Nortel MICS - 3 Locations

[filoloxnyc]

Hi All,

We must tie together three locations with voice and data over private DS0/PTP-T1 lines. We really like the functionality of the MICS, the centralized voice mail, caller id features and the phones. I was told PRI SL-1 is the only way to use centralized voice mail.

The other caveat is the need to use 12 channels for voice and the remaining 12 channels for data on the DS0/PTP-T1's. We have been looking at several Cisco WIC modules for the 2600 routers but so far we see the NM-2CT1-CSU as the solution for just voice but no data over the DS0/PTP-T1's.

Does anybody have suggestions?

So far, looks like we're going to order:

1 Voice T1 from a Telco to Central Site
1 Private DS0 Point to Point T1 from Central Site to Remote Site A
1 Private DS0 Point to Point T1 from Central Site to Remove Site B
3 MICS
3 6.0 or 3 6.1 software
3 PRI Enablers
5 DTI Cards
3 MCDN Enablers
1 CallPilot 100 or 150
3 RAD
4 Cisco 2611 Routers

Have a great day!

 

[jerryreeve]

I think you should carefully read the networking portion of the installer guide, I beleive that to use the network functionality to pass the info about voicemail calls requires CDP or MCDN to be used and these need the PRI SL-1 functionality between sites. now if you disable channels in the MICS to be used for data ahead of the phone system you probably would be ok just don't use chan 24 since that is the pri D channel.

JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[nortechie]

Can you do the centralized VM with a Call Pilot? I have only done it with a NAM 4.1.

 

[phonehelp]

YOu will need 2 CSU/DSU devices. THe CSU will split the T1s and provide a data (serial) interface and a DTE voice interface. I have seen the Cisco CSU/DSU but it is better to have an external device separating the channels for you.
As for the MICS I believe you need the E and M cards not PRI cards. The main site will have to provide timing and E and M signal to the other MICS.
I hope this help.

 

[salo0920]

I am not sure how you would split the T1 if it is configured as a PRI. The suggestion was made that you should avoid channel 24 (D). That would make sense but I would still do further research if you could use a PRI in an ADD/DROP type circuit. They may be mutually exclusive.

The PRI/MCDN combination is a requirement for centralised VM so you might be kinda stuck on this one.

 

[jerryreeve]

Adtran atlas dsu/csu setups also can grab a set number of chans going to a v.35 connection for data and then link a rj-45 style network to be connected to the t-1 input of the DTI card. since this is PRI format riding over a T1 the telco only sees this as a T1 the two ends are where the PRI format comes into play. I think you can disable the channels in the phone system that will be used for data data so you don't have a conflick there.

JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[galfaro]

How would this work if you wanted to set up a small office with several phones, and instead of having a 2nd Mics, somehow branch extensions of the main Mics in another location/town, to this location? There may have been a post on this, don't remember.
Gabriel

 

[jerryreeve]

for this i am going to suggest you look at

http://www.mck.com/solutions_products/

you might find their remote office configuration with extenders such as the pbx extender at the main office with a mckextender 6000 or 7000 at branch offices.

JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[salo0920]

Has anyone here actually chopped up a PRI into voice and data channels? If so, please tell us how to do this.

 

[superiortel]

I do it all the time with M-1's.
Grab a regular t-1, esf, b8zs, point to point. Insert into a drop and insert Csu / dsu, like the Adtran tsu 120, drop channels 13 thru 24 to the dsx-1 port, set channels 1 thru 12 to go to the v.35 port.
The other end setup is identical.
Then, setup your switches for pri, one has to be the master and the other the slave for the d-channels to link up (net and user). The master switch should run internal clock (free run), since in the point to point ckts the telco does not provide clocking usually. The csu on that end should recover the clock from the pbx (dsx-1), csu at the other end recovers clock from net (t-1), switch at the other end recovers clock from net (t-1 card), secondary source free run or internal. Deprovision all the channels that you are not going to use, like 1 - 12, in both switches. Once you are linked, setup routing to send the did's to the remote switch, and also the dn's for call pilot.

