Is the Norstar MICS Class or Non-Class? 1

[GatorDave]

That is the question the telco asked me (Ameritech- in Cleveland in this case).
They said it matters to their switch in the C.O. Their equipment is a DMS100 and they said they need to know to provision the lines correctly.
I have no idea what this even means!!!
Any help?
Any clue?
Anyone?

Thanks in advance,
GatorDave

 

[rconn]

Class means "Custom Local Area Signaling Services" This will refer to services such as Caller Identification (Call Display), Call forwarding etc. Thses are number translation services. These are ususally subscription services which means you pay for them (At least around here you pay for them).
The supplier will program the features requested. At your end the Norstar will need line cards that support caller ID services if you intend to use them. This would include voice mail notification if the customer is using the Central office based Voice mail.

Hope this helps,

Rob

 

[GatorDave]

Thanks so much for the info. I just found it in the Norstar product catalog, too.
Apprciate it !!!
GatorDave

 

[DeeBeam]

Another case of an RBOC intellectually challenged..
I agree with Rob. But let me supplement:
CLASS features in a switch are usually mentioned in the way of "can the switch generate CLASS features? yes or no?" But this pertains to central office switches of different types: end-office switches can generate CLASS features, tandem switches (non-CLASS) usually just pass through what comes along without generating anything. That's why it matters to Ameritech's DMS 100. If this was a CO end office switch, one has to be set up as the master and the other as slave on the connecting circuit, for purposes of signalling, timing, framing, etc. If it was a tandem Non-CLASS switch, it would just have to send digits out and dump them without direct controlling feedback.
So really, Ameritech had no clue was you talked about either, and didn't know what Norstar was. If they did, they should not have asked that question, because this is considered a CPE (customer premise equipment) that does NOT generate line features! The Norstar is on the receiving end, not the generating end. Only exception: MICS over PRI, here the MICS can send Outgoing Line Information (OLI) to the CO (like DID number for an extension) for purposes of generating the correct ANI for 911 services, LD call records, etc.

Norstar can support CLASS features, like Caller ID, DID, Call Waiting, etc. The other possibility is that they're still thinking of the old key systems that did not support these things, just because there was no need, because those features were not available yet (duh). Like some old Lucent Merlins that are still around. In the meantime, most key systems support CLASS in one way or other, and on the Norstar you just need the right trunk card. But these things don't really matter to the CO DMS 100 switch, since it just needs to send. This is just a CO-CPE set up, not CO-CO.

My point is Ameritech should not have asked this question one way or other. Ironically, when I went to my Norstar certification class in Dallas, there were two Ameritech techs there as well getting trained on Norstar..

So the answer is: Norstar MICS is CPE, neither CLASS or Non-CLASS. If that does not satisfy them, tell them to call Nortel, since both the DMS 100 and the Norstar are their products.

Hope this helps, too.

 

[GatorDave]

Wow, great info. Thanks a bunch.

GatorDave