How to Get Involved 1

[NEAXMAN]

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure if this is in the right place for this thread, but here it is anyway. For a while now I have been following this forum along with the products E-MetroTel has. This looks to be an amazing product and I would like to know how enthusiasts can get involved and support E-MetroTel. I feel not enough people know about this option when replacing their phone system. Just recently a large car dealership chain in my area with many locations replaced all of the Nortel MICS units they had for an Allworx solution. It's too bad large companies like this A) Don't upgrade to E-MetroTel or B) They don't even know this option exists for them. For reasons like this I want to know in what way I and others can help support E-MetroTel. Thanks everyone and let me know what options are available!

 

[RLSbutton]

Hey Neax Man,

I would go on E-MetroTel's website and call their main phone number, and ask for Chris Edwards. I can't give any numbers here, but use the directory feature to find him. He is a former Nortel guy and I am sure he will be able to tell you how to get involved.

I too feel your pain with perfectly good Nortel systems, especially ones installed 10 years or less ago, are being pitched because the users are being told that the systems are junk and no longer supported.

It's amazing what you can do with TLC on the phone sets. Say you have 14 T series phones in an office....the phones labels fall off, the handset cords get tangled and the phones become dusty. This superficial stuff tells the users that it's time for a new phone system. Bring in E-MetroTel, not only will an installer update the system hardware, they will come in and clean up all the phones, new cords, new cables, new labels, new handsets, etc...and for peanuts, people will feel like their phones are brand new.

I saw a case where a large beauty supply chain had all Nortel BCM systems, and slowly they have been throwing away their BCMs for Vertical Edge digital telephones....maybe a good product, but definitely a waste of money to go that route when you already have a perfectly good Nortel product out there already.

The problem is, there needs to be more Interconnects that are willing to take on this product in the United States. In Canada E-MetroTel is selling like hotcakes, but in the USA, Cisco has such a huge market share, that's its hard to convince big offices to keep their Nortel products until they actually see first hand how much money they can save by keeping their Meridian product and placing it on the UCx. I've tried videos, blogs, etc. and the Meridian systems still seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate here in the USA.

All, just my personal opinion here, not that of E-MetroTel.
Joe

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Enthusiast

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[hawks]

Not only CISCO but Lync is also taking a bite. The big problem is most IT folks only seem to know CISCO and MS. Unlike us phone guys moving toward IT where we have played with a few different names.

 

[theislandtech]

The largest obstacle for me is the user license cost.
After working for months with my client, I replaced their 0x32 with a new VOIP system with new phones for slightly more than the 20 user license fee.

 

[NEAXMAN]

@RLSbutton: Hi Joe thanks for getting back with me. I am a huge fan of all of the videos that you have produced as well as your blog in which you feature phones you see out. I check your website almost daily to see what your latest phone is! I will try to make contact with some of the people over at E-Metrotel. I checked and in my area no one sells the E-Metrotel product, probably why a lot of places are just getting rid of the phones and systems. Cisco definitely is a huge player in the networking and telecommunications world. I am studying for my CCNA and I know Cisco is pushed very heavily.

@theislandtech: I have never seen pricing for the system but I would at some point like to get my hands on one to try it out. The biggest problem I see is that in 10-15 years, are people really going to want a phone that is over 20 years old? What is going to happen when Avaya eventually stops the 1100 series line and M3900 series production? While this may not be for a while I feel it is still something to consider.

 

[hawks]

neaxman the UCx is a VoIP system that is able to run the Nortel phones. You don't have to use them, you can use pretty much any SIP device you want to. They just made it work with Nortel because there is such a big customer base out there and most of these guys are X_Nortel.

 

[NEAXMAN]

Hi Hawks yes I do realize you can run other phones other than Nortel phones on the system, but isn't the whole point of the system to run proprietary Nortel telephones? You can download Asterisk, FreePBX, Elastix, etc. and do the exact same things with SIP phones for free, correct? From my understanding E-Metrotel is basically Asterisk with Nortel code built in. Would there be any purpose to buy an E-Metrotel system to use only SIP phones? Thanks for the reply!

