Questions about maintenance, upgrade and releases...

[breakbuddy1]

We have put out an RFP for maintenance and upgrades for our 3 networked PBX's (81,61 and 11). We have received several bids and all seemed to be about the same price.

My question is- with the current release of Succession and the EOL announcement for the NT5D03FB Motorola processors, would it be wise to go ahead and purchase these processors assuming that the SRS (1 year coverage, so from summer 06-07) in our upcoming contract would cover the Succession 5.0 release? When is this release expected to come out? if so we would like to budget accordingly hoping that the new processors won't cost us an arm and a leg.

Thank you in advance,
-bb1.

 

[johnpoole]

they don't give a lot of lead time as to when 5.0 is coming out. if they did it would mean no one would buy 4.5. we are in the same shape.. we are on 3.0 and perfer to skip to 5.0. i am not concerned with the eol for the motorola. i feel with so many in the field nortel will suport those for another 2 or 3 years.. this is based on my experience with nortel, don't have insider information.. but close to 30 years with the line. if making the call here i would wait for 5.0 and look for a discount to upgrade cpu's about the same time.. almost all vendors will give you the same price, be sure to check with CUSTOMERS of a simular size before you make a choice.. that and if possible, the techs that will do site visits.. they mean more in the long run then the best sales team out there

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[Telephonist]

Software Release 5.0 will not support the Motorola processors. Release 4.5 is the last release to support the Motorola processors, and the first release to support the new Pentuim 4 processor. Also, the Pentium 4 processor will require the Fiber Network Fabric for the Option 81 - it will not work with the old copper network with inter-group switch cards.

To manage the upgrade process (and costs), we're going to upgrade our CS1000M - MG (Option 81C) to software release 4.5 this spring, then upgrade the processors and network fabric sometime in the following year, and possibly skip release 5.0, unless the timing works out that we can get it under the SRS subscription we purchase for the 4.5 upgrade.

Like John alluded to, I'm hoping that there will be a Nortel pricing incentive for the processor (and FNF) upgrades, once 5.0 is released and people have to upgrade.

 

[breakbuddy1]

typically, how does Nortel issue the "release" of new rls? in increments of .5? or would there more likely be a 4.7? 4.8?

again, I thank you for your answers!
-bb1.

 

[Telephonist]

I don't know that there is any "typical" release sequence, and since the CSE1000 and Meridian software streams were merged in the release of "Succession 3.0" (Nortel has since dropped the name "Succession"), there has been 3.0, 4.0, and 4.5. The 4.5 release was needed to support the new Pentium 4 processor. So the release history for the X21 software line is a little short to determine a typical sequence. At this point Nortel is saying that the next software release will be 5.0.

In the SRS marketing literature, Nortel says they are committed to at least one major or minor software release per year. It's not clear how the numbering will go if there is a minor release.

BTW, I was just looking over my notes from the INNUA conference I just attended, and saw a note that Meridian Mail will not be supported on release 5.0. Just something else to consider.

 

[johnpoole]

post is right, when rls 3 is published, they are working on rls 4, a rls 3.5 would usually mean that the dot five is a fix for the 3 and usually offers very few additional features... that info if from time in the field, not a nortel published procedure.. some rls's 10 years ago.. were just a month or so old before nortel "gave" the dotted version away free... 16.20 was replaced by 16.51 before most people even new it was out... rls 17 was a for sale rls. with new features

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[Slackliner]

Keep in mind... SRS relates to SOFTWARE upgrades only. If you lock into the SRS contract, notice it does not cover the hardware required to get you compatible for their latest release.