Your opinion of Avaya Merlin please 2

[topjimmie]

My company will be moving to a new site, and will need a new phone system. I am involved in choosing it. I am an IT guy, with some telephony experience, but not enough to have an opinion either way about brands or systems. I like the Norstar system, simply because it's the only one I have ever installed myself.
One of the systems being looked at is the Merlin phone system. We have about 36 users, and could end up with about 40 on the system. We have a customer service group of at least 10 extensions. We are really going for the basics here.
My questions are (if some of you in the know would be gracious enough to help me):
1. Is there anything about this phone system that you would feel compelled to warn someone about?
2. Is the programming reasonably intuitive?
3. Any components with a high incidence of failure?
4. Any long standing "bugs" that just never seem to get fixed?

I know asking this way is a shot in the dark, but I also feel like it would be helpful to hear from people that deal with the system everyday.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give

jb

 

[tdaugirdas]

Both the Merlin Legend and Merlin Magix are pretty rock solid systems with plenty of availability for components, phones, etc. for years to come. For the Merlin Legend - about the only phones I would avoid are the MLX-10D - which tended to have a higher board failure rate. The MLX-10DP version had a more reliable board. The Legend system has been around since the early 90's. The Magix system replaced it in the late 90's and is itself being replaced by VOIP systems. You won't go wrong with either system. Programming can be a bit complex if you want to get the system to do things that it wasn't designed to do - but there are work-arounds for most typical scenarios.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[papagigo1]

Jb,

You won't be making a mistake choosing the Merlin Legend and Magix. These tried and true switches have been a major part of our upgrade process since 2001.
With 35 facilities in New England, we have installed 15 of them so far with no circuit pack failures or major outages! We use refurbished equipment every where we can.
Another plus, if you get stuck with a feature or problem, this forum has some of the best there is to help you along.

Mike in NH

 

[topjimmie]

Thank you both for the reassurance and tech info. Also, it's interesting you should mention the forum, as I just realized today I rarely make major purchases without first confirming that there is an active user group available. Just one of the ways that this forum is extremely valuable!
Thanks again
jb