that when configured correctly it is wonderful.

 

[smoom]

Both systems are good and some what comparable. A couple of things to consider. You already know the NEC 2000 so programming the SV8300 will not be anything new. The 8300 programs similar to the 2000 with, but some of the command structure has changed. Commands 10, 90, 12, 13 the normal station system user commands are still there. Depending on which type of NEC telephone sets you have they may very well work on the 8300 with no problems. NEC is running some very good migration promotions right now to help vendors sell the 8300 to customers looking to upgrade. Some other points to consider are you happy with your current NEC vendor? Have they been there when you have needed them? Do you have the data cabling in place to support a VOIP system like Shore-tel. The 8300 can handle VOIP and your current TDM telephone sets. One last thing to set the record straight NEC has a full line of data equipment including Routers, switches, computers, servers. You will most likely be surprised to find out the expertise that NEC and your vendor can offer you.

 

[dschartung]

smoom,

I may have mispoke, NEC has never been highly regarded for their networking equipment. I always favored Nortel, Juniper, and Cisco of course. That said, I should say most NEC phone vendors, in my experience, are not great with networking.

Like you said, due to promotions, upgrading to an sv8300 is a lot cheaper than going to an all new vendor like Shore-tel. So my CFO will no doubtedly favor the NEC quote. I've just grown tired of the NEC way.

 

[eddiebullman]

dschartung

The size of the system you are looking at you could go down to a SV8100 system which would more that cover the size of system you are looking at and should cost less .

 

[gmannatl]

I agree with Eddie, an SV8100 would be a much better fit for your company size and is CONSIDERABLY cheaper the the 8300 and especially the Shoretel. The system is also much more user and admin friendly.

Concerning the knowledge of an NEC vendor vs. a Shoretel vendor this is highly speculative. I have been working with NEC for almost 15 years and I am highly skilled with Networking, LAN/WAN, and about every other tech skill imaginable. Is this because I work for an NEC vendor?? Of course not, I was just born with a keyboard on my lap!! There are good techs and bad techs and the system is only as good as the technician.

My 2 Cents - I could gripe all day about the things I don't like about NEC, because I have worked with them so closely over the years and know all of them. However, NEC is and has always been cutting edge in the grand scheme of things. The 2000 IVS you have was doing ISDN PRI YEARS before anyone else. The also had some pretty good VoIP going back almost 10 years ago, however, the architecture changed rapidly so it didn't gain traction. Currently the "NEC / Zeacom" product UCB is probably hands down the best UC system on the market. I have looked at just about every desktop app on the market and there are some good ones out there, but UCB is definitely TOP NOTCH. It does work on Avaya, and Cisco as well, but dealers for those products never quote it because it makes their solution too expensive. NEC is marketing this heavily and offers great package deals with UCB. Definitely worth taking a look!!

 

[DrPbx]

With the migration plan for the NEC 2000 series to SV8300, in some cases, makes the SV8300 a lot cheaper than a SV8100. NEC gives a license for license credit & 1/2 of the voice mail ports free. So if you are coming out of an 2000 IPS with a lot of IP phones, remote offices & a large VM you cannot beat the cost. One customer upgraded for the same cost a new 5 year service agreement on the IPS would have cost. I'm not sure how long the migration plan will run.