Our corporate office is going to be moving to a new facility and my VP is wondering if we should go with a whole new system or just upgrade the Meridian Option 61 we currently have. They are really interested in doing VOIP since we have numerous field personnel and remote locations but I would still like to have majority of the office personnel hardwired to the switch. We currently have about 400 office employees and about 300 field personnel. I thought I had talked my VP into going with the upgrade of the Option 61 but a sales person from Mitel contacted him and said that they can do everything Nortel can at half the cost. I have heard of Mitel but have never worked or seen their equipment. Can someone give me some insight into Mitel, I have been looking around on the net trying to find some more info on them but haven't had much luck. Also curious if they were called something prior to Mitel or have they recently merged with someone.
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Nortel vs. Mitel 1
- Thread starter racejason
- Start date
In my opinion ...
all systems are fairly reliable ...its one or 2 unique features and personal liking is what decides the system
against mitel
half the cost will be more than the cost of the upgrade
new system ...training, new problems - change
for mitel
limited downtime .... u can have that setup in advance and just do an 'almost' live cutover
new system ... training, new problems (if you had a bad exp with NT)
all systems are fairly reliable ...its one or 2 unique features and personal liking is what decides the system
against mitel
half the cost will be more than the cost of the upgrade
new system ...training, new problems - change
for mitel
limited downtime .... u can have that setup in advance and just do an 'almost' live cutover
new system ... training, new problems (if you had a bad exp with NT)
Mitel is Canadian.
According to Newton's Telecom Dictionary (I am paraphrasing) the companyt originated when a couple of Nortel engineers decided to quit and start a company of their own.
The story goes that the thought that there was a good market for electric lawnmowers. They named the company Mitel for MIke and Terry's Electric Lawnmowers.
Unfortunately the lawn mowers arrived in the middle of the winter and needless to say there was no cash flow. So Mike and Terry decided to fall back to their skills in telecom.
Anyway, they have been around for quite some time. They used to be a major supplier of ICs for communication equipment as well as PBXs. About 2-3 years ago they "reorganized" and the IC division was sold off (I don't recall what there name is now).
The PBX division is still called Mitel and seems to be alive and well.
We have an SX-2000 and have been happy, though we wish we'd waited till they added ISDN because the upgrade is expensive.
I would agrre with senk1s in that sarting with a new system will prbably be more expensive vs and upgrade, not to mention the other factors mentioned.
Good luck
According to Newton's Telecom Dictionary (I am paraphrasing) the companyt originated when a couple of Nortel engineers decided to quit and start a company of their own.
The story goes that the thought that there was a good market for electric lawnmowers. They named the company Mitel for MIke and Terry's Electric Lawnmowers.
Unfortunately the lawn mowers arrived in the middle of the winter and needless to say there was no cash flow. So Mike and Terry decided to fall back to their skills in telecom.
Anyway, they have been around for quite some time. They used to be a major supplier of ICs for communication equipment as well as PBXs. About 2-3 years ago they "reorganized" and the IC division was sold off (I don't recall what there name is now).
The PBX division is still called Mitel and seems to be alive and well.
We have an SX-2000 and have been happy, though we wish we'd waited till they added ISDN because the upgrade is expensive.
I would agrre with senk1s in that sarting with a new system will prbably be more expensive vs and upgrade, not to mention the other factors mentioned.
Good luck
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1
- #4
I'm biased. Go with the Mitel. I find that they have better support and are more likely to listen to their vendors in creating, enhancing new product. They have been around for close to thirty years and are based in Ottawa. I have found that there are pros and cons to both. Mitel's 3300 is very flexible, much more compact, and easier to program as it is all web based, not command line like the OPtion series.
They aren't as big as their Canadian brother, Nortel, but they're not going broke either!
Mitel was public through most of the 80's and 90's and then were bought back by one of the original owners, ( the other guy owns Corel Software Corp). Terry Matthews sold off the semiconductor division,(Zarlink) and took Mitel private. Since that time Mitel has developed a lot of their IP strategy and have come a long way with their product, not just relying on hotel/motel and samll business.
They aren't as big as their Canadian brother, Nortel, but they're not going broke either!
Mitel was public through most of the 80's and 90's and then were bought back by one of the original owners, ( the other guy owns Corel Software Corp). Terry Matthews sold off the semiconductor division,(Zarlink) and took Mitel private. Since that time Mitel has developed a lot of their IP strategy and have come a long way with their product, not just relying on hotel/motel and samll business.
Having been a vendor in the industry for 25+ years, I can definintly say that it is less costly and just as easy to get the features you need to upgrade than it is to buy a different system. Good luck...
We all need a little help once in awhile. Tony the Phoneman..
We all need a little help once in awhile. Tony the Phoneman..
macphoneguy
IS-IT--Management
Well here's My .02 Cents, I've worked with Both Mitel (sx-2000) and the Nortel Option 11 and assorted Nortel key systems, I found the Mitel to be easier to program and make Move/Add/Change's then the Nortel, But I perhaps I'm a bit biased also I think your Best Bet if you have Nortel and Mitel "Barking at your Door" Have them put together a proposal that would cover all Aspects of the Move you mentioned, Sort of thinking "Beyond the Box" to pardon the Cliche and see how much option A: is Ver option B: Cost's
to break down the proposal they respond to assign each area a point Value, (cabling/Training/Warrenty/Etc)and then add them up, I realize it's somewhat apples and oranges but Good Luck
to break down the proposal they respond to assign each area a point Value, (cabling/Training/Warrenty/Etc)and then add them up, I realize it's somewhat apples and oranges but Good Luck
Here is my 2 cents both systems are good ones but I am bias to NORTEL. As far as the MITEL guy saying he can do it at half the cost I find that hard to believe. Outside of the system replacing 400 phone sets can cost a few $$. I like the upgrade option, and as far as NORTEL going broke Canada itself said that would not happen. Good Luck.
for what it's worth IMHO 
it's never good to split a system.
