atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Nortel v. Samsung v. ESi v. Tadiran

ev and 5 years, first like to say very sorry.

Did not mean post as sales pitch.

I am not a sales person. Just a tech.

Just wanted person who posted message to know that there is other options out there.

I do feel very strong about ATT/Lucent and Avaya products. They may cost more but they do more. And upgrade to the latest and greatest very easy. Most of the time without hardware change. Or money for the customer.

So far I have found all of the posts helpful. Yes, some sound like sales pitches, but having obtained quotes from a half dozen dealers, I am used to sales pitches and believe them to be useful when properly considered. When my local dealer pushes brand X it is usually because they sell that and MAYBE one other brand. That may be the case with some of these posts, but none of you will likely obtain my business so I like hearing your commitment to a certain brand.

As for the Tadiran ICE product line, it seems new and I am a little concerned about availablity of parts should I need quick repair/replacement service. Anyone have information on how widely used/available that product line is?

I have ruled out Toshiba and Avaya because I was not particularly impressed with the local dealers. I have heard that the Nortel line is pretty widely used and the dealer/installer is quite large and does a lot of business throughout VA. The Samsung dealer I met with is actually a moderator in two forums on this site and the ESI dealer comes very highly recomended in my area. I will likely make a decision on Monday and let you know.

Any final thoughts would be appreciated.



[This message has been edited by mostlyprudent (edited August 13, 2005).]

I must say that I'm extremely impressed with how you were able to narrow down your choices to those particular phone systems and have ruled out Nitsuko, Toshiba and AT&T type phones. I would have done the exact same thing.
Anyone who has come to those conclusions must have done a tremendous amount of research. I would be very interested in how your installation goes as well as what features attract you to which system.

Let me know if you have any questions as far as differnt features you may be looking for. I can tell you both the positive and negatives points.

thanks

We are leaning toward the Tadiran Emerald ICE system, but I need to track down a little more info about that system before we make a final decision. Does anyone know if I can connect this system to my network for remote administration purposes? Can I download the voicemail messages to a network drive/CD?

It is a difficult decision under any condition. There is no "right" answer to your question, but there are some guidelines/considerations that I would look at. First and foremost is growth. All these systems have different capacities, and different ways they grow alnog with cost. As a general rule, buy a system that allows you 2X the initial config, unles there is something I am not aware of. Once you are certain they meet that requirement, then it comes down to features and reliability. Are there certain things you need/want that make a difference. The ESI system reserves some of the better features for the E-Class so the dealer can "upsell" you, like ACD and UM. Unless you buy the E-Class, you are getting shortchanged. And there is no cost-effective upgrade. Plus the larger voice storage uses a hard disk for both voicemail and system operation. On the others, if the voicemail hard disk fails, the voicemail will stop but at least the phones will still ring. The ICE is not manufactured by Tadiran, does not enjoy the highest quality reputation, plus that system size is not their primary market focus or their strength. The Samsung has been around for a while and has many features that are well thought out. It will probably serve you well. The BCM has the largest market share, but not because it is superior to the others, but because Nortel used to be the 800 lb gorilla. The biggest complaint I have ever gotten is that all the features are prefaced with the feature button, then dialing an access code. Unless you have a phone with lots of buttons (which is not their strength as they use LCD's instead of LED's which are cheaper, you will have to remember a code, and hence your employees will never use the features. Not very user friendly in my opinion. So as you can see,it is more a process of elimination. Good luck, and let me know if you have specific questions I may be able to help you with.


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re: your post at 12:43, you can do neither with the Emerald ICE as far as I know.

"The biggest complaint I have ever gotten is that all the features are prefaced with the feature button, then dialing an access code. Unless you have a phone with lots of buttons (which is not their strength as they use LCD's instead of LED's which are cheaper, you will have to remember a code, and hence your employees will never use the features. Not very user friendly in my opinion. "

Odd, the standard display phone is a 28 (true 28) led button lcd display phone. Features can be put under keys just like every other digital system. I can agree the system isn't made by Tadiran but so far from what I have installed they have held up well. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles (yet) but PRI and VOIP are slated to be available soon. VOIP will simply be SIP from what I understand. Remember in the telephone world you generally get what you pay for. For the price the K3 or Emerald ICE is pretty outstanding considering the growth. We also sell ESI and have for 12+ years. I love this system. Good luck and check those references.

I know the Samsung system can be connected to a network for admin purposes via the PCMMC software. I believe the ESI have a PC network interface to configure it.

I don't believe that Samsung restricts features on there smaller systems. I think they give you all the technology available but just on a smaller system.

If you think about it, its kind of a slap in the face when they have the technology but intentionally decided they were going to disable it for your system in order to sell you a larger system than you need.

I was once looking for a payroll system for a small business(less than 100 employees). The company disabled most of the features I needed such as "missed punch report" which I needed to stop the abuse. It was only available on their medium-large business models which support over 100 employees.

I was not too happy that they were trying to sell a small family owned business a large 100+ software just to get 1 essential feature that should of been included in all their software. I ended up not working with that company at all.

Anyway, please keep us all updated.

Thanks

I know the Tadiran cordless are avail. I have recently installed a few w/no prob. The VOIP should be available in a month or two. I don't know many of the details but its comming. The system is reliable. They are also working on a unified mess. v-mail for your inbox ect. which I would think should have the ability to admin. but the v-m is still in the works & I don't know when it will be available. As far as parts/service goes They system has been installed all over the country. It may be known to many as the Sprint K-3. Parts are certainly avail. but as the above posts say, get a good dealer to install the system. They will be your resouce for parts/service. Hope this helps.

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www.tgcommunications.net

[This message has been edited by tom@tgcomm (edited August 16, 2005).]

If you need remote administration for the ICE-take a look at the ipocket.
https://www.precidia.com/products/ipocket_232.html