Cisco CME on 3825

[djames]

Does anyone have any information on connecting a Cisco 3825 ISR with CME to a NEC 2000 IPS phone switch? We want to migrate slowly over but will still need to maintain the NEC.

[Brandon Svec]

Via T1? I know how to program the 2000. I've installed over 100 of them.. Which side would the trunking reside in Cisco or NEC?

[djames]

What's the difference? Any pro or cons? You may also contact me directly by my email address.

[djames]

Here is the brief overview. We currently have a NEC NEAX 2000IVS that has been upgraded to a NEC 2000IPS. However, it is end of life. We want to maintain the NEC as our PBX but at the same time install CME on our 3825 that will provide ip phones to a test group of 10 employees. In the HQ, NEC phones will need to be able to call Cisco phones and vs versa. When a cisco phones needs to call out it will go out to the PSTN like all the phones. However, we have 40 remote sites connected by a DMVPM that when I Cisco phone needs to call another Cisco phone at our remote branch it will. I believe that connecting the NEC to the 3825 would be easiest using a T1 vWIC card. Currently the NEC is doing the trunking and I would believe remain so. The long term goal is to slowly replace the NEC and migrate to Call manager but right now CME will fit our needs.

[Brandon Svec]

Yes, this is doable. You might consider moving the trunking to the Cisco now rather than later. Let's assume you have just one T1 card in the NEC for a PRI. If you move the PRI to the Cisco then you can reuse the T1 card in the NEC for the tie line and not have to purchase another. Of course, you will end up with an extra T1 for the Cisco, but that is probably better and if you have 40 sites you can probably use it somewhere else for something. Also you might have to program DID numbers and auto attendant dialing to pass through Cisco to NEC. Overall, putting trunks in Cisco will decrease programming and equipent requirements on the NEC side which is where you want to head anyhow.

Do you know how to work on the 2000 at all? It is not too difficult if you know it, but if you have never worked on it before you will need an experienced 2000 tech to help.

[djames]

I know at this point that the PRI would remain at the NEC. We have about 80 phones on the NEC and will only have 12 phones on the Cisco With that being said, we will have an NEC tech to assist us with the 2000. As it sounds like you've been down this road before is there any particular flavor vWIC card for the 3825? The 3825 will run the unity express CME for 12 7942g ip phones. Are they any issues from the NEC 2000 IPS that we need to be aware of? At the branch, the CME and unity will be running on a 2811 ISR.

[Brandon Svec]

I am more of an NEC expert then Cisco. I browse these forums because I am starting to learn Cisco and CME.. So I can't give much advice on the Cisco side. You will obviously need another T1 card in the NEC. You can decide to do plain T1 E&M tie lines which would be cheapest, but no caller ID/name display between systems. You can go PRI/QSIG which will give some display info, but it a more expensive card and more difficult to program (on both sides I am sure). Other than that you will need to consider clocking. Since the PRI is in the NEC it should act as master and the Cisco should clock off it for the Tie line. In the scenario you describe I don't see any need for service interruption so just work through setting up the tie line and test along the way and I think you will be fine.

[djames]

Your help has been unbelievable. Many thanks!! Anyway, we would need to go PRI/QSIG on the NEC. Any idea of type and cost of card for the NEC? How can we tell exactly what revision our NEC is running? Are there any limitations to having this setup between the Cisco and NEC that would negatively affect users?

[Brandon Svec]

The easiest way to see the version is to log into the 2000 with MatWorx and then it is displayed on the top of the screen. The card is a 24PRTB and requires an open AP slot in the system. I think the biggest trouble I see in "bolt on" scenarios like this is voice mail. Obviously you will have to operate with 2 different voice mail systems now so users on different systems can't forward messages to each other or use some other features that you could only do on a single voice mail system. Sometimes users care about this and sometimes they don't even notice there is a difference..

[Brandon Svec]

Sorry- 24PRTA-C (151231) for the 2000 24PRTB is for 2400..

[djames]

Is DID maintained to users on the Cicco IP phones?