If you going to have one dial plan for all users then you don;t want to be having part of it on one system and part on another.
it complicates routing tables, moves and changes and a lot of other factors. Imagine someone changes buildings and wants to take their number with them......
We had an avaya 8700 dropped into the middle of an MD110 network (against my advise) and it was a pig to administer.
Either stick with one system by doing the upgrade or change the whole lot out.
Del
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umm,it IS supposed to do that, right??
it's never good to split a system. If you going to have one dial plan for all users then you don;t want to be having part of it on one system and part on another.
it complicates routing tables, moves and changes and a lot of other factors. Imagine someone changes buildings and wants to take their number with them......
We had an avaya 8700 dropped into the middle of an MD110 network (against my advise) and it was a pig to administer.
Either stick with one system by doing the upgrade or change the whole lot out.
Del
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
umm,it IS supposed to do that, right??
30 years and certified in both, plus rolm and a few others. that is not the 1st time i have heard a sales person lie. mitel is a decent switch, half the cost is not going to happen. an up graded to voip rls 4 etc, the mitel phones will cost about the same as the complete upgrade. if i had a 200 room hotel, i would own a mitel, nothing else, you can't give me an opt 11. for a app the size of yours, you need a business switch and a salesman that you can beleive. either take him up on that sales pitch. get the quote for the upgrade, voip, new ip phones for your offsite people and let him install a new switch with that many stations and voice mail etc for half of about 150K
john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc
john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc
i would go for the Mitel, the 3300 is an absolute beast with what i think are the best looking IP phones about ask Alcatel they stole half their designs for the IP touch range. Also the mitel being an easyier switch to master from a data persons back ground, but Johnpoole is right it wont be 1/2 price that salesman is full of it
- Thread starter
- #13
jneiberger
Technical User
racejason, can you tell us more about what you didn't like? We've been evaluating VoIP vendors and we've seen a lot of information and demos from Nortel, Avaya, Mitel, and Cisco. We thought the Mitel stuff was pretty good. In fact, they're probably the top two contenders in this project. I'd be very interested to hear what you didn't like about the Mitel PBX.
Thanks!
John
Thanks!
John
jneiberger
Technical User
johnpoole,
We're actually going through a paper evaluation of Nortel, Avaya, Mitel, and Cisco. We've received responses to our original Requests for Information and we've seen a few demos from everyone.
At the beginning of the project I thought Nortel would be the best option since we're already a Nortel PBX shop. Then I heard about Mitel and they have a pretty interesting solution. Avaya's is pretty good, as well, but after getting more information I would have to say that I'm *really* leaning toward Cisco. They seem to have thought of a lot of things that the others haven't, yet.
Additionally, the others have the problem of grandfathering their legacy systems and interfaces. Cisco had the benefit of being able to basically start from scratch and design a system with a new approach. I'm starting to really like that approach, and any misgivings I've had, they've had answers to.
I also like the direction they're going. I've heard some information (under NDA) regarding future features that I really like. If I were forced to make a choice today I would certainly choose Cisco.
We're still trying to remain objective throughout the evaluation but I'm becoming pretty biased toward Cisco, almost to a fault.
We're actually going through a paper evaluation of Nortel, Avaya, Mitel, and Cisco. We've received responses to our original Requests for Information and we've seen a few demos from everyone.
At the beginning of the project I thought Nortel would be the best option since we're already a Nortel PBX shop. Then I heard about Mitel and they have a pretty interesting solution. Avaya's is pretty good, as well, but after getting more information I would have to say that I'm *really* leaning toward Cisco. They seem to have thought of a lot of things that the others haven't, yet.
Additionally, the others have the problem of grandfathering their legacy systems and interfaces. Cisco had the benefit of being able to basically start from scratch and design a system with a new approach. I'm starting to really like that approach, and any misgivings I've had, they've had answers to.
I also like the direction they're going. I've heard some information (under NDA) regarding future features that I really like. If I were forced to make a choice today I would certainly choose Cisco.
We're still trying to remain objective throughout the evaluation but I'm becoming pretty biased toward Cisco, almost to a fault.
jneiberger
Technical User
Racejason, can you tell us more about what you didn't like about the Mitel PBX?
jneiberger
Technical User
johnpoole,
Our data network is Cisco and we have a bunch of Option 11C PBXs, a few Norstars, and an 81C. Nortel is recommending that we add signaling servers, an NRS, and the other odds-and-ends to make this into a VoIP network. The Option 11s would become 1000Ms.
If the cost were the same, would you be tempted to go down that road? Or, if you're going to make the jump to IP telephony, would you bite the bullet and still go with Cisco to get a better overall solution?
I know there are a lot of variables. I'm just curious to get your opinion.
Our data network is Cisco and we have a bunch of Option 11C PBXs, a few Norstars, and an 81C. Nortel is recommending that we add signaling servers, an NRS, and the other odds-and-ends to make this into a VoIP network. The Option 11s would become 1000Ms.
If the cost were the same, would you be tempted to go down that road? Or, if you're going to make the jump to IP telephony, would you bite the bullet and still go with Cisco to get a better overall solution?
I know there are a lot of variables. I'm just curious to get your opinion.
jneiberger
Technical User
I think this needs its own thread so I'll start a new one.
John
John
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