 

[Norstarguru]

I just got done doing this with 2 sites, We had a Cisco unit which I can find out what it exactly was, It took Cisco 3 days to get the settings right, finally they put a tech on that knew what he was doing.
You can not use a Call Pilot as the Centralized Voice Mail! After you set up the routes and all is said and done, All you get is voicemail boxes at the remote end and lights light, but here is the catch, from the remote site you can not use any of the features from the NAM, all you will get is enter your extension # and password then press #.
I am not too thrilled with it, what I would recommend is getting the individual call Pilots at the sites and networking them Via PRI without the MCDN, and having the operator transfer the call from the main site and the auto attendant doing the transfers off premise from the main site. We are still working on this system as of today 7/25/03, if you want the results send me an email.

Norstarguru
john1@refurbphones.com

 

[salo0920]

Norstarguru,

How do you network the switches using PRI without MCDN?

I thought that you needed to have MCDN in order to even select the SL-1 protocol. If you dont use SL-1, what do you select?

Thanks,
Harold

 

[filoloxnyc]

Thanks everybody for your valuable input. The project was delayed for a while but now we are moving ahead. Here's the current status.

Link:
- Private T1 between two locations
- Used the Adtran Atlas 550 with 2 T1/PRI Cards in each location
- Connected Adtran Network 1 to the SmartJack in each location

Adtran:
- Broke down channels 1-16 for data and 17-24 for voice/PRI
- Used dedicated maps for 1-16 data and user dial-plans for 17-24 voice/PRI
- Data IP traffic works great across to link.

TELCO:
- PRI Connected to Site A works great. Configured the PRI to receive 4 digits from the telco
- Outbound routing set to use 9 Any

MICS:
- Site A has two DTI cards and 1 combo card
- MCDN & PRI enabler codes have been entered for both systems Site A & Site B

Still working on the following...

- No luck on configuring the two MICS 6.1 systems to communicate via PRI.
- Could the Network ID be 1 or 2? Any recommendations?

If possible, notes on how to configure the MICS for MCDN PRI would be appreciated. This way I can figure out whether the problem is the MICS or the Adtran. I suspect the MICS is not properly configured.

Any assistance is appreciated. I would like to post a FAQ when this project is completed. This setup has been rather painful.

 

[aragon]

FACTS:
CallPilot 2.0 will support centralized mail.
SL1 is not allowed without the MCDN keycode on each site.
SL1 can only be send down PRI circuits point to point.
You cannot split PRI circuits to provide voice and data services.
Standard DTI circuits that allow muxing of voice and data use 24 8k D channels (one per DS0 each B channel being 56k).
PRI circuits have one 64k D channel and 23 64k B channels the 64k D channel is responsible for all signalling.
You must also configure each site to support a CDP dialing plan therefor your minimum software requirement on each KSU is 6.0 software.

Good luck with this my understanding is that point to point PRI circuits from the Telco are quite expensive.

 

[filoloxnyc]

Hi Aragon,

That was pretty informative. I'm thinking I should have purchased the CallPilot 2.0 instead of the NAM 4.1.

Sorry for not being clear about the site to site connetion. The connection between the site is a straight through T1. By using the Adtran Atlas 550, we take channels 17-24 to simulate a PRI at each site.

The Adtran Atlas 550 is quite impressive. We plug the smart-jack straight through connection at each location to the Atlas 550 - Network Slot 1. At each locaiton, we plug in a cross over cable from the Atlas 550 - Network Slot 2 to the MICS DTI card. We then use the software on the Atlas 550 on both ends and configure the Maps to emulate a PRI.

We are not chopping, spliting or breaking a PRI. We are taking a private straight T1 (no signaling) connection between both locations and dedicating x number of channels for data and x number of channels for voice/PRI.

From the MICS side of things, we just deprovision the channels which are not used.

The private T1's weren't too pricey. Actually, it was really worth it as we are passing voice & data traffic over the connection.

Thanks!