atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems NEC Telephones & Systems Upgrade paths for 2000 ips w/ 400-500 ports

Ok, I have a bunch of 2000 IPSs in service at all of my sites and although I do admit they dont normally give me problems, me coming from a Voip point-and-click world I find it pretty hard to have a bunch of 2000 ips systems dropped in my lap to maintain and work on. (Plus the latest matworx I can get loaded and working is version 7, every install I find for 13 doesnt work or has problems)

These are all in nursing homes / assisted living facilities. We would have a PRI, 20-50 digital extensions, 200-400 analog extensions (this is the key, we need massive amounts of analog), maybe a CO card for paging, some with AD-40 vm, AD-64 vm, and now trying to get an IM-16 working on one.

I am trying to convince my boss to use something newer on the new building but the execs want uniformity. I think they are misguided as it is a horrible idea to put a 2000 ips (all used, of course) into a new building that is currently being built.

So, I said all of that just to say this: What are the compatible phone system platforms that A) are more user friendly, B) can have up to 500 analog ports, and C) are availible in the pre-owned market. Going with a new system will not fly as funds are not availible.

All I know is that when I try to search it looks like I need to keep the cabinet style and not go with any rackmount style because those are more geared towards voip and digital extensions and not massive amounts of analog.

Ideas or am I fighting a losing battle? I really dont want my next site to be ANOTHER 2000 ips system and have to go through all of the nightmares of setting up another system from scratch from cards that may or may not have the licenses needed for the amount of PIMs I need to fire up.

Anybody?

So far it looks like the sv8300 is an option as it can go upwards to 1296 ports, or the ux5000 but it looks like it was designed for voip. I dont know how valid that info is, which phone system hatched first, if either of them are the correct product line, or even if another product line exists that might fit better.

Also another feature I was looking at which may be nice to have would be to link systems, so ext 3401 in site 1 can dial 4450 in site 2, and it all just work. Would be nice but not required.

Im just looking for ideas for which systems I should be looking into.

I have installed and worked on close to 1,000 IVS/IVS2/IPS systems without the kind of difficulty you have experienced. The system has been a steady workhorse for many years. However, NEC like all other manufacturers needs to migrate, change and move forward to sell product. The SV-8300 system is the latest migration in that product line. We installed several in nursing homes, and it works well for their application. If you have some knowledge of the 2000, then you can work on the 8300 without too much of a learning curve. The programming is close to the same. The previous dealer I worked for has several hundred of them in city public schools. All of them with TDM stations and analog phones. If you prefer to have a system that is more of a hosted solution, then there is the Univerge 3C. It, like Cisco is more IP oriented. So, installing analog phones is more of a headache, but it does span an MPLS network very well. Assign the phones centrally, plug them in locally and let the network do the rest. The key is that you need a strong network. You need to migrate off of those 2000's because you cannot get any licensing for them anymore. Cards are plentiful in the secondary market, except CPU's.