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Would you migrate to UCx or Shortel 1

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lvNortel

lvNortel

Vendor
Dec 8, 2012
298
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I have installed Nortel for years and it is solid as a rock. I have so many systems and handsets etc. installed.

I am looking to the future, what would you do? Migrate to UCx or Shortel or someone else? I must have something to work with that is equa or better in reliability, ease of customer use etc, etc. to replace my beloved Nortels.

What have you done?

Thanks
 
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gordon-

we have been migrating nortel users to avaya and toshiba

you would be surprised how easy it is to retrain people.

A phone is a phone lol

by the way, out of curiousity does emetrotel make their own phones/plan on making new phones

or are they going to rely on the nortel sets for good?

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/Nortel

ACIS
 
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You really have something against Nortel don't you Phoneguy,

Yeah a phone is a phone, that's a complete one sided opinion of yours. Here is one of mine, People buy systems for the phones not for the box in the back room.

EMetrotel doesn't completely rely on Nortel phones. They have partnered up with Yealink for brand new phones. Eventually they will market their own phones when there is demand for it.

They have clients that have used Cisco 79xx phones on their system. Others have used Grandstream IP phones. With so many SIP phones offered out there, there hasn't been much of a need to sell their own phones. I will tell you though, these guys are former Nortel guys, and they know lots of vendors in the industry who built the Nortel phones.

I've worked for Walgreens for over 15 years and you wouldn't believe the amount of confusion employees faced when they went from using the simplistic Nortel phones to the Cisco phones in our newer stores. I really have to admit Nortel phones were the best ones ever made....well if you are pushing Avaya and Toshiba, you must not have liked the phones....

****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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People will always push a product that is well known and been around,this does not mean they are anti Nortel.
I love Nortel but I like to push Polycom SIP sets.

To me Emetro-Tel is just a ban-aid system to keep Nortel sets alive.....at least that is what posters leave the impression as.
If I was running the telecom dept of a large chain I certainly would not go with E-metrotel.
Sorry but I cant see investing in a company that has not been around long enough and their web site and support shows it.
I might offer it to a small business perhaps but not a large chain until they establish themselves in the telecom industry.

Operating a phone is not rocket science no matter what system it is.
Some might be harder than others but it boils down to training, the user and the manual.
Its not hard to answer, hold or page etc.

Nortel is gone and so will the last of the BCM's shortly, people need to learn to "deal with it" and move on to other new and exciting systems.

"Would you migrate to UCx or Shortel"
I don't understand why so many other better manufacturers are excluded from the question and sorry you feel only one of these will be your next direction but would have to say Shortel over UCx.














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curlycord
 
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Seeing that there are millions of Nortel Phones out there still, the UCx and Ip office are both very viable options to keep Nortel phones Alive. Why switch to Shortel?

If I was a major corporation I had 10,000 phones and 9000 Nortel phones, why would I go with a proprietary system from another manufacturers, that only allows you to use one style of phone. Some medium sized universities are currently exploring the UCx. Shoretel only lets you use their phones.... Which in my opinion are not easy to use.

The website does need some updating!

****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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Are any of you industrial designers here that can provide documented proof that the ergonomics of all phones are the same? That's like saying BMW or Buick a car is a car! Show me documented proof that users don't care about what phone is on their desk.

****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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Why Shortel over Emetro? I just told you!

Also there is no support for the M sets and T series soon too.
People want new stuff and stuff that is supported.

Who told you there is only one style a phone? nonsense!.

I don't understand why you get pissed off when somebody pushes product like Avaya but it's ok for you to do nothing but push the Emetro systems rather than help people in a Norstar forum that have Norstar issues.

The question is which system to go with, nothing was asked about keeping the sets alive but in fact was asked about replacing them.

Sick an tired of the BS with this Emetro crap week after week.....need to get back on track and help people with the Norstar issues which is what this forum is intend for.

General Telephony should be a good place for these questions.










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curlycord
 
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Curly just because you say that the Norstar/BCM line is dead, please don't confuse the other users on here, by saying ALL of the Nortel product line is dead. You are forgetting about the PBX and Networking areas of Nortel.

The Nortel 11xx and 12xx Unistim and SIP phones, Nortel Ethernet Routing Switches, POE Switches, Baystacks, CS1000PBX, M3900 digital sets, CS2100 Softswitch etc are still being produced and are active product lines with an Avaya rebrand. Also, thanks to my buds who work at Avaya in Canada, I found out the T series phones are HUGE money makers for Avaya and they will not be discontinued anytime soon. They will still be manufactured and produced long after the BCM is discontinued, but they will be branded with the Avaya logo. There is such a huge demand for these phones, they have told me they will continue to manufacture them.

Lastly, I've met with Shortel and they have told me that they only support their IP sets, no other 3rd party SIP sets. We needed to reuse 10,000 Cisco sets and were thinking of other vendors. They said we'd have to pitch the Cisco phones and buy theirs. Additionally they couldn't offer us an easy to use Call Park feature either. You aren't happy with E-Metrotel, I am not happy with Shortel.



