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Nortel solutions
- Thread starter beybros
- Start date
jimbopalmer
Programmer
10 years is a long time for network electronics to be usefull, in 1995 I was using 10 meg shared hubs in the closet and 100 meg shared FDDI at the core. But my wiring (both fiber and copper) from 1992 still works.
Thinking 10 years in a building, I would be thinking 50 nm multimode fiber in the core and cat 6 copper to the desk to last 10 years. You may see a need for 9 nm single mode fiber at 10 gig and up. (how far is ten floors? 50 nm multimode will go 500 m at 1 gig, 300 m at 10 gig)
5 years is a better guess for the electronics. Then the core may move out to the edge.
Today I would plan on a gig core, servers, and power users and 100 meg to the average desk (all switched, all managed, all QOS) with plans to go to 10 gig core and 1 gig to the desk within 5 years. (I would be getting gig NICs now)
Be looking at VoIP for a new install. (I wonder if he was asking about the data or the phones?)
I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.
Thinking 10 years in a building, I would be thinking 50 nm multimode fiber in the core and cat 6 copper to the desk to last 10 years. You may see a need for 9 nm single mode fiber at 10 gig and up. (how far is ten floors? 50 nm multimode will go 500 m at 1 gig, 300 m at 10 gig)
5 years is a better guess for the electronics. Then the core may move out to the edge.
Today I would plan on a gig core, servers, and power users and 100 meg to the average desk (all switched, all managed, all QOS) with plans to go to 10 gig core and 1 gig to the desk within 5 years. (I would be getting gig NICs now)
Be looking at VoIP for a new install. (I wonder if he was asking about the data or the phones?)
I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.
- Thread starter
- #3
I’m not a VOIP expert but I can warn you about a few things I’ve seen and heard.
Network Side:
1) Avoid any BayRS router equipment. This seems to be a dead product line from Nortel and predates VOIP so is not a very graceful integration with prioritization.
2) If you use the BPS be aware that any packets being marked with diffserv will be stripped of that marking by default. You will need make these ports trusted if you want to maintain your prioritization.
3) Be wary of the Passport 8600. I have heard of people using 8600s in heavy VOIP environments having problem. (I have not seen this myself, but have heard it from two different sources. Could be coincidence)
4) Don’t try using this over Frame Relay. Our implementation is on Frame Relay. We don’t use a separate VC we mix this with our data traffic and we have had some issues.
Phone Switch Side:
1) Be careful of the switches you buy from Nortel. We bought and implemented the Nortel BCM solutions just a few years ago so we could do VOIP trunking to remote sites. Those systems are now EOL and can’t be upgraded because of hardware restrictions. We are about to buy new phone switches at all these sites after just 5 years.
2) I would look for a solution that uses SIP instead of H.323. Though they have not said it directly, I get the impression that Nortel will become a SIP only operation with no support for H.323 in the future.
Hope this helps
Googer
Network Side:
1) Avoid any BayRS router equipment. This seems to be a dead product line from Nortel and predates VOIP so is not a very graceful integration with prioritization.
2) If you use the BPS be aware that any packets being marked with diffserv will be stripped of that marking by default. You will need make these ports trusted if you want to maintain your prioritization.
3) Be wary of the Passport 8600. I have heard of people using 8600s in heavy VOIP environments having problem. (I have not seen this myself, but have heard it from two different sources. Could be coincidence)
4) Don’t try using this over Frame Relay. Our implementation is on Frame Relay. We don’t use a separate VC we mix this with our data traffic and we have had some issues.
Phone Switch Side:
1) Be careful of the switches you buy from Nortel. We bought and implemented the Nortel BCM solutions just a few years ago so we could do VOIP trunking to remote sites. Those systems are now EOL and can’t be upgraded because of hardware restrictions. We are about to buy new phone switches at all these sites after just 5 years.
2) I would look for a solution that uses SIP instead of H.323. Though they have not said it directly, I get the impression that Nortel will become a SIP only operation with no support for H.323 in the future.
Hope this helps
Googer
We have a Nortel Passport 8600 core with BPS and Baystacks in the closets. We also have a Nortel PBX (Option 81c and several Opt11c's)
I use IP phones with no trouble on the 81 and the 11's. Addionally, we have a BCM that we use IP trunking back to the 81c. - It was the ORIGINAL BCM. We have upgraded it and are running the 3.6 code with no troubles. I also run IP phones from this switch.
We TRY to bog down the network - We can't make it stop!!
Our stuff has been in place for over 4 years and I plan on keeping it for at least another 5. (I will upgrade memory as required)
Don't fear Nortel - You just have to make sure you follow the rules!
I know that the passports will have trouble with excessive broadcasts and incorrectly configured VLANS. other than that, they are rock solid.
I use IP phones with no trouble on the 81 and the 11's. Addionally, we have a BCM that we use IP trunking back to the 81c. - It was the ORIGINAL BCM. We have upgraded it and are running the 3.6 code with no troubles. I also run IP phones from this switch.
We TRY to bog down the network - We can't make it stop!!
Our stuff has been in place for over 4 years and I plan on keeping it for at least another 5. (I will upgrade memory as required)
Don't fear Nortel - You just have to make sure you follow the rules!
I know that the passports will have trouble with excessive broadcasts and incorrectly configured VLANS. other than that, they are rock solid.
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