Is there any technical limitation to a BCM50 w/ a DSM32 and 4x16 MBMs? With the base unit I would have 60 digital extensions (they need about 48) and 8 analog trunks (they have 5 - but may expand to 7 or 8).

Seems like it should work, is there anything I'm missing?

Thanks for the help!

Jeremy

Jeremy,

I believe you would have to use IP sets to get to where you want/need to be. You can have a max of 44 digital phones and then add up to 32 IP sets. In your scenerio, looks like they would have to go with 4 IP sets to get to 48 total phones.

VAND: Don't forget that you can now get an 8x16 module.
If you had a 32+DSM and an 8x16, that would give you 12x60

Trunks 4 + 0 + 8 = 12
Stations 12 + 32 + 16 = 60

And IP after that.

I was under the impression that 44 was the maximum number of digital stations on the BCM 50?

Hummm - Sorry BTS01, I don't think I have seen a MAX chart. I was just counting the best possible combination.
If there is a max, then I stand corrected.

That was my question exactly NTlayoff - I didn't need an 8X16 - was just looking at the 4x16 - but my boss said it is maxed at 44 extensions.

I can see the thought of the phone to trunk ratio being low - but that is fine in my application. I just wasn't sure if there is a built in limiter. Looking under resources in Element Manager, seems like it should work fine to do a DSM32 and a 4(or 8) x 16 module.

Ok let's set the record straight.

Digital sets = 44 (there is a limit even though you can put two expansion cabs on you can only use one DSM32)
Analog Caller ID POTS Telephone Lines = 12 (4 main + 8 expansion)
PRI = 1 (Drops POTS to 4 max)
IP phones = 32
Analog Phones = 4
IP Trunks = 12

So it looks like you have to go IP to make the 60 phones...or move to a BCM200 or 450.

Great info Marv!

Steve

There is still some debate going as to whether 44 really is the limit. Stay tuned. If someone has access to BCM50 could you count the number of DNs available in Telephony Resourses > Digital Sets > Active and Inactive

Marv,

Under Telephony | Sets | All DNs - there are a total of 76 digit set DNs. 12 on the main bus (port 401-412) and 16 on each additional bus (2 bus' per expansion cabinet). Port 501-516/601-616 for exp cab 1 and 701-716/801-816 for exp cab 2.

That's why I think it would work to go over 44 digital - but I don't have the hardware to test, and no clients want to buy it just to see if it will work. If it doesn't work - it has to be due to a self imposed limit by Nortel.

Also - under Application Resources it shows the system max Digital Trunks as 2. So I'm assuming the BCM50 does support a DTM in both expansion cabinets - so I don't see why it wouldn't support 2 DSM32's.

Anyone able to test?

The only reference to max sets I've found so far is in the System Overview Guide.

I'm Maxed at 44 digital, and have 1 analog line for conference phone. I was going to add 10 IP sets for a total line count of 55. Our facility cannot accommodate more employees so this would be our maximum number of lines from here on out.

My question is about performance. So it appears that using IP, it is possible to go over 50 lines, but performance may degrade (according to Sys Overview guide). We have no more than 10-12 heavy phone users (sales), at least 10-12 lines that have VERY minimal use and the remaining lines are general use.

What do you guys think? Do you think performance would even be an issue?

I don't think performance should be an big problem, as we don't demand much of the BCM's resources to begin with.

Thanks in advance.

32 IP / 44 Digital on Release 5.0

My own experience tells me that performance would not be an issue in the least - Nortel is not in the habit of "under-engineering"...

Just "under-testing" :\

Quote:
32 IP / 44 Digital on Release 5.0

Hmmm, curlycord is out to lunch I think?

Was thinking 3.0 and under had 12 but probably IP trunks.

When I was a project manager for 360networks here in canada, the toronto office had a MICS that was fully loaded. I mean full full. I mean full including companion and 2 PRI. Every station port had a phone. We were migrating them out of the norstar and installing a 3 cabinet Option11c.
The reason i post this bit of history is because it was likely the only time i'll ever get to see that.

What is relative here is the overloaded-ness of the MICS, the switchboard was VERY slow to respond. We had to program a real transfer button to a key because it was sometimes a full 5 seconds before the display updated - and gave them the transfer soft key. Users found it impossible to transfer during the busy times if they didn't have a transfer key, 8 to 10 seconds before Feature: appeared.

On busy days, the switchboards would bog down, and the users had to make people wait to be answered because the phone physically would not keep up on basic transfers and display updating.

Keeping that in mind, I would surmise that the bcm50 could also run out of resources or have slow response times if loaded down to maximums.