asterisk users - Nov 2004 - Multi-line analog phones with Asterisk?

I am interested in implementing Asterisk and someday
hope to have it replace my 8 x 24 Nortel switch. 
However, I was told by a Telcom friend that my multi
line phones (Nortel 7208s) may not work with Asterisk.
 This is a huge concern because in my business we are
constantly jumping back from one line to another
(putting people on hold and grabbing another line and
going back and forth etc.)  Is it possible with
Asterisk to (or are there analog phones that allow )
access multiple lines with the press of a button, so
that if someone says "Richard line 4 is for you", I
can easily put my caller on hold and grab line 4?  

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Richard

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On Thu, Nov 04, 2004 at 07:18:38AM -0800, Richard Reina
said:
> I am interested in implementing Asterisk and someday
> hope to have it replace my 8 x 24 Nortel switch. 
> However, I was told by a Telcom friend that my multi
> line phones (Nortel 7208s) may not work with Asterisk.
>  This is a huge concern because in my business we are
> constantly jumping back from one line to another
> (putting people on hold and grabbing another line and
> going back and forth etc.)  Is it possible with
> Asterisk to (or are there analog phones that allow )
> access multiple lines with the press of a button, so
> that if someone says "Richard line 4 is for you", I
> can easily put my caller on hold and grab line 4?  
The Nortel 7208 is a proprietary digital phone that only works with
nortel equipment, so no, you won't be able to use those phones
specifically. However, there are other multi-line phones such as the
polycom IP 500 / 600 or the Cisco IP phones that will work just fine
with asterisk.

I'm guessing, but it sounds like you have the line buttons on your
phones mapped to actual phone company lines. This is called a "key
system" type setup. Asterisk is a PBX. You "MAY" be able to make
it
function like a key system, but it would be a royal pain.

http://experts.about.com/q/2419/1801187.htm

With phones that have multiple line appearances such as the polycom or
cisco phones mentioned above, you can juggle anywhere from 2 to 6 calls
for YOU specifically at once. So if you have 8 people in your office and
use phones with 6 line appearances, you could theoretically collectivly
juggle 48 calls (how insane would that be?? :-)

Anyway, Asterisk has all the features and capabilities of the "big
boys"
- well beyond your current norstar system. Rather than someone yelling
over that you have a call on line 6, they would just transfer it to
your phone, or park the call and yell over that you have a call parked
on extension 706 or whatever, which you can go grab, or they send it to
voicemail. Flexability here is just about unlimited.

Check out:

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-PBX+features
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+PBX+functions
http://www.millenigence.com/articles/asterisk-non-technical-review.pdf