BCM or Option 11??? 1

[fmielbye]

Need some advice on equipment. We have a corp office in Boston 500+ an office in Cali at about 50+ and an office in FL with about 100+. In our main office we have a 51c just recentely upgraded to Suc 3.0. In Cali we have a 11c and in FL we are looking to replace a Norstar with an 11c. The question raised is why not a BCM box in FL? I asked my peers out in the field and no one seems to have had any exposure to a BCM. Can someone tell me the pros and cons of a BCM vs an Option 11c? I would like to have one standard mail and switch config and not throw the Norstar back in the mix but would it make that much of a difference? As a note, I have built LOC codes between Bos and Cali and have started to impliment vmail networking between Bos and Cali as well.

Thanks, Fred

 

[ggabe]

the BCM is a bit of a nightmare when compared to the Norstar. the real benefit from a BCM vs. anything else from Nortel is that the BCM has some really great networking features. if, for example, you want to piggyback VOIP on the existing wan links the BCM can do it easily provided it is talking to another BCM. in your situation i would advise an opt11 to replace the norstar, particularly when you consider an existing 51c and an opt11 at other sites. the upkeep, programming, and standardization are easily achieved. the BCM would put a serious kink in any kind of 'back end' continuity.