Looking for the "truth" about Nortel systems

[quincyb]

Hi all,

I have received a lot of help from you all in my questions about Avaya systems, so I thought I might ask for some "true" information regarding Nortel systems, not what a typical salesman might tell me...
We currently have 2 Avaya Magix systems in our call center, and the boss is looking to expand. The Definity has been mentioned, but he told me to try and find out "what else is out there, that won't cost a fortune for licenses". I know Nortel is big in call centers as well, so if anyone could give me an overview, I would really appreciate it. We are looking at starting with 50 call agents, expanding very quickly to 200 to 300...
Thanks!

 

[McGruff753]

I have heard Nortel has an issue when you are trying to copy ACD sets. In my opinion, Aspect has one of the finer ACD systems. You would probably want to look at a 300R or a 400R model. I highly recommend the R's because they are redundant.

 

[Tbrandes]

Do some research into Interactive Intelligence they have third party application full Call Center servers that look to be very well put together...

 

[mikeyb123]

as long as you are in the states I3 is great anywhere else it's a complete pain (in the e1 real world ;-) )

nortels good and I've also heard about getting corruptionon acd sets but in 10 yrs of working with them i've never come across anything.

On the whole its a good stable system that's easy to look after and upgrade even if the command line is a little difficult to get the hang of. I really like the avaya cli, but you get live feedback from the meridians as to what's going on.

as for pricing, being in the UK I'm stuck with only a couple of suppliers that I can use so the prices are a little inflated, but nowhere near the avaya pricing.

The avaya stuff comes in a good form package whereas teh m1 stuff is a little messy.

I can't say anything about aspect as I v'e not worked on them but people I know say that it's a good package.

I think that basically if you are after a general purpose switch then teh meridians are good as there are so many features in there. you have to buy symposium to do the acd

Aspect excellent at acd

Avaya is also good at acd but you have to buy different packages to bolt on for reporting etc.

Tough one





It's not getting any smarter out there. You have to come to terms with stupidity, and make it work for you.

 

[johnpoole]

i am certified in 11 switches and have installed call centers with over 5000 agents, you can't give me an i3, even the school was a joke, one week and all you had to do was install the system on a server without a book or check list, like that really helps in the field. symposium (nortel) is not easy to learn as a programer, it's very easy for the end user and has more report options then you could list. as far as corruption in the nortel 81 switch, after 20+ years on this switch i have seen corruption twice, both times caused by an idiot on the keyboard. if your making changes ir reg-edit is it mr gates fault if you don't know how to type?.. all in all Rolm had one of the best switches ever made, the 8000 series, the 9751 model 9005, when simmons bought rolm and came out with the 9751, 9006, it was set back 15 years on the software side. i did go to the school for 3 weeks and even installed one and maintained another, but not by choice. there is very few request ever made that i can't program a nortel switch to do, find a vendor in your area and have him take you to a site where an acd shop is using a nortel/symposiumn. you will be impressed, if you don't have a vendor of that quality inyour area, stay clear, this is not a switch that lends itself to your average it pro. they a have a habit of hating a switch that makes them program. 90 percent of the cisco techs i work with can not program a simple router with dhcp nat ipsec tunnels etc without a copy and paste. (neiter can i).. no dis.. meant, this switch requires a switchman that knows the books. 5000 pages of docs that are well laid out, knowing how to use those are the key. just my two cents worth after 37 years as a software tech. i also do voip nortel and cisco but don't go there in an acd shop yet. NOT cheap the opt 11 is a single processor, the 61/81 is dual and you pay for that. how much does it cost for your center to not have a standby server...

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[pdulfo]

I support johnpoole with his views, but I would say that symposium is easy to learn as a programmer. I started life programming then moved into telecoms. I supported symposium and developed new scripts for 6 months before taking any courses. Very flexible. Nortels biggest problem is lack of marketing. If they spent the same money as Avaya on marketing they would be a natural choice.


---------------------------------
PDulfo aka pdiddy

 

[mikeyb123]

John,

I took the i3 certs as well...but I had the check list!! how easy was that!! the company sent me to indy for 3 weeks to learn it. spent 2wks 4 days pissing it up and took the test day before I was due to fly back..

The missus works for DeVere's hotel chain in the UK and they've just put in a AVVID solution for the hotel. so far it refuses to do wake up calls.... won't direct calls to where it's supposed to.... wish i was that salesman!!
he could probabily flog ice to eskimos..



It's not getting any smarter out there. You have to come to terms with stupidity, and make it work for you.

 

[johnpoole]

your right indy was nice, great zoo. took my wife for the 1st two weeks and then she went home for two and joined me for my last week in chicago for another class

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[mikeyb123]

they did classes in chicago? I was in our office there for 3 weeks.

Prefered chicago to indy thou

It's not getting any smarter out there. You have to come to terms with stupidity, and make it work for you.

 

[candrews11]

I have extensively done Siemens, Aspect and Avaya. I recently started with a new company and have inherited a mixed gathering of Nortel platforms. Symposium, pretty straight forward, just all text based. If you have done any programming language you likely won't have an issue.

Now I also have MAX systems, I hate these things with a passion but thats another story.

As Johnpoole has stated, Nortel systems are not for the light hearted. If you have ever done any base level/command line programming on any other PBX such as Avaya or Siemens. Throw it out the door! It took me the longest time to get use to Nortel's system of load applications. I still find it annoying but I have learned how to get around it.

Personally I wouldn't buy another Nortel system but that is my personal opinion. They have however been just as reliable as other systems that I have used (more so than some).