****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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Gordon quite the contrary.. I love and miss nortel every day

But the t series is starting to look dated

We still have tons of happy bcm customers and plenty that we have migrated to ipo that have kept the t series phones

We even have some that are bcm 450s networked with ip offices


But take avaya for instance they have come out with multiple new model phones since the death of nortel. 5 more years from now people are going to look at t series phones like we now see the m series... As dinosaurs



ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/Nortel

ACIS
 
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And I beg to differ about people buying a system for the phones and not the box

I believe the toshiba phones are some of the sleekest on the market.. But we still sell many avaya systems over toshiba because of the other applications and functionality of the ipo



ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/Nortel

ACIS
 
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E-Metrotel is an IP System just like Shoretel, Cisco, ect. ect.. It just happens that they had a Nortel background so they also designed it to run the Norstar sets for people that had those systems. You do not have to buy the gateways to run M or T series phones. You can go with SIP phones if you choose to.
 
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I should NEVER, NEVER respond when I am having a bad day and that was yesterday. I apologize.

Fair deal Phoneguy610, I am glad to hear that you do indeed miss Nortel. I am sorry that E-Metrotel rubbed you the wrong way. I miss Nortel too, and I guess that's why I am so excited about the Nortel sets still being able to be used on both the UCx and IP Office. What I DO like about the UCx compared to IP Office is that the M and T sets have been engineered to run like CS1000 phones (call timer duration on display, internal hold music, call buzz tone, and other PBX features not previously allowed on Norstar) but also with Norstar feature codes.

you are correct in saying the T series are looking a bit outdated. One flaw was the key lables were engineered so cheap that most places are missing the labels or have marker written on the phones where the lables were. I found a way to solve that at Walgreen stores, and it was to put double stick tape underneath the labels so even if the plastic cap falls off, the label stays. The keys are also prone to collecting dirt worse than the previous M series phones.

Toshiba sets are actually very attractive and could be a good system to up date to. If you remember back in the mid 1990s they went head to head with the Norstar....their phone design was even spruced up to mimic the Norstar sets in both colors and key labels. I am actually a fan of the DK Strata "vertically" styled DK3210 and the newer 5100 IP sets.

Avaya does have pretty good looking sets, but I wish they would update the ring tones? I'd say the IP phones that preceeded the 9600 sets were the sleekest.

Hawks, thank for clarifying what the UCx actually is.....another IP phone system that allows SIP phones as well Nortel phones. I also think developmetn for SCCP Skinny SIP phones is being investigated.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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by the way, out of curiousity does emetrotel make their own phones/plan on making new phones"

phoneguy610, I've heard that E-MetroTel is just about to introduce the PomeGranate NS08 phone with their own branding - see the following link for the phone features:
[upsidedown]
 
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Lol wouldn't that make the sales pitch easier

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/Nortel

ACIS
 
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read most of the above and seen a lot of discussion about Shoretel, but make sure that you have enough sales of new systems and a big revenue coming their way or they won't even let you in the door. We tried to contact them but they would not even talk to us if we would not guarantee them a big chunk of money on revenue so we just tossed the idea of Shoretel and filed them under the category of SNOBS
maybe you have more luck but it sounds like you are also a small shop and might not bring them half a million a year on new sales.

Have to agree with Avaya IP Office that the Nortel phones work but they only look the same, they do no longer feel the same when you use them, still the IPO has gotten to a point where it is a good system and has the ability to use analog digital as well as IP sets (h.323 and SIP) I work on the IPO since 2003 and either I have gotten used to it or it is a good system. :)

Would love to test drive the UCx though as I always liked the Nortel systems

Cheers

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME), ACIS (SME)



Give a tech a solution and he will be back tomorrow to ask you the next question, teach a tech how to read the manual and he will be able to solve the problems for a life time.
 
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I should NEVER, NEVER respond when I am having a bad day and that was yesterday. I apologize."
Me too.

What is the migration method again?
BCM50 you replace hard drive and Norstar you purchase a gateway box on top of the UCx system?.







=----(((((((((()----=
curlycord
 
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Curly, No Hard Feelings....guess I love this stuff so much I get passionate about it sometimes.

Curly, the migration method is exactly as you describe. Since Norstar doesn't have a physical hard drive, you'll have to get the digital gateway on top of the UCx. The fellows at E-Metortel believe that phones are where the value are in the Norstar upgrade....that is if a customer has non yellowed or black M series or good condition T series phones, this would be a viable upgrade path for Norstar, since you wouldn't have to upgrade to a totally new infrastructure in the walls. Also you would have many of the same feature codes as Norstar without having to go to a totally new system which means minimal training to users.

Keep in mind Meridian Modular Aries II sets will eventually integrate with the UCx as well, but an Option cabinet will be required for that. It will be a great option for Meridian 1 users to upgrade if they want to keep those trusty M2000 sets that can survive most anything. That will pretty much allow all Meridian Phones from IP sets, Norstar, Delta, Aries, Taurus, maybe even Q series to work on one platform.

Joe W. You can get your hands on a UCx demo system for a pretty reasonable price. I hear from a user who bought one recently they are somewhere in the 2K range at highest. Just call them and ask for Chris Edwards for exact pricing.










****New Forum - E-Metrotel UCx****
Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer-"JoetheUCxguy" on Youtube
 
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OK Gordon, I have read enough get the owners to look at UCx and get with E-Metrolel for info. 2 of us are old Nortel techs and would like to have an alternative to fork trucking a system to something else.


Avaya/Nortel/NEC/Asterisk/Access Control/CCTV/DSX/Acti
 
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