atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information some interesting patterns

I'm just wondering If I am imagining this, or does it seem like some systems are particularly popular or unpopular in certain regions and industries?

For Instance, here in St. Louis, I have only ever seen 1 win system, 1 Nitsuko, and only a handful of NEC systems (used to be LOTS of tie systems though and Inter-Tel Axxess systems). I have never laid eyes on a Telrad, Tadiran, Comdial's DX-80, Trillium, any Vodavi except analog starplus and 1 solitary Infinite system. I have only ever seen Panasonic systems in homes, and a Kroger store in Virginia. Yet I seem to see lots of original Merlin systems, Legend, Magix, and Partner, and lots of Norstar and Meridian on the Nortel side, Comdial Impact, Inter-Tel/Premier ESP, and Toshiba. Anybody have any systems that are particularly popular or unpopular in their region.

I have also noticed that some systems/brands seem to be particularly popular in certain industries. Partner systems seem to be VERY prevelant in restaurants (Chili's Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Red Robin, Macaroni Grill, Bahama Breeze, TGI Fridays). Rolm (despite the fact that they no longer exist) seem to be prevelant in Universities and dpeartment stores (both Sears and Famous Barr stores use Rolm). "Oddball" (meaning that they aren't a big competitor like Avay or Nortel) systems seem to be popular in Grocery stores. Shnucks uses Comdial Executech systems, Shop 'n Save uses Vodavi starplus (analog), Dierbergs (an STL only chain) uses NEC, but had tie EK systems until fairly recently, and Kroger uses Panasonic KX-T systems. Mitel seems very popular in STL private schools and Hotels/Motels all over, whereas Nortel seems very popular in public school districts.

I suppose this could all be random, but I notice a pattern (I guess in some areas this could be a result and a large installer selling certain systems). Does anybody else?

You are right. Certain areas tend to be more popular with certain systems. This is generally a result of saturation of a market by a particular Manufacturer and/or the effectiveness of the sales people or reputation of the interconnects in that market.

Most Chain type business' are part of a National Account by either the Manufacturer or in some cases a particular interconnect.

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You will see Nortel and Avaya everywhere due to their strong distribution network. Funny how competition works - i was literally the only ESI dealer in my area. Now that we have been succesful selling it many of my competitors are jumping on the bandwagon and there are now 5 of us. Only problem is now it becomes much tougher to maintain a margin when someone else is selling the exact same equipment. Makes it more of a commodity than a solution that you are selling. Anybody have any experience with products with exclusive territories?

Yes, that makes sense...while NEC, alleged to have just as big of a market share (in another thread), is sort of rare here.

ESI must not have many, or any, dealers in SYL. I've never laid eyes on an ESI system...in fact, I hadn't even heard of them until joining this board.

I've got a question about chains with national accounts. It seems that stores that do have standard equipment will install old systems that are no long manufactured in their new stores. For instance: The Cheescake Factory restaurant we have here is only a few years old, yet they have a Merlin system with Business series sets. I understand the idea of installing uniform equipment, but why install something that has been out of production for quite some time? WHere do they even get the equipment from? New old stock, refurb?? Or Walgreens--they are still installing M series sets on their norstar systems in new stores. On the other hand, there are "biggies" that don't seem to standardize their equipment. Most Best Buy's use some form of merlin (I'm pretty sure it's legend), while 1 single store is still using Executone IDS. It is an older store, but the other older stores have upgraded..and even befoer the upgrade they never used Executone......seems counterproductive.

[This message has been edited by codasco704 (edited December 05, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by codasco704 (edited December 05, 2004).]

Yes there are a few esi dealers in Texas. I think the result of what you are seeing is user comfort ya see all it takes is one or two good national sales and the product will carry it self on and on and on ie the nortel you are seeing they just dont quit and the end user can see that. The little ceasars chain is like that they won't step away from the biz10 on a merlin (why I dont know). As far as finding product there are large refurbers making a killing bringing back those old ball and chains like telquest or teledynamics or comatrix, and they sell so much bulk that the prices are great even on the gray market.As for me we sell samsung and have worked our selfs out of the market in our area (like nortel they just won't quit) so we need to move to broad areas. Oh and a thought on nortel and samsung all of nortels products are compatable with older versions except the t phone line and that will be there biggest looser in the market share, Samsung can not seem to keep there product compatability straight and that will be there down fall ie ds24 phones ds616 systems and aoms that cant be used across the board

Wrichey,

The DS616 will now support the iDCS keysets so if a customer is looking for expandability later down the line they should be quoted using either the 8, 18 or 28 button phones. The 24 button phone is a less expensive phone and should not be used if there is potential growth.

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