asterisk users - Jul 2003 - Integrate Asterisk with Meridian phone system

Has anyone integrated Asterisk for Voicemail with a Nortel Meridian
phone system or know if this could be done?

Thanks,

John Haigh

Yes, this can be done.

We used the Norstar VMI (a Norstar ATA w/additional call logic that is
transmitted via DTMF to Asterisk).  The VMI is a 2-port unit, that runs
around $900US new.

Apparently there are other manufacturers that make similar units that work
with Norstar equipment.

-wade

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-admin@lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-
> admin@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of John Haigh
> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 8:54 AM
> To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Integrate Asterisk with Meridian phone system
> 
> 
> Has anyone integrated Asterisk for Voicemail with a Nortel Meridian
> phone system or know if this could be done?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John Haigh
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

Hi John-

I've not done this with Asterisk, but I've integrated many other types
of
voice systems with Meridian over the years.  Here's a couple things to note:

* If you're using analog extensions (2500-type interfaces) on the Meridian,
everything should work ok, with the possible exception that your asterisk
system will not detect the caller's hangup.  Many of the older Meridians do
not provide "removal of battery" or battery-reversal supervision on
analog
lines when the calling party hangs up.  I think its possible in these cases
to program the Meridian to provide a tone-disconnect signal, which is just a
beep that would have to be detected by Asterisk.  I'm new to asterisk, so I
don't know if single tone detection is possible at the moment.

Anyway, you can design around this problem if necessary by making users use
DTMF to terminate every action that they take, and then time-out if they
don't.  For example, its better in this case to have the caller press # at
the end of a new message recording than just hanging up.  (again, I don't
know what the standard * voicemail app does).

* The second thing to note is that there are meridian digital telephone
simulator boxes on the market, which may help you accomplish this
integration with more features and tighter supervision.

All of the above applies to an analog setup - with T1 or E1 between Merdian
and *, intergration would be cleaner (but more expensive)

Good luck
Scott Stingel


Scott M. Stingel 
Emerging Voice Technology Inc.

Email:          scott@evtmedia.com <mailto:scott@evtmedia.com>   
URL:            www.evtmedia.com <http://www.evtmedia.com>   


> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-admin@lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-admin@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of John Haigh
> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 1:54 PM
> To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Integrate Asterisk with Meridian 
> phone system
> 
> 
> 
> Has anyone integrated Asterisk for Voicemail with a Nortel Meridian
> phone system or know if this could be done?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John Haigh
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> 
>