Thanks for your answer.
We don't have to use Nortel's BCM, it is one of the option we're considering (not sure if it is still in the game now). I will ask this way, what commerical fullvoip PBX you will recommend? Unfortunatelly I can't use asterisk for this central point, but I can (and will) use asterisk on satellites offices.
Can you please give some hints what vendors/makers I should not forget? 3com looks promising....
Thanks.
-David
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Van Meggelen
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 4:24 PM
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Asterisk with Nortel BCM
Use H.323 and in the BCM set the protocol to "Other".
Do you HAVE to use the BCM? It's a really horrible system. I worked for many years in tech support, and I've been involved in BCMs since the beta trials of version 1.0, four years ago. I know BCM, and I can tell you that it is one of the worst telephone systems ever produced. Check out the spec sheet:
- The operating system is Windows NT 4.0 -- no really, an EIGHT YEAR OLD OPERATING SYSTEM.
- The MSC card is a Norstar KSU that they put on a PCI card. That's FIFTEEN YEAR OLD technology - and it shows.
- The platform is an Intel Pentium III 700Mhz, with 256megs of RAM, and a 20meg hard drive. How much do they want you to pay for it?
- Many of the critical scripts in the system are DOS batch files (I am NOT kidding!).
The BCM is famous for it's instability (go figure), and mind-numbingly stupid interface. Unless you have a lot of money to waste on obsolescence, I'd remove the BCM completely from the equation.
If you have to go Nortel, go with a Succession (even a Norstar would be a more stable choice, and you can tie it into a VoIP gateway with PRI trunks).
You might want to consider not using Nortel's VoIP technology at all -- I don't think they fully understand VoIP yet. Better would be to tie any Nortel gear into your VoIP network using legacy trunking through, say, an Asterisk gateway, like this:
[NT PBX/KSU]---PRI---[Asterisk]=====(WAN cloud)=====[Asterisk]
I wouldn't use the BCM as a boat anchor, but for sure it should NEVER be used as the core of a VoIP network - it's just a key system, and not a very good one at that!
Good luck!
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hello,
does anyone has an experience with connecting Asterisk to
Nortel's BCM
(http://www.nortelnetworks.com/products/0>
1/eedge/bcm.html)? I would
like to make this working using some voip protocol IAX, SIP, but it looks like Nortel's can't do that?
My scenario is Nortel's BCM in central office and asterisk installations in satellites offices.
Just a few of comments on the BCM. The programming is _extremely_ limited. We are not talking about a real PBX here. We are talking about a glorified key system. (This is from the mouth of the tech of the company who installed it for us, and I have since verified that this is definitely the case.)
The license fees are ridiculous; the pay-as-you-grow method is just another way to gouge more money out of people. (Though I realize most commercial PBX systems are using this method, now.) Be _very_ careful that you look _very_ closely at which licenses are required for what service. There will be several that are daisy-chained and seemingly unrelated. This is definitely the most frustrating part of the purchase. Whatever you come up with for license costs, give yourself ample room for errors of omission.
The system is based off of embedded Windows NT, and it is riddled with bugs and erros.
We are currently using an Asterisk system encompassing our BCM on all sides. The PRI comes in on Asterisk, all of the VoIP and analog sets are on Asterisk, but the digital office sets are on the BCM. This is only because the investment had already been made in the BCM by the time I got Asterisk up and running.
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