 

[theislandtech]

User license fees apply on E-Metrotel even if you plan to use only SIP phones

 

[UCXNortel]

The UCx provides features that are Nortel centric, however, there have also been product enhancements that have increased the value of the platform such as SRG capabilities with special SRG licensing, Enhanced Archive for Call Recordings, as well as some additional features\applications coming later this year. To say the UCx is just an Asterisk system is not a true and complete statement.

We checked out some of the "free" Asterisk systems as well, and one thing is support. The support for most, I didn't say all,of these are User Forums and Discussion Lists. In addition, the Updates for the UCx have been tested and approved before being rolled out to the field, so the potential to "break something" when installing the latest revisions of Asterisk Updates are greatly reduced. Having spent 18 years at Nortel, and part of those years as the Staff Engineer for the ITAS Technical Support Team, the value of a "Nortel based" system still have a lot of value!

Just inserting my opinion here.....

http://www.ucidirect.com

Stocking Distributor for E-Metrotel

 

[RLSbutton]

I'll add my opinion as well.

In the world of rip and replace anything to do with Nortel installations becoming prevalent, the UCx allows companies to be "green" and to keep their existing Nortel equipment without having to rip and replace their current features and phone installations.

In regards to the questions asked "Would there be any purpose to buy an E-Metrotel system to use only SIP phones?" I would answer yes! You have a team of individuals to support the system for the users....individuals that built up Nortel from a sleepy giant in the late 1970s to the world leader of telecommunications equipment around 2000. It's fascinating to have been able to partner with these guys and learn about the ins and outs of Nortel and all of the innovation that was spread around that company during it's heyday.

-Based on my testing on my own Lab UCx 4.5, here are a few great reasons to consider UCx with SIP phones without Nortel sets:

-Meridian Mail/CallPilot voice prompts from familiar Joan Kenley "one moment please" lol.

-The UCx Contact Center/Call Center setup that simulates if not exceeds the features of the Contact Center features on Nortel M1/CS1000/BCM systems.

-Extremely simple remote location SIP phone setup via typing in simple external IP address into remote phone and instant connection to the host server.

-The UCx Hospitality Suite for Hotel Motel interoperability.

-Call Accounting

-UCx and Microsoft Lync seamless interoperability

-UCx scheduled announcement system which would be perfect for schools and factories that need bell or announcement systems.

- A Notifier solution is an optional UCX application that automates group notification to a large group of individuals used for emergency and disaster response situations.

-Feature rich solution for analog telephones and easy integration of Analog telephones into the system, this would be especially helpful for large department stores with single line 2500/500 sets located around the store.

-Integration with Microsoft TAPI

-Easy to use GUI

-Pre designed SIP trunking templates from large SIP providers that takes the guessing out of setting up SIP trunks on Asterisk.

-24 hour tech support as opposed to Asterisk which the only support is discussion boards and a few speciality Digium companies out there.

I personally prefer to use the Nortel phones on the UCx with Unistim and Digital gateways....but my favorite SIP phone has been a Nortel 1165E with the SIP firmware load working on the UCx as well.

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Enthusiast

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[ucxguy]

Neaxman: "From my understanding E-Metrotel is basically Asterisk with Nortel code built in."

In a very simplistic view, any Asterisk based call server is basically Asterisk with some code added to it.

Similarly, a car is just an engine with some extra parts added to it. Based on your logic, if you use the same engine, you can "do the exact same things" with every car built around it - no matter what parts you used. I am afraid that in the real world your mileage might vary depending on the added parts.

You can buy a car from a dealership and service it there - or you can build your own car and service it yourself. The same way, you can buy a UCx system or you can get a server, install all necessary software on it, configure it, test it, secure it, deploy it at a customer site and then handle all updates, testing and retesting, added requirements, hardware problems, security breaches and so on all by yourself. Both approaches are valid and possible - it's all a question of your expertise (to be able to do such things) and available time.

 

[klocke77]

There's many enterprise environments that would benefit from the UCX. I wish that the product had the same market penetration in verticals such as retail and government that Microsoft and Cisco have right now.