mitel sx2000 lw29 TBCT

LW 29 release 1 came out in April of 1998 and the FINAL LOAD of Lightware

29 (Q40.12.5) was released to production back in March of 2001. That's a 3-year run and one of the longest software runs in the history of the SX2000.

If you're unhappy now you're probably going to be furious when you find out that current software upgrades have been FREE to customers ever since Lightware 30 release 1, UR1 (R14.2.1). There's a lot of inexpensive SX2K systems out there sitting at LW29 (and prior) for that express reason. LW

30 was an expensive upgrade (several thousand) but it's the last one the customer had to buy. All going forward from there was free unless you wanted the new features introduced in the new loads.

What version of PRI software did you get? That has a lot to do with the number of CPN substitutions capable. In PRI release 8.2.x I believe it's something like 64.

Our friend Dave has long lamented his plight of being saddled with a software release which is no longer supported, yet his need for the more advanced features of the later loads seems unrelenting. More importantly, the absence of support for LW29 is not news to him. He's been at Q40.12.5 for over a year and support had already ended even back then. Now he's needing Tenating.

I feel sorry for Dave because now he has shot himself in the foot. By continuing to defer purchasing the upgrade, it's now going to cost him substantially more than it would have just a year ago. If you're at all familiar w/Mitel's pricing structure you probably know that the upgrade cost to move forward from LW29 has recently increased significantly, more than doubling what it would have cost him to do it this same time last year.

No offense meant, but you can only lead the horse to water...

Are you sure it was Mitel and not a dealer who has sold the options to you, As Mitel would have forced you to upgrade to the latest release.

Ian

This has been the case on all hardware and software for some while, I recently had a query form a dealer who had a customer still on P24 with a TAPE drive, The drive had failed and they wanted another, Now I have a drive in stock!! but no tapes, So I contact 3M to be told they threw out all the

40Meg tapes last year !!!!! So I had to inform the dealer that he will have to upgrade the site to RSD and software, Main controlers and hardrive.If they had done this when the deal was offered it, all the harware was discounted, not now. No the best option is to Sell them a 3300 and triple fim.. I will wait and see the outcome.

Ian

I have dealt with so many customers like this.

I do plan on convincing the check signers to pop in a 3300, but, I can't convince them to replace some 100+ 4dn sets that are still in use all at once. So, over the next year, as dn sets break and mysteriously stop working, I'll be phasing out the dn's in favor of 4025 sets.

As for my whining, I'm a bit bitchy because Mitel sold us the new options for LW29 and won't answer a few simple questions about tbct and cpn subs.

Cheers! Dave

It depends on what version of PRI you got. In the latest (8.2.x) with the MC270 card there is support for 100 CPN subs

In PRI rls 8.1.x and earlier I believe that number was only 10

To my knowledge 2B Channel xfr is not supported (or I've never heard of it)

What are you using for PRI cards? (I don't remember the MC270AA card being available in LW29)

Selling you some software option bits has no bearing whether or not the underlying core software load is still supported. It wouldn't matter whether you bought a $500 option or a $10,000 option. If the core load on the machine is no longer supported, then it's no longer supported. Whether the purchased options work or not is of concern to the manufacturer only when you're trying to use them with the current supported load. Until you invest in some upgrades to the core load to get the machine up to the current supported software level (rls 33.3) I'm afraid you're going to be spinning your wheels.

Replacing the non-redundant main control with a 3300 and triple-FIM card is probably a very good idea at this point, although I think I'd have done it before investing any more money in options. All the options you're after are already enabled by default in the base load of a 3300. In other words, the money you just spent for PRI options needn't have been spent.

If you're serious about adding a 3300 it'd probably be helpful if you could obtain and review the release notes for each of the interim loads between LW29 and LW33, just to make sure there are no other hardware or firmware level revs needed.

and yes, IMO the 4DN sets are long overdue for the recycling bin. They were a great set in their day but the TT Pads quickly became flakey after only 3-4 years' use. True, you can take 'em apart and clean them up, but doing that only prolongs the inevitable. Modern sets offer things like a full-duplex speakerphone and with the addition of PKM modules can support up to 110 lines/keys per station. The 4DN only offered 12 lines max. Coming from a 15-line SS4, a lot of users hated the 4DN, especially admins.

LW 29 Q40 does support PRI. Had to buy digital links and an MMDS option (or something like that). It's 8.2 with 100 cpn subs. Came to about 5 grand.

Now for the fun part. I made some changes, and when saving to the card, IMAT informed me that the database I was saving was older, and would I like to update. So I of course clicked Yes. MISTAKE!

That roached the PRI card. Mitel is aware of the problem, and they hate talking about it. Now, even tho there's a warning in the docs, and my 29 rel

3 docs doesnt have the warning, wouldnt you think they wouldnt have that option in IMAT?

The PRI card resets every 2 minutes and simply will not function. Even creating a new database and uploading it (per Mitel's suggestion) didn't fix it.

I unchecked Min/Max and NFAS in the Site Options as we dont have those options, save the db, and when I load the db I just saved, those 2 options are checked again. And according to the docs I do have, the PRI card will freak out if you select options you dont own.

Fun stuff! Fun fun fun!!!!

Dave, at one time I had your e-mail address, but have apparently lost it. Send it to me again. I have some info that might help get you going.

My email adr here in this post is good, tho you must use the square brackets around the dotted-decimal address. (exactly as written above)

There is also a way to reflash the PRI card and ressurect it from the dead. However, I do not have that particular piece of info at arms' reach right now.

The "older version" and question about upgrading has tripped up many a poor soul, even one or two certified techs I know ;)

It was rather time consuming, but ftping the files to the card a few times finally resulted in a card with working firmware. The first few times, the disk corrupted. The third time, I took my time, watched tv, had a bottle of vino (although when working on a Canadian system you'd think you'd have the urge to drink beer while gnawing on a slab of back bacon while your pet moose looks on :)

The moral of the story: When fixing a problem due to a Mitel quirk, or perhaps they call things like that an "undocumented enhancement", it pays to be drunk!

The moral of the story: When fixing a problem due to a Mitel quirk, or

perhaps they call things like that an "undocumented enhancement", it pays to be drunk!

Reminds me of back when I was learning to repair computers - the real ones that took up most of a room, and I was trying to learn how the adder worked. After hours of pouring through the schematics and logic prints, the emptier the bottle of Jack Daniels Black became, the clearer the logic became. Now, 30 years later I could probably come real close to being able to diagram the logic flow of a negative half-adder. So I can relate to needing "diminished mental capacity" to work with those "undocumented enhancements."

I maintain 2 SX200's (LW19.3) with roughly 50 stations each, an SX200 (LW19.2) with about 200 stations, and an SX2000 (too embarrased to divulge the LW on this one but some of you know) with around 300 stations ... I buy wine by the case on a weekly basis!!!!

Now, if I could only get the advanced analog networking working between locations, I'd be somewhat happier.

Bottoms up! Dave