Norstar MICS XC 1.0 upgrade

[bartshandle]

I have a customer that is using a Norstar MICS XC 1.0 system with two DTI trunk cards. They are needing to change only one DTI card from a plain old ESF B8ZS T1 to a PRI that supports 4ESS. The T1 card is a nt7b74ga-93

Would any of you be able to suggest the correct upgrade path please?

Thank you in advance.

 

[jsaad]

best PRI operation is at 7.1. How many phones do you have? What type of voicemail do you have? What type of customer. A new preprogrammed cabinet with NVRAM2, 7.1 s/w and T1 cards pre-programmed may be a choice. You will need a PRI keycode too.

Some may say buy the upgrade cartridges, I would imagine multiple upgrades req'd.

This is the place to ask!

 

[bartshandle]

No voicemail or auto attendant a big plus here with this situation. Less than 40 phones. Manufacturing location. Perhaps the cabinet swap makes the most sense in the long run. For the sake of the thread though, what would be the upgrade path if one exists please? I know they are going to ask.

This all started when the carrier told our customer to change their long distance T1 to support 4ESS. Correct me if I am wrong here please, but I thought that 4ESS was strictly a PRI protocol and not a true T1. The carrier is changing out their back end equipment and will no longer speak ESF B8ZS for this long distance T1.

Also, if we changed the trunk card from T1 to PRI, will that default the Target Line configuration too?

 

[jsaad]

I believe you will lose target line config when you change card types. Your best bet is take plenty of notes.

Most PRIs are NI2 (4ESS). Are you in USA or Canada?

 

[hawks]

The 4ESS they are referring to is the protocol they will use for the PRI but it’s the older standard of NI1, most PRI’s are NI2 now and for the AT&T switches that started with the 5ESS switch. I would ask for NI2 from your provider they should be able to give you that.

As far as the upgrade going from 1 all the way to 7.1 is flip of the coin if you’ll have issues or not. But if you want to try it you’ll go from 1 to 4.1 (plus change NVRAM cart) then from 4.1 to 6.1 then to 7.1.

Since you have minimal programming in the system what I would do is Default the system using your 1.0 software then just load my new 7.1 and treat it as a completely new installation. Also you don’t have to have XC if you don’t want to you can go with standard software it may save you a couple dollars. You’ll also need to purchase a PRI Enabler code to use PRI.

 

[bartshandle]

jsaad - We are in the US.

hawks - Gonna try to get the LEC to give us the NI2. Those have worked out better in the past for other PBX's I have seen.

Please, one more time here folks, for the sake of overstating the obvious, a 4ESS circuit is an ISDN PRI and not a T1, correct?

Thanks again for your replies.

 

[curlycord]

Yes but your carrier needs to tell you what is will be, a PRI or a T1.
Get them to give you the specs.
Never assume anything, its their job to tell you what exactly you need.

Program from scratch is your best bet.

Reboot system and do a starup command within 15 minutes.
Once you apply settings unplug the power while it states "Applying Template"
Swap software and NVRAM cartridge
Power up and wait 15 minutes or so.
Apply PRI key code.
Program system.




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[bartshandle]

Thank you Curlycord!!!

 

[hawks]

As curly said make them verify because 4ess is actually a type of switch that can run either. But if they're saying PROTOCOL of 4ess then odds are they're talking PRI and probably coming out of a soft switch. If that's the case then they should also be able to provide NI2.