Nortel vs. ???

[captnamo]

We're going to be moving from CS1000E 6.0 sometime in the next 18 to 24 months. Our two cores are geographically split, we have Geo-redundant CallPilot voicemail, use Avaya Aura Contact Center (no big centers, just pockets of departmental answering points who wanted calls in queue, 60 agents?), capture CDR with Calero (VeraSmart) and do limited recording on IP phones with TelStrat.

I think I'm reading Cisco in the writing on the wall. So, I'm curious, for those of you who have made a change away from the reliable Nortel, what did you move to and how has your experience been. Also, if you moved to Cisco, how has your experience been?

I read a thread with posts from 8 years ago indicating that there was no comparison to the Nortel vs. Cisco. Just wondering if things have changed.

 

[getsomesun1]

You need to investigate the EmetroTel UCx. It is a direct migration path for the CS1000 and all other Nortel systems. You can re-use all your phones and get all the features you mentioned above with 1 license per user. We have been installing them for over a year and they are rock solid. Customers coming from Nortel can't really tell the difference.

Do yourself and your company a favor and check it out.

 

[KCFLHRC]

I work for a large Telco and we now sell Avaya IPO and Shoretel. They both have redundancy. We also sell the Avaya CM as well as Cisco but the bulk of sales are IPO and Shoretel as well as our own Hosted Solution using Polycom SIP sets.

 

[fataldata]

I brought up the option to upgrade our 81C to a previous administrator, he believed it would not be an option because our IPE's (I think this is the correct term) have a copper backplane and upgrading would require cabinets with fiber backplanes. Does this sound accurate? The system is Version 3021 Release 3.

 

[KCFLHRC]

There are no fiber IPE backplanes in an 81C. Just fiber network group controllers called FIJI Cards. You can upgrade that 81 to 7.6 with very little hardware and maybe no hardware depending on your card vintages and your current configuration.

 

[fataldata]

Thank you sir, I will do some research to find if we have FIJI cards.

 

[KCFLHRC]

Also check and see what the part #'s are on the Core card cages and if you are using Pentium IV Processors. The FIJI cards replaced the IGS Cards

 

[fataldata]

I don't believe we have Pentiums. My call processor cards are NORTEL NT5D03FB. I also don't believe we have FIJI's b/c I cannot stat them in LD39 but I can stat igs 0 and 1. As for the cages looks like NT5D21DA is the sticker on the upper right of the shelf.

 

[captnamo]

Still looking for recommendations from anyone who has moved from Nortel to something other than Avaya (expecially Cisco) and what experiences have been, pro and con.

(You option 81 guys should really start your own thread.) =o)

 

[KCFLHRC]

We just replaced an 81c at a Hospital with an Avaya IPO Server Edition. If you have deep pockets buy the Cisco, it's a good product. Kinda depends on what features and capacity you are looking for. We sell Cisco, Avaya and Shoretel. I cant remember the last time we did a Cisco, it has been years. Just too damn expensive. Another plus about moving to Avaya is you can get a discount for displacing that old 81, Cisco and Shoretel will not.

 

[janni78]

Sounds like going to Aura is a more natural move since it will let you keep some of the investment, unless you really wanna move to Cisco =)

Avaya IPO Server Edition is the low budget solution but if money isn't a key factor I would stick with an enterprise grade system.

"Trying is the first step to failure..." - Homer

 

[captnamo]

Cisco is likely because we're part of a consortium (schools/local government) that has negotiated a pretty amazing discount off list price and share call managers.

My big concern is if Cisco can really do all the telephony (features/operation) and whether a consultant (Cisco data) can translate what we have in the TDM world to the IP world.

 

[fataldata]

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, just looking for upgrade options as well. I'm putting this one out to quote for upgrade, or replacement with Avaya or Cisco.

 

[RLSbutton]

You need to check the Emetrotel product out, seriously!

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[RLSbutton]

A few more things I should clarify, when you switch over a Meridian 1 platform to the E-MetroTel platform, all of the features and functions stay the same, while the background equipment gets updated to the E-MetroTel platform. Why is this so easy? The guys designing and building the UCx, are the same guys that designed and built the Meridian 1/CS1000 at Nortel.

A web based E-MetroTel GUI controls the Meridian 1 programming, as opposed to the older days of entering lines of TN/DN etc. codes on the Meridian 1 terminal.

Another awesome feature is the interoperability of the Meridian 1 with other Nortel telephones. You can use BCM-Norstar M/T series telephones right next to the M1/CS1000 phones. You can use any Nortel IP phone or open source IP phone such as Polycom/Yealink right next to the Nortel sets.

E-Metrotel also introduced a WebRTC client that uses 1100 Series IP Phone technology as a web based soft phone that can be used on any PC or Mac.

You definitely need to at least talk to them before you pitch all of that great Nortel equipment you've invested in.


Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[KCFLHRC]

I would argue that the E-MetroTel solution is not a like for like replacement. I have a customer moving to this platform and you cant have multiple appearances of a DN according to him. It's a big issue for him.

 

[RLSbutton]

KCFLHRC,

On the UCx, you can use ringing BLF keys to provide multiple ringing destinations - either for other phones or for virtual extensions if the "other appearance(s)" are not for a phone. You can also have up to 5 line appearances of your DN (so, up to 5 calls). Finally, with shared call appearances, you can get additional keys that can be used to handle calls.

The E-MetroTel guys take every customers feature request into consideration and if someone really needs a feature, they can investigate getting it to work on the UCx.

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[RickyPone]

I'm sysadmin for a moderately sized health system, approximately 11k users. We are migrating to Cisco, have been for a couple of years now, It will be a slow process for us but it's our long term plan. For the most part you have all of the same features excluding paging. You'll need a third party for that. Cisco works well a little more cumbersome to administer but it's just a learning curve.

 

[captnamo]

Thanks for your input RickyPone!

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

The key thing to remember is that everything is going towards IP. Every customer will have different requirements which was why the Nortel platform was excellent in the past as it was very flexible compared to other PABX's around at that time.

There is no longer a need for wires, fans churning away, loads of power supply connections, engineers to carry out wiring / card changes etc or a large room to put it all in.

For most customers, there isn't even the urgency if the phone system fails with an outage these days as most people have other forms of communication such as email, and cell phones etc.

The major concerns are customers who need to have a stable and solid system such as a hospital or call centre and this is where in my opinion that it needs careful thought when replacing the phone system.

Over here on this side of the pond, Microsoft Lync, Cisco, Shoretel, IPO, and quite a few other systems sell very well.

Cisco does well with customers when they already have a foot in the door on existing data equipment as they offer the PABX at a very reasonable price.

One customer I know, went from an Option 11c to Lync two years ago and the cost of installation paid for itself within 6 months. This was based on almost everyone having a softphone on their laptop reducing the need to purchase fixed phones and the current cost of conference calls, which were very costly for the company.




Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley