I don't know for sure, but I'll give it a 'whack:
When RLS 4 came out, to accommodate the hunt groups and (I can't remember the other big feature), Nortel separated the s/w cartridge from the VRAM and added memory on the VRAM in addition to the existing memory on the KSU (rather than adding memory to the KSU which = a major redesign). This is why, after replacing the VRAM, restores fail if there were hunt groups programmed (a mismatch of data on the VRAM's, old to new). If I was a betting man, I would say there is more memory on the R2 than the R1 for the additional features over time. I think that is a legitimate speculation.