The Death of the BCM 200 and 400

[NARSBARS]

The BCM 50 is almost here. I have just finished reading preview documentation of the 50 and the 50 or a big brother will replace the BCM 200s and 400s. We knew this was coming due to the final discontinuation of support for NT 4 by Microsoft in 2005.
Looks like things are going to stay interesting.
I wonder how this will affect the "Evergreen philosophy"
since no more support will mean no more patches or security fixes, leaving the existing BCMs more and more in danger of hackers.


NARSBARS

 

[mitelman]

Yeah Nortel! Maybe the 50 will be a lot better than the other 2. Where did you see the preview docs?

 

[cmawbey]

Nars

i would like to read this doc.. can you post it or a link to it

Thanks

Colin

 

[teleplop]

Ditto! Where did you read about this?

Teleplop

 

[NARSBARS]

I got the docs on the basis of "If you pass these around, you will never get another tip". They are not published at this time but I expect the first announcements to go around in about thirty days.
My main worry is that having purchased 25 BCMs over the last year with several to still go in on the existing contract is future security. What am I going to do with a box that Microsoft has dropped all support for?

NARSBARS

 

[mitelman]

I would also imagine that Nortel will require hardware changes to migrate any existing platforms, too.... But I will glad to get away from NT. It drives me nuts putting on patches because of Microsoft security issues. I guess the big problem is that we will probably get lots of updates on the new product as they work out the bugs.

 

[cmawbey]

rumour in the UK is that we are gonna have a LINUX operating system in the new BCM's

Colin

 

[luv2ski]

thats what i thought it said for us/can version ..linux based

ski season has started

 

[BCMguyDOTcom]

That is correct. The BCM 50 is a LINUX box. BCM 200 and 400 will move to Linux with release 4.0. I don't really see any problems from an 'evergreen' standpoint, as BCM200 and 400 will be supported, and an 'upgrade' will be available. How the upgrade will be facilitated has yet to be determined (may be a harddisk replacement or re-image process). Hope this helps.

BCMguy.com

www.BCMguy.com

 

[NARSBARS]

The problem is that as of this summer there will be no more NT support from Microsoft and Nortel has made no announcements of hardware or programs for the 200 or 400.
Do you want to be using version 1.0 of a possibly rushed fix?
After all of that, I will probably start implementing any (FREE) fix that Nortel offers and if the charges aren't too great I will even pay for Linux because I think that it will have more flexibility.

NARSBARS

 

[teleplop]

All this talk about BCM 50 being LINUX. I can't believe that NORTEL would just drop Microsoft like that. I wonder what happend??

Teleplop

 

[cmawbey]

maybe bill gates is bringing out his own kit

could be called MS FART 50 ( For Anally Retentive Techies )

Colin

 

[IPGuru]

Linux is Free- Open source & can be modified by the end user if necesary, Ic an also be run with a much smaller overhead if things like a GUI are not required on the box.
Linux is inherently more secure & far better suited to embeded applications than any windows flavor.

Microsoft Have stuffed Nortel once by dropping support for NT without a suitable upgrade path (or BCMS would already be using Win 2k or XP) this alone seems reason enough to jump ship.

 

[joverly]

Nortel has an extended support agreement with Microsoft until mid-2006 for Embedded (or "Hardended") NT 4 (per Nortel Rep in both KC and Charlotte). So they have a little over a year. If you want extended support they would be glad to do that for a fee. They have made the fee high enough that most companies will opt to move to 2003 server. They have made the cost of doing nothing more expensive than migrating.

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/productinfo/availability/retiring.asp

"This additional year of no-fee support ends December 31, 2004. Customers migrating to Windows Server 2003 may request and obtain a custom support agreement to provide additional limited security update support through 2006.

 

[mitelman]

Microsoft Have stuffed Nortel once by dropping support for NT without a suitable upgrade path (or BCMS would already be using Win 2k or XP) this alone seems reason enough to jump ship."

Wow, you're blaming Microsoft for not providing an upgrade path? Nortel is at fault here taking the risk of using the product. Wasn't windows 2000 already out by the time the BCM was released? I think the biggest reason Nortel used NT embedded was that it was CHEAP. Mitel also had alot of NT stuff for awhile. They also distributed it on their stuff like candy until they ran out of licenses.

 

[teleplop]

Just for the record. BCM 50 is a 50 user system. 200 and 400 will not be going away however the newer platform will be Linux and there will be an upgrade for existing BCM platforms

Teleplop

 

[IPGuru]

MitelMan, I agree with your point Nortel were very foolish to adopt a 3rd party operating system that they have no
controll over for the core of ther platform. Especialy one with as many weeknesses as Windows.

Linux being open source should mean that Nortel can support the platform almost indefinetly, customising the OS where necessary & only upgrading if required.

 

[Florinake]

BCM 50 is about to cover the gap till BCM 200, something like what is done by the small Norstars... in rest, same modules, phones, etc. os evergreen is still active!

 

[fiberman40]

Why does Nortel even want to change the OS of the Norstar? Why not just make a module to do IP connectivity and IP phones. Why fix something that isn't broke? I am certified on the BCM and the Norstar and all the BCM gave us is more to go wrong. If you think the hackers give the Norstar grief wait till the Linux crowd gets into these BCM's. Why not build a RAD that can be used with an internet browser and the Norstar will be the bomb.

I WILL FISH FOR FOOD

 

[Sphoneman]

If this was a MAC based system we could probably at least get free music downloads to the MacNortel based iPOD MOH platform & let the customer watch a QuickNortel time movie in between ACD ques.

2/15/04 in case anyone steals my idea.

Steve
tele-dataservices.com