The IPT 1-2-3 program aims to simplify the purchase process for large North American companies in order to stimulate upgrades from traditional telephony offerings to IP-based systems, said Nortel officials.
Jay Lassman, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said the program could give Nortel a much-needed boost as it tries to spur lagging IP telephony sales. "Nortel has given such attractive prices on [traditional circuit-switched gear] versus IPT that they've really lost ground in that IPT space as a result," he said.
One longtime Nortel customer, T.R. Bowlin, infrastructure manager at Power Engineers Inc. in Hailey, Idaho, was briefed on the new program. He said it can help corporations gradually upgrade telephony systems, making the process easier than replacing all of the older systems at once.
"I've found with Nortel, you don't have to do a forklift upgrade and completely turn over your network to a vendor to do voice over IP," said Bowlin. "A lot of firms want to do what we did, which is do VOIP over time, and my understanding is that's how IPT 1-2-3 will work."
Power Engineers, a diversified engineering firm, has about 300 Nortel IP phones, another 400 circuit-switched phones and related IP switching gear at 18 domestic and three foreign offices.
Bowlin estimated that his company has spent US$1.3 million on Nortel communications products over six years. About half of that spending has already been recouped because of savings resulting from the use of IP telephony systems. He said that conference call charges of up to $14,000 per month using AT&T Inc. services were eliminated with a $140,000 investment in a Nortel MCS 5100 server. Bowlin also noted that Power Engineers has realized some savings on toll calls that are now conducted over VOIP phones.
He said he expects that Power Engineers' total Nortel investment will pay for itself in two to three years.
Keeping it simple
Vendors have traditionally sold VOIP systems in custom-built packages. Nortel's new program relies on standard preconfigured packages of all the components needed for a new system, explained Diane Schmidt, director of IP telephony marketing at Nortel. She would not provide details of the systems and said pricing has yet to be determined.
"Going from a legacy voice system to IP is relatively complex," Schmidt said. "There's quite a bit of engineering. Every vendor has had a customized approach, but customers needed it to be simpler."
Schmidt said the packaged systems can be installed for "as much as 30 percent less" than most customized systems.
Nortel's partners will use sales and support software to help customers find the right configuration for their operations, she said.
Schmidt said packages can be created based on the number of expected users and the applications needed. The basic package for converting a Meridian 1 time division multi-plexer switch (a traditional circuit-switched network design) would include a new IP core processor, IP phones, a software release, a networking switch and related gear, all packaged with one part number and one price, Schmidt said. Additional phones and prepackaged applications could be added to the basic package, she said.
Lassman said there's no guarantee that Nortel's IPT 1-2-3 program will prove successful, and he questioned whether the vendor can "literally deliver plug-and-play IP tele-phony, including software."