I'm not sure if I'm on right forum

[Anonymous]

I'm a student at a community college and we were given a project in our Telephony/Voice class to come up with a PBX system to serve a campus like setting with a total of 15k users. I've been looking at several different brands but I need dummy terms. I can't figure out what the capabilities are, etc. Can someone provide me with direction to help me decipher the information?

Thanks,
"Lost student"

[bobmay]

Try this http://www.telecomdictionary.com/

[Chas2002]

Also - If you find a term/definition that just doesn't gel - post back...

You may want to check out the System Comparison to the left.

Chas2002

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information.

I'm still not quite grasping the idea of "ports" and how many are needed

Also, what is the "maximum number of stations" (is this the number of "phone lines"?)

[Chas2002]

A port count is a number used by manufactures as a Sale point; "System ABC with 96 Ports" as an example.

The Sale Point:

96 ports available, but the actual configuration of the system determines the number of Trunk Ports, Digital 'Set/stations' ports, and Analog Ports.

Thus an 18/32 Executone system has a Sale point of 50 ports (where 18 are reserved for Trunks/CO's and 32 are reserved for sets/stations)..

The Nortel Meridian 1 Option 81C has a sale point of 10,000 ports, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get 10,000 sets/stations – it actually means that you have a combination of Trunks, Sets/Stations, etc. equal to 10,000 ports total. (Sets and Stations are used interchangeably and refer to Digital or Analog ports.)

And in some systems SDI ports actually subtract from the total ports available.

The Configuration (Legacy Systems):

Ports are set by the card installed - As an example; A digital Line Card for a Meridian 1 takes up 16 ports (even if you only use 2 ports – the remaining 14 ports are now reserved for digital sets and can’t be used for anything else and is subtracted from the total ‘sale’ ports of the system).

With a legacy system (those systems that use Central Office (CO) trunks to communicate the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network), Trunk Cards and Station Cards are usually set to a suggested ratio of 20/80 (20 percent for trunking and 80 percent for stations) – This of course is dependent of the use of the system. I work at a 1,800 room resort and our ratio is actually 25/75 - this ratio shift accounts for the number of concurrent conversations among the 1,800 guest.

The Here and Now:

It’s actually better now-a-days (with the invent and propagation of Voice over Internet Protocol) to refer to stations/sets as endpoints and interconnected systems as nodes. So if you see a mention of endpoints – that’s referring to stations.

Hope that kind of explains it…

You might want to check out my PSTN Flash file on the Nortel Portal;

http://nortel.pbxinfo.com/index.php?...play&ceid= 11


Chas2002

[Anonymous]

I actually stumbled upon this site during my countless searches for information and I'm glad there are still people around that's willing to help out students. It's so hard to get information from someone who works with this stuff all the time especially if they have to take more than a couple of minutes to put it into layman terms.

Thanks....again

[Chas2002]

Not a problem - post back if you need any other explainations...

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to lay out my "System Proposal" and I am running across another item.
Do I have to include an integrated communications system with a PBX? By what I'm looking at, it seems that I have to include one of these along with a PBX.

[teltek]

You need not worry. Since you are unlikely to locate a formidable "single" system you will be building what we call a 'voice enterprise'. This means that you need to have one or more PBX's capable of integrating together (connect intelligently with feature interactivity) to make up your enterprise. Hence the term "integrated communications system". In your early stages of our acronyms and technology classifications ... you will require one or more ICS' rather than a PBX (private branch exchange). 15K of users will require a significant number of trunks; links to the outside world - aka PSTN's, for adequate call completion. If you were to take 3 or 4 ICS' and link them together, you will be well on your way to completing your task let alone falling toward the dark side of our industry ... sales exec ( lol ).

Hope this gets you further,
Cheers [[]]D

[Chas2002]

In addition to Teltek's explaination - "Integrated Communications" can also loosely refer to Applications (VoiceMail, Call Center Servers, Digital Announcers, Auotmated Attendants, etc.)

These applications are usually an add on to your basic PBX system and many manufacturers have 'Integrated systems'..Plus, a lot of Third Party Vendors produce these Applications to integrate with specific PBX's.

As an example: Meridian Mail or Call Pilot are the Nortel Integration voice mails systems for the Nortel Meridian 1 PBX. But you could use Centigram VM Server to connect 'integrate' with the Meridian and handle the VM application).

Other Applications to consider:
PMS (Property Management Systems)
CDR (Call Detail Record Systems)
E911 (Emergency Services Systems)
SEB (Site Event buffers for Alarm Mangement)

Plus - Check you local E911 Requirements. Many communities require that a call extended to the 911 PSAP are correctly indentified as to location of the phone set. (You may have to deliver the Buidling and Floor of the phones location to PSAP).

Chas2002