Mitel and Nortel Digital Phones

[jamming1]

I am looking for some information on the Mitel product that can interface with Nortel digital phones. I have a quote from to replace the Nortel PBX with a Mitel system and the ability to keep my existing phones. Like everything in the telecom world there is good and bad with every product. Can someone give me the lowdown with this feature. What do I loose and what do I gain if anything? How does this intergrate? How many phones can this device handle? Obvisouly the sales person wants me to change out all the phones to Mitel? But if can Migrate at my own pace it would be easier on the budget and my boss.

Please don't give me the sales/marketing splill! I need to make an informative descision and I don't want to be looking for another job anytime soon.

Thx in advance.

 

[jsaxe]

Broeking,

Unless there has been some major Major MAJOR design change, you cannot hang a proprietary Nortel phone off a Mitel PBX. All of these things have unique TDM formats that are not compatible. It's in the manufacturer's best interest to have proprietary stuff to implement unique features and services (ok, and sales... )

Speaking as someone with an erstwhile relationship with Mitel, I can assure that this level of cooperation between the two companies does not sound very likely. If you've heard something different, please enlighten!

The only possible way is if you have conventional analog phones that are branded Nortel, then yes, you can certainly connect them to analog ONS/OPS ports on any switch.

As far as the rest of your questions go, you need to specify the model in question - the different products are way different in many ways.

jsaxe





"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson (R.I.P. Doc)

 

[MitelTech]

jsaxe, I'm not sure what kind of relationship you have with Mitel, but it isn't a very well explained one! Broeking, the Mitel 3300 supports the use of a limited model/number of Nortel sets with the use of a 3rd party "black box". The box converts Mitel VoIP protocol to Nortel's TDM protocol. I do not know what feature set you get to use on the Nortel phones when connected to the 3300 as I've never seen the setup in use.

 

[srmega41]

The product you are thinking of is a CITELlink Gateway. Check out this link for more info:

http://www.mitel.com/DocController?documentId=9555&mode=print

Hope this helps,

Scott M.

 

[cwc3]

wow I learned something new today I wonder how
nortel feels about the ability to hang their
phones off a 3300 icp!

 

[mitelman]

Broeking, I looked at this for a customer and discovered a few things. First of all in an site of about 50 phones it was about 2 grand cdn more to get NEW mitel sets.

Second, the nortel keys get all remapped to match mitel stuff, so for example, if these were norstar sets the feature key would become the superkey and the rest get mapped to other features. Now could you imagine the chaos in an office when one day you announce that the phone the person has had on thier desk for the last few years suddenly does not operate the same? To me this is just asking for trouble and user problems. You see, not only do the keys and display change, but most likely the voicemail as well.

If your users are gung ho it may not be a problem.

now for a bit of a sales argument from a tech... Say your spending 60k on this and in the end the user(read beancounters) have the same set on their desk as before and something that works different that ticks them off. If you spend the extra money to get a reasonable amount of new sets at least there is visible change for your dollar that the big shots can notice.

Just my opinion!

 

[jsaxe]

Miteltech,

For the record, my relationship with Mitel was originally as a customer, in which I was involved in the purchase, installation, and management of several SX-2000 switches sited around Manhattan for a large international organization. Later I became an employee of Mitel, where I was involved in product support of the SX-2000 Currently, I am retired, but own a small Mitel system that I installed in my house.

I no longer receive marketing information and all the juicy four-color glossies, but I try to keep my hand in and help out anyone who asks with whatever technical information I can dredge up, or an opinion as in the present case.

Broeking,

If the bottom line is a big issue, let me direct your attention to the possibility of buying refurbs. There are several reputable vendors of refurb equipment out there, and I have had no problems buying and installing them, with considerable savings.

In addition, it has been my experience that my end-users were thrilled to get shiny new toys on their desks, with new features and capabilities and all the bells and whistles.

jsaxe

 

[srmega41]

Or they hate them. I did a new location install where we went from old, EOL phones to the latest and greatest. These were Nortel phones, so the desk users went from 2008's to 3903 and 3904's. (for those of you unfamiliar with Nortel phones, the 3900 series are great, and all phones have a display, and a significant improvement over the 2000 series)

Anyway, about 3 weeks into the facility opening we had to replace every one with old 2008's. The users liked all the buttons, and wanted the old phones back. I cannot see why, the functionality of the newer phones was better, and they all got a display and cool features like call logging, but out they went.

Just goes to show change is not always good, and end users do not ALWAYS like shiney new toys. Many of them want their old toys, simply becasue it is familiar.

Scott M.

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

This is one of the biggest arguments against the Cisco Call Manager being brought in to replace existing legacy Mitel equipment, i.e., sx2000 vintage sets.
The Mitel 3300 still supports the 400 and 4000 series TDM sets whereas going in with another brand, i.e., Cisco, constitutes a full forklift replacement.
As nice as some of the new Cisco phones are (7960,7970), your admins and receptionists are going to fight them, particularly if they're coming from a 14-button set and had most of the buttons used as line apps.
Cisco makes a device similar to a PKM, but your investment is going to go through the roof because you're forced to replace 100% of the sets.

 

[jsaxe]

Broeking,

Just checked out that CITELlink Gateway gadget at

http://www.telephonyware.com/telephonyware/citel.html.

$3100 US per 24 ports for the doo-hickey vs. $1920 to $2760 for 24 refurb Mitel 420 sets @ $80 - 115 each from reputable vendors.

Guess you know your budget better than the rest of us - look forward to hearing how this works out for you.

jsaxe

 

[Matt85]

i thought you can use another phone brand on mitel using the Q.Sig feature. what exactly does that do then

 

[cwc3]

isdn phones

 

[jsaxe]

Matt85,

Q.Sig is an industry wide-protocol for networking different manufacturer's switches a la DPNSS, using ISDN PRI.

Like connecting a Mitel switch to an Avaya and being able to network. Never done it myself, nor have I been to a site where it was done. I suspect that some features may not translate.

jsaxe

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson (R.I.P. Doc)

 

[tellyteck1]

we have "successfully" integrated nortel to mitel. however i think it is better to keep the same family of products with the same family. anything else causes way too many headaches. AJK

 

[cwc3]

the only time it would be good for me is if my client had
a lot of nortel phones and the sale hinged on reusing them!!