Number plans 1

[cquparry]

Hi all, I could do with some help and any hints to do with converting from a 4 digit closed number plan to a 5 digit one. I guess that I will need to insert and strip the additional digit and add it to NUTRI and LCR tables etc. All hints greatfully received

 

[dstrang1]

Hi Freddie,

Some questions for you......

How big is your system?

You said it's a closed number plan.....does that mean you currently do not have direct dial extensions, if so, when you convert, are you keeping that configuration or are you changing over to a direct dial environment as well?

Are you changing to a 5 digit dial plan because you need to expand your extension capacity, or because 5 digits are what the service provider will be sending you?

Is your conversion such that your existing number ranges will simply be appended with one additional digit, or do you have to transition to a completely different number range?

Can your new number range (whether completely different or one digit off) be added to number analysis without conflicting with existing entries?

We converted our switch several years ago in order to gain more extension capacity (BC6.32). We had direct dial ranges in 2 different office codes and we simply (in term only) appended the 4 digit ext. with the last digit od if's corresponding office code.

However, the actual process was not very simple in that we had 7500 extensions at the time.....Ericsson did a datagen and we reloaded the switch with the converted data -- very similar to a normal system upgrade.

As you plan, try to keep things as simple and logical as possible - this is a situation that is entirely too easy to overcomplicate.

Good luck,

Dave Strang

 

[cquparry]

Hi Dave, the system has approx 4500 extensions which are spread over 9 geographically remote sites. The system is a mix of MD110 and BP250 systems Qsig connected via VOIP trunks.
Closed number plan is probably the wrong name as all extensions have indial via ISDN. Dialling 4 digits connects to any extension.

The reason to change is to allow for users to have a video extension as well as a voice extension and to also differentiate between core business uers and partner business users.

Number ranges will stay the same but there will be some new ones due to expansion.

I don't see any problems adding an extra digit to number analysis without conflicting with current entries.

I guess what I'm having trouble getting my head around is all the places to insert and then strip digits to achieve the change. For example, if I wanted to allocate a user a video extension, I could prefix the extension number with 9XXXX and then the normal voice extension could be prefixed with 1XXXX. How does this affect indialling?. Do you simply number substitute an extra digit of the indial number. Say the existing number is 0749123456, would I number convert the digit 2 to allow for voice or video extension.

Hope I'm makin sense, as you said, it's easy to overcomplicate.
Thanks, Justin,

 

[dstrang1]

If I read this correctly, you want to make the changes internally, with no changes as far as external indialled calls and received inbound digits?

It seems that you can change your internal extension ranges to keep the original 4 digits and use a 5th digit to differentiate between voice and video (H.320 ISDN right?)fairly easily.


However, if your DID range from the public network is not going to change, you may have a mess on your hands....your number conversion tables will have to take incoming bearer capacity into account and convert on the basis of that.

You would (in theory) look for an indial call with a 64k or 56k bearer capacity only (data or video call) and translate the number to your new video extension but substitute the same bearer capacity as received. Your indialed calls with speech as bearer capacity would be translated to the new voice extension range. I honestly don't know if this will actually work

If you need to differentiate between core and partner users, why not use customer groups?

Your turn..... ;-)

Dave Strang

 

[cquparry]

Thanks Dave, you are correct in all your assumptions, especially the problem with bearer capacity. Also to complicate the matter more, the MD110 acts as a gateway for a Cisco Call Manager H.323. We had a brainstorm session yesterday and uncovered lots more possibilities to solve this problem. We are actively encouraging IP conferencing and already have a large RAD brand infrastructure including Gatekeepers, gateways, MCU and conference/presence server so ISDN is sort of on the way out as a conference medium. Essentially we will give priority users (management) direct indial for ISDN conferencing and everyone else can use a pilot point with IVR. It also means the RAD system has its own number analysis stack but this is seen as a fair trade off. It's getting more complex with IP looming large and coping with hybrid systems and having to deal with Enum, DNS and LDAP etc. Still, keeps us in a job.
Cheers, Justin.