End of Nortel BCM 50 and BCM 450 Sales is March 1, 2012
GTS brings you this announcement from Avaya, reflecting their plans to end new system sales for the Nortel Business Communications Manager 50 and Nortel Business Communications Manager 450 on March 1, 2012.
If you currently own either of these BCM systems, whether or not we installed it, rest assured that GTS will continue to service them, even beyond the manufacturers end-of-extended-services support date, which is March 1, 2018. This means you can count on us as always for Nortel BCM 50 and BCM 450 technical support and repairs.
Until March 1, 2015, Avaya will continue to provide hardware and software support for these BCMs, which includes bug fixes, upgrades and expansions. So, while there's no immediate downside, now might be a good time to consider the switch to an Avaya IP Office system.
If you're interested, here are all the details from Avaya on the BCMs:
OVERVIEW
As part of the previously announced convergence strategy and the launch of IP Office Release 7.0, Avaya is announcing the End-of-Sale (EoS) for new systems of Avaya Business Communications Manager 50 (BCM 50) and Avaya Business Communications Manager 450 (BCM 450) products, nine (9) months from the date of this announcement, effective March 1, 2012.
Products required to upgrade, expand and maintain existing BCM systems will continue to be offered for another three (3) years to March 1, 2015. This includes software authorization codes, terminals, media bay modules, expansion units, replacement parts, and upgrades to the latest release (BCM R6.0).
Avaya will make every effort to have supply of these products available for all orders, but cannot guarantee product availability through their End of Sale dates. Avaya reserves the right to manage and/or limit order quantities, or to cancel orders if supply is no longer available. Customer orders will be fulfilled on a first‐in, first‐out basis. If supply is exhausted prior to the targeted End of Sale dates in this notice, Avaya will issue an updated notice and accelerate removal of the applicable product codes from price lists and associated order entry systems.
TRANSITION SUMMARY
• Effective March 1, 2012, the codes listed in the Discontinued Order Codes section of this document will be withdrawn from sale.
• Subject to availability, the last date for orders to be placed for these products is February 28, 2012. Thereafter, these codes will be removed from price lists and associated order entry systems. Stock will be reserved to meet requirements for warranty returns and repairs.
• Marketing collateral and web-site / portal content will be modified to reflect this product transition
• Avaya will provide hardware and software Manufacturer's Support, including technical support, repairs, software bug fixes, upgrades, and expansions, for three (3) years after the EoS date until March 1, 2015 for the BCM 50 and BCM 450 portfolio. The three (3) year Manufacturer's Support will be provided for the last shipping BCM release, which is release 6.0. Please refer to BCM Product Lifecycle Update bulletin for previous releases.
• Avaya will further provide hardware and software Extended Services Support, including technical support, availability of existing patches and documentation, repair services, for three (3) years (March 1, 2018) after the Manufacturer's Support period.
• BCM products which remain available for purchase for upgrades, expansions and maintenance until the End of Manufacturer Support on March 1, 2015 will directly transition into the Extended Manufacturer Support phase on March 1, 2015. Avaya will honor the regular warranty provided for these products.
MIGRATION STRATEGY
Customers have a choice about the direction they wish to take, and Avaya is able to offer a number of solutions that can meet varying customer requirements. These solutions will enable even the largest and diverse BCM customer to grow their business.
Many customers are happy with their BCM systems and do not want to change. Avaya is committed to providing Manufacturer's Support on hardware and software for an additional three (3) years after the End of Sale Date (March 1, 2015) and an additional three (3) years of extended services support, for a total of six (6) years of support after the EoS of new systems on March 1, 2012. Further, BCM customers have the added benefit of leveraging the Manufacturer's Support period to expand or upgrade their systems, thereby enabling them to retain their solution for the foreseeable future.
1. Upgrade to Avaya IP Office: IP Office Release 7.0 introduces a number of features to enable an easy convergence from BCM to the IP Office platform. Avaya provides significant investment protection for current BCM customers by providing support for BCM digital (M7000 and T7000 series) and IP phones (1100 and 1200 series) on the IP Office. Using the new TCM8, DS16A, or DS30A Digital Station modules, the very popular T7000 Series Digital Deskphone (BST) can easily be moved to a new IP Office System and will provide the user a very similar feature set and usability. The DS16A and DS30A modules are equipped with the RJ21 connector to minimize the rewiring required when upgrading from BCM to IP Office. The new IP Office wall mount solution with cable management enables clean and easy wall mount installation similar to the BCM50.
The Avaya Data Migration Manager (DMM) simplifies upgrade from BCM to IP Office by providing the opportunity to migrate the core configuration data, voicemail files and auto attendant files from the BCM to IP Office. IP Office Release 7.0 provides a strong multi-site network solution to create a seamless network of up to 32 IP Office systems from any location, and private SIP trunking can be used to connect IP Office systems to a network of existing BCM systems.
IP Office 7.0 also introduces two new lines of paperless phones, the digital 9504 and 9508 phones as well as the 9608, 9621G and 9641G IP phones. All of those phones have larger LCD screens with electronically labeled keys providing convenient reprogramming, low installation effort and low total cost of ownership. Additionally, a new line of superior audio quality conference phones have been added. The Avaya B100 line of Conference Phones is suitable for midsize and large conference room. The B100 Series offers flexible connectivity options with both SIP and Analog connections.
For smaller customers with less than 20 users, IP Office provides simplified installation that speeds customer installation times and reduces costs, driving a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). With streamlined management tools - built specifically for the sub-20 employee segment - and support for the new 9504 and 9508 sets, IP Office is the solution of choice for existing PARTNER® ACS or Norstar customers looking to upgrade.
2. Upgrade to Avaya B5800 Branch Gateway: Avaya recently launched the new Avaya Branch Gateway B5800, which provides feature rich integration with Avaya Aura® components including Avaya Aura System Manager and extends the Avaya Aura centralized applications out to users in a branch office. Examples of these applications include Avaya Aura Messaging, Avaya Aura Conferencing, etc. The B5800 supports SIP end-points while in centralized mode, and a mix of analog, digital and SIP in distributed mode. The Avaya B5800 Branch Gateway enables Large Enterprises the ability to deploy a branch solution today as a distributed solution, benefit from rich local applications and enhanced survivability, and able to migrate to be fully centralized with an Avaya Aura® core network when ready making it the ideal branch solution for Avaya Aura® authorized Partners.
With the B5800 Rls. 6.2, planned for Calendar Q4 2011, the B5800 will provide existing BCM customers support for their current BCM digital and IP phones. Additionally, this release will support the Avaya Data Migration Manager (DMM) tool to allow migration of the core configuration data, voicemail files and auto attendant files from the BCM to the B5800. In The B5800 will provide interoberability with existing CS1000 and BCM networks, and is an ideal solution for large enterprises with BCM networks which require centralized management and integration into the feature-rich Avaya Aura enviroment.
