Paging group with Mitel 3300 and IP Phones? 1

[cajuntank]

Finally after months of waiting on some re-wire for some of my schools, we are getting our 3300(s) put in. Paging was not an issue since each of these particular schools has there own paging system... until today. One of my schools complained that the existing paging wasn't working very well and they had been using the old Avaya Partner system to perform an "all page" here lately. When I asked the installer if we could use the Mitel and setup a group with all phones, he reminded me that the maximum number of IP phones allowed in a group was 16. I have around 40 IP phones at this one site which would need to be in a paging group.

Is there a software app that would allow this or am I better off going though an "external paging system" (something like I have now, but tieing it into the Mitel)?

I ask this since I know that Berbee has an XML application for Cisco's CallManager for paging. Thought their might be an app for that in regards to Mitel.

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

I take it then that these are CX boxes? The rule of thumb is half of the E2T channels, however there are no hard requirements for this, you can have up to 64 IP sets in a page (actually 63 receivers and 1 transmitter) before the software will limit you. Up to that point it's based on the number of free E2T channels.

 

[kwbMitel]

Irwin, I also am assuming this is a CX box based on the 16 member limitation. As well, I know this is an engineering recommendation based on the fact that the CX has 32 E2T channels and 50% use for paging is the design limit.

Programming 64 IP sets in a group on a CX would not work and would potentially cause sever issues on the system.

Additionally, I have found recently that rel 9.X limits voice passthru for IP paging regardless of the number of sets programmed. I have been unable to determine how it decides which phones get the page and which phones don't but suffice it to say that programming more than the design limit will not work as you expect it to.

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Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

There is a hard limit of 64 in an IP page group, regardless of system type.

 

[kwbMitel]

Sorry Cajuntank for taking over your post.

The bottom line answer to your question is your best bet is to use external paging as you have with all your other systems.

Irwin, can you explain "Hard Limit". I have a system with 100 IP sets in a group (Not programmed by me) Until a recent upgrade to release 9, the system worked fine. Now it pages only out of select phones (assumed 64). I have yet to determine how it selects the 64. My definition of Hard Limit would mean the system would prevent the addition of more than 64 phones in a group. There would also be issues with the fact that a MCD system supports up to 128 phones.

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Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

It's an internal limit when the page tries to get generated, not when it's programmed. Prior to 9.0 the system would try until it exhausted the channels, now it will also limit it 64.

The order in which it determines who gets paged is most likely related to the order in which the sets respond. Example, set A and set B are about to be paged, and there is only one channel left. Whoever responds first with an acknowledgment that it is ready to receive will get the last port.

If by MCD you mean the MXe Server (or the MXe in a gateway configuration) that supports 256 E2T channels, I think it still has the 64 member limit.

 

[kwbMitel]

Thanks Irwin, and yes I was refering to the MXE Server (or Sun Server) whichever applies.


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Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

No problem, but be careful, they are two separate beasts. MXe Server is the one that runs on the MXe platform with an APC card, and the paging is still performed by the E2T and is bound to the same rules as the standard 3300.

The version that runs on the Sun Server (called MCS, or actually they are all called MCD now, but I digress) is completely software only and isn't restricted by the number of E2T channels (because it doesn't have them). Having said that, I don't know if the 64 limit is still in, but I think it is.

 

[kwbMitel]

Information worthy of a star Irwin. Thanks

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Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[cajuntank]

OK... here's some of what I have:
50005096 3300 CX
54002533 3300 INTEGRATED S/W PKG (64 DEVICES)
50004871 3300 ANALOG OPTION BOARD II
50003728 Dual DSP MMC

All I will ever have at these smaller schools is 50 phones. I have a little less than that now... I have ver.9 something UR2 according to the installer due to 5312(s) and 5324(s) I had purchased. Can I have all phones in one paging group? Are these E2T channels on a card I can add to get up to my requirements?

Thanks.

 

[kwbMitel]

The design limit on a CX is 16 phones.

As mentioned earlier up to 32 might work but only if all 32 E2T channels are available. Someone on a call? make that 31. 3 people listening to music, down to 28. an outside caller leaving a voicemail message, (27)

So, no you cannot program all of your phones and you cannot increase the channels.

There are IP Paging offerings that I am aware of but I have no experience in. One that I know of can be used to cascade a page one group to the next to stay with the limits. Another uses actual IP Speakers that can be plugged into the LAN. No details sorry.

I imagine in your environment that the paging is used for anouncements and such so cascading would be useless.

I support a college with close to 1000 IP handsets and everytime underline/capitalize/bold EVERYTIME there is a shooting in a school somewhere this subject comes up. it all comes down to how much you want to spend.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

cajuntank, the CX isn't upgradeable in terms of the number of E2T channels it can support (they are a product of the board layout and the physical processor used in the system). Your best bet if you want to guarantee paging to all parties is an external system.