Replaceing CS1000 in the next 24 months. 5

[jryker]

Who here is starting to or has replaced their CS1000? What are you looking at and why?

Nothing wrong with ours but we are starting to evaluate our communication needs for the next 10+ years. Clearly we are looking at VoIP and moving to SIP. We have 500 users at corporate office on the CS1000 using AT&T Digilink (ADL) and 10 satellite offices running BCM50’s through local telcos. Looking at something that integrates well across offices yet be self-sustainable. Looking for skills based routing and detailed reporting.

Quick short list is:
Avaya – natural since they are the incumbent
Cisco – All our networking equipment is Cisco and we have good VAR support
Mitel – We run VMWare in about 99% of the organization. Looks like VMWare has a relationship with Mitel that may be helpful.
Shoretel – up and comer but I worry about them long term
Microsoft Lync – I like a lot of that I see them doing but not sure since new to the game. Being that we are A) already a MS house and B) already own the licenses for everything. Do they have the features a traditional system has?

I’d love to hear some of your thoughts. What did you do, where are you going, ect.

 

[gwmyers]

Has anyone actually upgraded their CS1K PBX to Rls. 7.6?
We are thinking of keeping "Nortel" for the use of 500 and 39XX.
Anyone familiar with the 1140E VoIP phone from Avaya?
How does it compare to the 9641 VoIP phone from Nortel?
What is the latest CallPilot Rls?

 

[JVendin]

We are just starting to roll out the first R7.6 during Oktober-November, one being a 1000E 5.5 with around ~400 user today, and the other is a 1000M 4.5 with roughly 4,500users.
Not much difrent from the R7.5 systems here. Feels more like a service pack. There are some new stuff to the Session manager i belive.
The 11xx and 12xx series IP phones came out when it was still "Nortel" and the build quaility feels very good, just like the 39xx digital sets.
Same problem when lifting the handset though, on some phones the spring aint strong enough to open crotch fully, easily fixed ...

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Hello GWMyers,

You have those turned around

"Anyone familiar with the 1140E VoIP phone from Avaya?
How does it compare to the 9641 VoIP phone from Nortel?"

I have Nortel 1140E phones and Avaya 9630G phones working on the same platform.

My personal observations?
The 1140E is solid and robust. The dialpad keys are extremely easy to dial with. The handset is heavy and durable. The ringtones are more modern sounding, especially the cs1000 ring tones. Phone settings are much more robust as well, such as being able to choose "Dialpad feedback: silence,DTMF,short clicks. The speakerphone during a call is very crisp and sounds like it's in stereo. Downfall? Taking the damn phone out of the box and unlatching the clasp that holds it shut. I have broken a few stands by trying to unlatch it.

The 9630G set had a really cool display, but other than that....the handset feels as light as a feather, the dialpad is extremely difficult to dial on, and the feedback on the DTMF tones when dialing on speaker is really weak. The speakerphone is also really weak and garbly-sounds like mono.

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[gwmyers]

Thank You
Good Information

 

[gwmyers]

It is my understanding that if we
If you upgrade a digital-only CS 1000 to support VoIP, then you can keep using your "Nortel" digital sets.
Upgrade CS1K PBX to Rls 7.6
Is this correct?

 

[scotthdiv]

The Nortel/Avaya 1100/1200 IP sets are capable of running a SIP load and will be fully compatible with Avaya CM/System & Session Manager. Many Avaya products also support being loaded on VMWare - including CM and System/Session Manager. Add in the discounts you could receive by migrating to a CM and Avaya definitely deserves a look.

 

[gwebster]

@gwmyers. If you upgrade your digital-only CS 1000 to the latest release (7.6) and add support for VoIP, then you can definitely keep using your analog and M39xx digital sets.

 

[hawks]

Yes you can use both if you're IP enabled I'm running RLS 5.5 and using 500 sets, 2008, 2616, 39xx, I2002, I1120, I1140e.

 

[gwmyers]

Thanks for the replys
Could someone provide a basic list of what is needed to support VoIP.
CS1KM
Upgrade to 7.6
Thanks

 

[gwmyers]

If you upgrade your digital-only CS 1000 to the latest release (7.6) and add support for VoIP, then you can definitely keep using your analog and M39xx digital sets.
Is there documentation to support this?
We were looking at going Avaya Red but have learned the digital sets would not work with that Upgrade.

 

[hawks]

didn't you see my post? I'm at release 5.5 and using all of the above. check with your vendor about the upgrade because it could be as simple as keycodes, media card, and sig server all the way to having to replace cabinets. what release are you at now?

 

[jryker]

Great conversation here.

Looks like that 24 months has been shorten to 4-6 months. We've narrowed it down to Avaya, Cisco and Microsoft. We're thinking SIP to the HQ and the use our MPLS to the remote sites. Then we can justify upgrading their circuits at the same time. Next step is getting our wants/needs for sure defined and asking the vendors to present. I would like to hear some feedback regarding experience with similar transitions or new rollouts. How did you handle the switchover. All at once or staggered? What did you do to teach users the new system? How did you handle disaster recovery?

Looking forward to responses.

