Need clarification on a few things regarding digital phone system

[techseek]

Hello
Our office is looking to acquire a new phone system. It seems the avaya products will be chosen. Not being knowledgeable on phone systems/commuications technology
my questions are these:
1)Does getting a digital phone system = VOIP?
2)For our small office of 30, would the avaya control device (whatever it's referred to as) hook into our lan and therefore place a load on it?
3)I understand that the 20+ yr old Nortel system we have now is wired with cat3
does that mean that the avaya would need any rewiring?

I have other questions but these will help a lot for now

thanks for any responses

 

[CarGoSki]

You can use any combination of analog or digital or IP phones.
You may need to rewire for IP phones
IP Phones = VoIP
Also VMPro used the network to communicate.
If you use digital phones and embedded voicemail then no load on your network

 

[JRTrevino]

1)Does getting a digital phone system = VOIP?
A: No. VOIP only applies if using IP phones, or dialing between two systems across a VPN/point to point T1/MPLS circuit etc. Just because the IP Office offers VOIP capability doesn't mean you are using VOIP.

2)For our small office of 30, would the avaya control device (whatever it's referred to as) hook into our lan and therefore place a load on it?
A: This is a system design question, and has to do with the hardware you decide to purchase as part of your solution. This is another loaded question, but a bunch of different answers. It all depends on phones you decide to go with, lines/network services you decide to go with.

3)I understand that the 20+ yr old Nortel system we have now is wired with cat3
does that mean that the avaya would need any rewiring?
A: Yes, most likely wiring will need to be redone, again depending on the type of phones you decide to go with.

 

[phoneguy610]

we are nortel and avaya

you only need one pair for nortel digital phones and one pair for the avaya digital so you should not need to rewire

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/Nortel

ACIS

 

[holdmusic34]

This IP load on your LAN for less than 30 IP handsets ain't likely to be too much. They only really send data while on a call so you should be cool.
You CAN integrate with outlook. You CAN start to use one number dialling for your employees (with an indial range). You CAN start to hire the right employee wherever they are located. You can have your voicemails forwarded to your email of choice.

Get a partner to quote up either a digital solution (which will be ready to jump across to partial or full IP as your infrastructure capabilities increase) or an IP solution which may involve some 35XX series PoE switches, IP handsets on your existing LAN an IP Office control Unit and cards, possible server applications and producivity solutions as required.

If you go IP, Make sure the partner is going to be cool upgrading and programming your switches to work on your LAN.