Looking for Nortel CS1000 assistance

[BrevardCounty]

We have CS1000E, CS1000M, and OPT 11 Meridian Systems that we are attempting to replace with VOIP - namely FreeSWITCH. For migration purposes, we need to port numbers within Nortels and port our long distance to SIP trunks. We have had some success on communication with the two systems, but could really use some temporary assistance programming the routes within the Nortels during migration. I would prefer someone local as either a temp employee or contract employee. We are in Brevard County, Florida.

I appreciate your consideration.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Any reason why you haven't considered the SIP based UCx from E-MetroTel for your replacement? The system is developed by former Nortel engineers now working for E-MetroTel. The very engineers who developed your CS1000 and Option 11 work for E-MetroTel. You don't need to get rid of your Nortel phones and can add SIP functionality as needed.


"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Plus, in this world of trying to be green and environmental, why would you throw away all of that perfectly functioning equipment?

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[BrevardCounty]

I visited the E-Metro Tel webpage and it left me with more questions than I had to start with. There are no spec sheets, diagrams, or even brochures to indicate how this equipment works and what interfaces it requires. You cant even view a rear panel. I have also not been able to find any pricing. At $85/handset, VOIP comes in less expensive than most of the big name ATA boxes like AudioCodes at $2K for 24 ports. It doesn't make much sense or cents to buy ATA boxes when you can roll out VOIP handsets for similar pricing.

I appreciate your referral and I will give E-Metro Tel a call today, but they really need to add more documentation to their website.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[Funk49]

Jeff, did you find out if there were any other Government and/or Municipalities that have successfully implemented freeSWITCH VoIP like this?

What are your backup/redundancy plans for the critical departments (like Police/Fire departments) if you do go large scale?
Are you going to have to keep some of the Nortel PBX(s) anyway or POTS lines or just multiple ISP providers?

Was it the PBX equipment service contracts, local and long distance carrier costs, phone costs or PBX End Of Life considerations that eventually justified this project?

I’m curious of the financial differences between your current PBX costs versus the freeSWITCH VoIP after you purchase all new IP sets, hire contracted or permanent additional IT staff, SIP trunking costs, additional ISP data circuits, etc., and possibly even keeping a PBX or POTS services for backup/redundancy.

The ROI versus possible outages/loss of service would have me a little nervous but I do realize that today it’s all about saving money.

Good luck and thanks in advance for any insights regarding your decision process.

Dave

 

[sporty2]

Jeff,
Is Bert with AT&t still working on your equip?
sporty2

 

[BrevardCounty]

Funk49,

Did you find out if there were any other Government and/or Municipalities that have successfully implemented freeSWITCH VoIP like this? I found several cities using Asterisk, which is similar to FreeSWITCH and many governments, fire departments, and police stations use CudaTel, which is a canned FreeSWITCH. I have found nothing to the scale that I am attempting, but I have had a consultations with the founders of FreeSWITCH and have confidence in the implementation.

What are your backup/redundancy plans for the critical departments (like Police/Fire departments) if you do go large scale? We have two pairs of clustered redundant servers running on -48VDC with 24 of the large 2 volt batteries. We also have generator backup to the buildings. All of the POE switches and routers either already have or will have UPS backup.
Are you going to have to keep some of the Nortel PBX(s) anyway or POTS lines or just multiple ISP providers?

Was it the PBX equipment service contracts, local and long distance carrier costs, phone costs or PBX End Of Life considerations that eventually justified this project?
Literally all of the above. We received pressure to "upgrade" to Avaya equipment and at the same time our PASS maintenance software went through the roof in price. Our PRIs, tie lines, and Centrex ties are several thousand a month and the Centrex costs are staggering. The estimate for EOL for the CS1000s in 2017 just further solidified the justification.

At less than a half-millon dollars implementation cost, we would see return on investment in less than one year. We probably will not even see any increase in our circuit upgrades since we are redesigning our network as well. Luckily, the Sheriff and E911 have their own telephone systems. The Sheriff just recently went with CudaTel VOIP but has not fully migrated as of yet.

Sporty2,

We reduced our technician requirements but it certainly appears that Bert is going to be still with us. He has done a great job here.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[Funk49]

Thanks for the detailed response, I appreciate it. Good luck on your project.

