Nortel Meridian is a private branch exchange. It provides advanced voice features, data connectivity, LAN communications, computer telephony integration (CTI), and information services for communication applications ranging from 60 to 80,000 lines.
History
It was first introduced in 1976, based on Nortel's exsting SL1 and was one of the industry's first fully digital PBXs.
Impact
The Meridian has 43 Million installed users worldwide, making it the most widely used PBX.
The Meridian is one of the few PBX's still available from a major communications supplier that can be configured as non-VOIP PBX.
Models
The Meridian 1 range currently consists of several models
- Meridian 1 Option 11C (60-800 lines)
- Meridian 1 Option 11C Mini (60-128 lines)
- Meridian 1 Option 61C (600-2000 lines)
- Meridian 1 Option 81C (200-16,000 lines)
Additionally, other products have been sold using the Meridian brand:
- The Norstar key telephone system was sold as the Meridian Norstar in some markets, until the mid 1990s
- A large-scale switch based on the DMS-100 is sold as the Meridian SL-100
Resellers, and accessory manufacturers frequently but erroneously use the phrase "Meridian Option" to refer to the Meridian 1 range, to distinguish it from the smaller and larger Norstar and SL-100
Digital Line Card
A digital line card is an intelligent peripheral equipment (IPE) device which can be installed in the IPE module. It provides 16 voice and 16 data communication links between a Meridian 1 switch and modular digital telephones.
The digital line card supports voice only or simultaneous voice and data service over a single twisted pair of standard telephone wiring. When a Meridian digital telephone is equipped with the data option, an asynchronous ASCII terminal, or a PC acting as an asynchronous ASCII terminal, can be connected to the system through the digital telephone.
Physical description
Digital line cards are housed in the Intelligent Peripheral Equipment (IPE) Modules. Up to 16 cards are supported.
The digital line card circuitry is mounted on a 31.75 cm by 25.40 cm (12.5in. by 10 in.) double-sided printed circuit board. The card connects to the backplane through a 160-pin edge connector. The faceplate of the digital line card is equipped with a red LED that lights when the card is disabled.
When the card is installed, the LED remains lit for two to five seconds as a self-test runs. If the self-test completes successfully, the LED flashes three times and remains lit until the card is configured and enabled in software, then the LED goes out. If the LED continually flashes or remains weakly lit, replace the card.
Functional description
The digital line card is equipped with 16 identical digital line interfaces. Each interface provides a multiplexed voice, data, and signaling path to and from a digital terminal (telephone) over a 2-wire full duplex 512 kHz Time Compression Multiplexed (TCM) digital link. Each digital telephone and associated data terminal is assigned a separate Terminal Number (TN) in the system database, giving a total of 32 addressable units per card.
References
Extracts from Nortel IP Telephony
SL-1
The Meridian SL-1 was the first practical all-digital telephone switch aimed at the smaller PBX market. It was first introduced by Northern Telecom, now Nortel, in 1975, and went on to power the company into a leadership position in the telephony world. The successful design was later expanded "up and down" to provide products at all sizes, including the DMS series high-end machines, and the Meridian Norstar for smaller installations up to 200 users.
Evolution Path
The Nortel Meridian 1 can be upgraded to support VoIP in two forms:
- VoIP Trunking, the Meridian 1 can have ITG-Trunk cards added to it to support PBX-to-PBX voice trunking using H.323
- VoIP Line (VoIP Sets), the Meridian 1 can have IP Line cards added to it to support VoIP sets.
The introduction of Release 3.0 for the Meridian 1, otherwise known as the CS1000 Release 3.0 also provides an upgrade path for the existing customer base to upgrade a Meridian 1 to an IP-PBX
See also
- List of telephone switches
- Nortel business phones
References
- ^ "Meridian Systems Portfolio". Nortel Networks website . http://products.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?segId=0&catId=null&parId=0&prod_id=29141&locale=en-US . Retrieved August 29, 2006 .
- ^ "Meridian 1 System Software Release History". Nortel Networks website . http://products.nortel.com/go/product_assoc.jsp?segId=0&parId=0&catId=null&rend_id=5181&contOid=100177491&prod_id=27582&locale=en-US . Retrieved August 29, 200 .
- ^ Nortel History
- ^ Nortel (Northern Telecom) Modern Telephone Systems
- ^ "Meridian 1 brochure" (PDF). Nortel Networks website . http://www.nortel.com/products/01/meridian/mer1/collateral/ent030br1002en.pdf . Retrieved 17 January 2007 .
- ^ "Phone Systems". BT.com . http://www2.bt.com/btPortal/application?origin=mb_catalogue.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.event&pageid=mb_pns_catalogue&portletid=mb_pns_catalogue&wfevent=link.SubCategory&productCategory=categories/bt_corporate_products_telephony_hosted_voice.xml&productSubCategory=categories/bt_corporate_products_telephony_hosted_voice_phone_sys.xml&PorS=products&siteArea=mb.corp . Retrieved 17 January 2007 .
- ^ "Meridian 1 option 11C overview". Nortel Networks website . http://products.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?parId=0&segId=0&catId=-9219&prod_id=16001&locale=en-US . Retrieved 17 January 2007 .
- ^ "Meridian 1 option 11C Mini overview". Nortel Networks website . http://products.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?parId=0&segId=0&catId=-9219&prod_id=9301&locale=en-US . Retrieved 17 January 2007 .
- ^ "Meridian 1 option 61C overview". Nortel Networks website . http://products.nortel.com/go/product_content.jsp?parId=0&segId=0&catId=-9219&prod_id=36940&locale=en-US . Retrieved 17 January 2007 . ...
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