Linking remote office 1

[stroyer74]

My office currently uses a Merlin Magix 2.2 running in PBX/Hybrid mode. We have copper lines running from our main office to each of our 3 plants to give them phone access.

We also have fiber connections running to each plant to give them computer network access. When we ran the fiber lines, we ran several extra pair to each building.

I am pursuing the option of running our phone extensions through the fiber rather than through the current copper lines (lightning strikes are a regular problem for us, even with surge protection installed).

Is it possible to link multiple Merlin Magix cabinets together through fiber connections? I'm basically looking at installing a seperate cabinet in each plant and linking them back to the main office.

Any ideas or suggestions would be welcomed.

Sheldon

 

[Pepperz]

Absolutely. It is distance dependant, with some limitatins, but in a nutshell, you can link the two together with a point to point PRI connection. You'll need a T-1 card at each end, and a fiber modem at each end. The fiber modems can be configured as a T-1 interface, (very simply), and the rest is standard PRI programming. It works great.

Pepperz@charter.net

 

[stroyer74]

Pepperz, thanks for the speedy response.

Since I already have one system completely up and running, and I also have an spare system that I use sometimes for testing, the only extra parts that I would need to test this out would be:

2 x Merlin Magix 100 DS1 modules
2 x Fiber Modems
... and plenty of time to work out the PRI programming.

Do you have any recommendations on brand of fiber modem?

Thanks
Sheldon

 

[Pepperz]

The only ones I've used are the RAD E1/T1 fiber modems. Seems like they run in the $750 range. They are completely easy to configure, and this is probably true of others as well. One very important thing that you need to do when you get them is to test them for connectivity right in the same location. You can switch the fibers around and go into a test mode, and make certain that you see the same indications on both modems under the same conditions. It saves a lot of time in the field.

Pepperz@charter.net

 

[stroyer74]

Excellent. I will check them out. Thanks for the info.

Sheldon