 

[BrevardCounty]

Just saw that I missed one question - We do not plan on keeping any PBXs or BCMs or keystations. That requires additional maintenance contracts, which we are attempting to eliminate. We have one Linux/VOIP engineer on staff and are bringing another Linux administrator up to speed on VOIP. We have one outside vendor that has agreed to assist with any issues on a case-by-case basis and FreeSWITCH contacts in case we have an in-depth programming issue.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[jamie2]

Jeff, I agree with GordonKapesMZ4 that you should sneak a peek at EMetroTel. There system is built on Asterisk and FreePBX GUI and you can go many directions with it. If you call them or respond to the Contact Us on their website, they will respond fairly quickly and setup a remote session to look at the system.

We started migrating to Shoretel but ran into a few limitations, and wanted to see something else, so I spoke with EmetroTel. Wish they were around before we went down the road of Shoretel... Although, I like the Shoretel too, it just has a few limitations coming from Nortel.

 

[BrevardCounty]

Thanks Jamie!

I hope to get in contact E-metro TEl today. More options are always better when implementing a solution.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Hi Jeff,

In the meantime if you want to see how the phones work on this system, I've posted various videos on my own youtube site of my own lab system. Type in joetheucxguy into youtube and you'll see a series of videos, look at the newest videos first, because they show how the Meridian One phones work on the system.

If you have direct information on the system, you can contact the authorized installers. Due to Tek Tips rules, I can't post phone numbers here, but you can look them up:

Active Telephone and Data, Chicago area, Alpha Telecom Toronto, UCI Direct, Sideline Telephone Niagara Falls, ON and Callisto Communications, St. Louis.





"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[hawks]

Jeff I agree take a look at E-Metrotel but also whoever told you that the CS1000 was EOL in 2017 gave you wrong information. As it stands right now they have not set a date for EOL on Release 7.6.

 

[nessman]

Me, personally... abandon a tried, true and tested - and extremely stable, obscenely reliable CS1000 for open source "FreeSwitch" - in a government/enterprise environment? I wouldn't do it. You're paying more money for Nortel because the stuff is well engineered and it works. I have 15-20 year old Nortel phone systems out there - 100% uptime. Many of these customers are critical needs - utilities/grid operators, public safety, government, etc... that won't go to an IP based system because of the reliability of what they have now.

With your Brand-X system, will you have 24/7 support? Is there a large enough install base out there to lean on other techs if you have issues? What if FreeSwitch goes belly-up - who will support it?

If I were to dump Nortel/Avaya - I'd go Cisco. Pricey, but again - reliable.

For a small/medium size business that can absorb the risk - sure, why not? For county gov't? Bad idea. My opinion.

Sounds like you're well on your way to this, so best of luck.

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Alleluia Nessman! It needed to be said. Throwing away rock solid Nortel equipment is just wrong....like pouring a brand new cold beer down a sewer grate....alcohol abuse or in this case technology abuse.

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[nessman]

We're just in the beginning stages of replacing an entire county's 61C with a Cisco based system. The system served them well for nearly 20 years but they're moving on with an IP based system that will be built from the ground up with an entirely new Cisco data infrastructure that we're engineering and installing as well.

Cisco is good stuff, but there's pros and cons to it (and VoIP in general) as well.

In spite of a few product fumbles (i.e., IP 1100 and 3900 series phones, BCM's, etc...) - overall in an enterprise environment, the Meridians and CS1000's has served many customers very well.

I just think that a county with a population of ~550,000 folks (which I consider a critical needs customer - especially in an area prone to hurricanes) is taking a very large risk by scaling up an open-source SIP based PBX geared towards the SMB/private enterprise market that has never been deployed at this level yet.

As for things like service contracts - keep this in mind. Your service contracts (either through a Nortel/Avaya vendor or Avaya itself) is a fixed annual cost that covers equipment replacement, upgrades, patches, etc... from the PBX, down to the handset cord. Yes, this can be pricey, but it's part of a sound business continuity plan in the event you have a major failure that will be covered at no cost to you. Just gotta keep this in mind - if you have a major system outage at 2:00 am, will the Freeswitch folks be there to provide you with support? How fast can they get a tech on site (yeah - I realize in the VoIP world, us grumpy middle-aged guys with buttsets and punch tools are becoming obsolete but you still can't do everything via remote support).

But hey - if they can pull this off and provide an enterprise grade phone system with >99.999% uptime, more power to them. I'd be interested to see how this project works out for them.