 

[Funk49]

Let's see. We had/have a main campus building and two remote sites, one of which was a 3 story new construction project (consolidating many smaller offices to this one site).
So we basically had a (3) Phase Project.
Phase 1 was the first remote site (around 150 users) and just enough equipment for the Core CS1000E at the main site
Phase 2 was the second remote site (around 200 users), again working off the Core CS1000E at the main campus
Phase 3 was the main campus around 2500 analog/digital ports

The vendor installed a new BlackBox rack with the UPS and SMG/MG1000E at the new construction site. They then installed just enough racks/chassis back at the main campus to install the Core CS1000E to support this new facility, the main campus would cut later in Phase 3. Now, we barely had enough room to fit these data racks/cabinets in the telephone equipment room behind the (4) cabinets of the Rolm 9751, but we did it. It was tight. At first we had just one data rack for the Core, then (2) to get the first (2) remotes up and running. Eventually we had (5) data racks + (1) off the side for all of the CCMA, Call Pilot, NMC, etc. (6) all together.

Once our WAN data services were up and running at our remote site and our PRIs were up and running we installed a T1 between the new CS1000E (1/4 assembled) and our then PBX Rolm 9751. The vendor set it up so that the new facility (working off the Core CS1000E) could dial our then current Rolm users via our WAN back to the Core and then via the Tie line back to the Rolm users via a new access code and some translation tables.

Phase 2 was a smaller cut that transpired over a long weekend and a couple weeks of follow up.

For our main campus there were some different interfaces to deal with, mainly our Amtelco call center server (2 QSIG PRIs) and our SpectraLink/Polycom MCU 3000 900Mhz wireless system with 200+ digital ports emulating 2616 phones (used to be 200+ ports off the Rolm emulating the RP400 sets). The 6140s and 802.11 wireless came later on, not a priority for the main cut.

The Amtelco Call Center server (main answering point) we cut early thanks to that T1 connecting our old PBX to the new PBX allowing our operators access to both the new Nortel users already cut and the Rolm users who hadn't converted over yet.

The overall main campus was basically one band-aid rip.
The new phones were all set out next to the users then current Rolm phones.

Training took place in a room supporting about (30) phones? and (40) users, and classes were scheduled for all shifts over a 2 month period. If I remember correctly.

The vendor did a great job of taking my cable book and prewiring as much as they could (2000+) with the cross connects looped over each pair ready for when they pulled the old switch tails and cross connect and punched down the new cross connect already connected to the Nortel TNs.
They also rigged a board carrying pre-wired 66B blocks with telco connectors and the switch tails of the CS1000E going to our critical departments spread out with maybe (48) 39XX digital phones. These would be the first phones up, as fast as they could plug the tails in. They were up in less than 15 minutes.

The idea was that the most we would be down would be as fast as we could disassemble a couple of the Rolm cabinets and roll the Rolm 9751 out of the room and roll the already assembled (5 rack) CS1000E (behind it) into its place and start connecting the switch tails that had already been run and were hanging in the cable tray above the old PBX.

Overall it was a very smooth conversion for a hospital cut over.

 

[guycable2]

This is exaclty what we are looking at doing within the next year. Already have quotes from Avaya for the CM. We are replacing a bunch (190) or so Key Systems at different sites with a centralized CM and SIP Trunks in our Data Center(s).

I would also like to hear feedback and experience with this type of rollout.

 

[curtismo]

And before you drink the provider-based IP phone system Kool-Aid why don't you Google to find a story from last week when a major local public University lost 5000 IP lines for 24 hours. They went with the hosted Broadsoft IP solution from a big-3 LEC working away from CS2k and DMS-100 tried-and-true solution and managed to spend a day without phones in the hospital, call centers, etc.

 

[jryker]

Anyone ever try running a softphone from any of these vendors on a vm over VMWare through a thin terminal? I see that HP and Dell have something to install at the terminals client level but what if you don't use them?

 

[BorisBadinuff]

There are a few market drivers that should be considered:

1) Any new system will be IP
2) SIP will be the prefered Protocol
3) Federation over the internet supports many more modalities than PSTN.

As such I believe the best choice is Microsoft Lync. It is built around a "presence" core vs. a "voice" core, delivers IM/Presence/Voice/Video and collaboration to every desk top, and is supported on any "BYOD" device - be it Android, iPhone/Pad, etc. As well as a ton of inexpensive devices from USB to IP phones. The Microsoft ecosystem deliveres tons of hardware and software add ons - including best in class contact centres.

As far as communcating via Federation, the World Wide Federation directory listes over 18,000 companies who are using open federation.

 

[impressme]

I was recently told that our EOL for Avaya Blue (Nortel) CS1000M is December 31, 2016. Not sure how accurate that is ...

 

[tball1]

Release 6.0 software is scheduled to go eoss on noveember 2016.Release 7.5 is set for sept 2018 no date for 7.6

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

If you decide you want to keep your phones and infrastructure, the UCx from E-Metrotel supports Meridian One and CS1000 M2000, M3900 sets as well as all Nortel IP Unistim sets, Norstar M and T series sets as well as third party SIP phones.

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com