Upgrade or Forklift?

[thattekguy]

What are customers looking for? What do I do if I was a customer who has a Nortel PBX for the last 10+ years and need to either upgrade or do a forklift? Do I spend 100,000 and stay with Avaya (Nortel) Meridian and benefit from my software licenses and some hardware,and basically have the same thing (some people just see it as a phone on there desk) or do I rip it all out and go with Cisco,Avaya, Shoretel..etc? I know it is somewhat a preference but where do you think the industry is heading? I have only known Nortel for the last 20 years but I don't want to be left behind.I am thinking alot about the Shoretel and also hosted VOIP solutions. I think customers are moving away from the Meridian pbx's. We have seen so many customers leave by no fault of our own and go with other systems in the past few years. Now anyone can download some Asterisk software and go buy some phones and have a PBX, I know a site that is doing that exact thing.
Just want to hear some thoughts, thanks.

 

[bigindian65]

I vote shoretel, mitel, cisco, hobo, anything but avaya supported lol

Mato' Was'aka

 

[KCFLHRC]

Here are my thoughts. Avaya is doing everything they can to displace the legacy Noretl equipment. They bought them for a reason and it wasn't to keep the product around. They bought the customers basically. We had a customer recently that needed to upgrade. They had 2 sites with about 300 phones total. It was cheaper for them to buy a brand new Avaya IP office with all new phones then it was to upgrade their current 2 Opt. 11's with no new phones at all. Basically upgrading the processors, software and voice mail. I have always been loyal to Nortel, but after these clowns bought them I think the end is near as to what we once new as a great and stable product.

 

[thattekguy]

I am told by Avaya that the Nortel pbx will basically be a feature server in the future, but that they are coming out with more releases. I agree though that Nortel will go way of the dinosaur someday.

 

[redvol1]

Shoretel

 

[KCFLHRC]

I have worked on Nortel PBX's for over 20 years, it's a shame it has to come to this. I always thought the Nortel product line was as good as any. But lately, I question that. My company has recently picked up the Shoretel product line. I guess it's time to learn something new. Wish I was retirement age. I have seen a lot in my 32 years in the business, unfortunately I probably have at least 15 more to go. I will probably croak in a switch room.

 

[steve64]

I've been a Nortel person since the early 1980s and am totally disappointed in what Avaya is doing to a great product and to the loyal Nortel customer base. If I were a business owner utilizing a Nortel switch and was told by Avaya that I couldn't add licenses or features unless I spent $$$$ to upgrade to the latest software release I'd remove them from the potential supplier list. Mitel, Shortel, NEC etc all make good products. What Avaya is doing to their customers borders on Blackmail.

 

[janaya]

we have been upgrading to 7.5, but it all depends on what the customer wants from their system.

I have always stated, that if the upgrade of the phone system is not going to make you any money, and you are not looking to add any new features that will make you money, there is no need to upgrade.

If you have at least Succession 5.0 you can still add licenses to the phone system only right now through the e-authorization program so increase your capacity now.

You can get PASS Basic support if you are worried about patches, but there are no new patches for Succession 3.0 through 5.5. Some patches for 6.0 are still coming out and 7.5 is still good.

Then AURA will take over and we will all go SIP and be happy. Or we will at least fake it

But if I had to choose a replacement, it would all depend on the customer location. I work Avaya S8XXX systems back to G3, Nortel up to 7.5, Ci$co CallManager and I guess I would go Ci$co, but they are real proud of their $y$tem and phone$.

 

[scotthdiv]

Nortel (Avaya CS1000) isn't going anywhere. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about (or is trying to sell you a different product).

Take a peek at the upcoming 7.7 and try to convince me otherwise.

 

[scotthdiv]

That sounded a bit confrontational and wasn't directed at anyone in this thread. It was directed squarely at some Avaya sales folks trying to forklift out old Nortel equipment rather than exploring the option of upgrading them.

 

[NETWT]

? what do 99.9% of all hospitals have for a system
it's like that one germ that cant be killed

 

[tball1]

bye!bye!bye!hello forklift so long nortel

 

[curtismo]

No Shoretel. I just got rid of some 3Com NBX system and good riddence multicast phone stuff. Understand Shoretel uses multicast for some functions and there's no way I want to have to work with that in my network infrastructure any more than I have to.

 

[BrokenRecord2]

You have some crappy reps if you think you need to replace your Nortel system. If you think you won't have any issues with othe vendors then I have some pet rocks for sale. I'm not saying stay but at least open do your homework before making that leap.

 

[thattekguy]

Thanks for the responses. I am aware that the Nortel (avaya) will be around for a while. We just did a few upgrades to 7 and 7.5, but there are also alot of customers looking at other options who would have never thought of it in the past. I would love to be able to work on Nortel for the next 20+ years (since I need one foot in the grave to retire) but I just don't see it. Like I said I know Avaya is coming out with more releases but I still don't think customers feel all warm and fuzzy about Nortel/Avaya the way they used to.

 

[mugen112]

I have a lot of customers who are at the cross roads of upgrading or forklifting...but what we are doing is leveraging the Nortel gear for high density Analog/Digital and then pushing for expansion with IP. IP could be either on the Nortel or Avaya side with lot's of new phones and soft clients to choose from.

There is no reason to forklift...and in many cases the Avaya gear is just as/more expensive than the Nortel gear/upgrade.

http://voipdesigner.blogspot.com/

Jason Black, Senior Design Specialist

 

[gmreed]

Actually I have been quite surprised at how much Avaya has incorporated Nortel technology both with the equipment and the people. I am a customer that has a large enterprise of 30+ PBX's and a forklift would have cost millions. Instead, we upgraded our PBX's (yes that cost money but Nortel was headed down the same path of not allowing additions if you were not within a reasonable upgrade level and hey they did go bankrupt - any other vendor does the same thing). Avaya large PBX customers are in the same boat as Nortel, they are being migrated over to Avaya Aura the same exact way Nortel customers can. The BCM is going away and being replaced by the Avaya IP Office however the call center system AACC is basically the CCM 8.0 Nortel based system.

We have upgraded to 7.5 and added the System Manager and Session Manager (Avaya Aura) and are very happy with the results. The way they are headed with this will provide the best long term, at our own pace, transition to SIP. I am nearly certified on System and Session Manager and the things that we will be able to do with it using our older Nortel systems is quite remarkable.