Nortel preps smaller IP PBX system

Linux-based VoIP box gives a glimpse into vendor's IP PBX road map.

Nortel next month is expected to launch the first in a family of Linux-based IP PBXs that ultimately could save customers money, simplify management and ease application development.

The Business Communications Manager (BCM) 50, which the company plans to show next month at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas, is a scaled-down addition to Nortel's BCM product line, with a target deployment of 20 to 50 users. Nortel says the device fills a gap in its VoIP menu, where smaller customers were sometimes forced to buy larger systems than they needed.

The BCM 50 will run on Nortel Corporate Linux, a version of the open source operating system Nortel developed to run VoIP. This operating system will be the platform for future versions of all BCM products and Nortel's Communication Server 1000 IP PBX for large-enterprise deployments, the company says.

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Nortel next month is expected to launch the first in a family of Linux-based IP PBXs that ultimately could save customers money, simplify management and ease application development.

The Business Communications Manager (BCM) 50, which the company plans to show next month at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas, is a scaled-down addition to Nortel's BCM product line, with a target deployment of 20 to 50 users. Nortel says the device fills a gap in its VoIP menu, where smaller customers were sometimes forced to buy larger systems than they needed.

The BCM 50 will run on Nortel Corporate Linux, a version of the open source operating system Nortel developed to run VoIP. This operating system will be the platform for future versions of all BCM products and Nortel's Communication Server 1000 IP PBX for large-enterprise deployments, the company says.

"Linux is an initiative you'll see us moving to across our enterprise portfolio," says Richard Solosky, a Nortel marketing director. He says the next software upgrade for all BCM products, Version 4.0, will be based on Nortel Corporate Linux. The Communication Server 1000 also will be migrated to Linux in its next major software release, due later this year.

With the BCM 50, Nortel is following the Linux lead of IP PBX vendors such as Alcatel, Avaya and Mitel Networks, and smaller vendors such as Zultys Technologies. Cisco, which runs its market-leading CallManager IP PBXs on Windows servers, also is expected to announce a Linux-based version of the product sometime this year.

Solosky says the move to Linux will give Nortel one operating system for all its convergence gear. Currently, the company runs the real-time VxWorks operating system on the Communication Server and embedded Windows NT on the BCM. Linux will let users work with one operating system across multiple Nortel voice platforms, while making it easier for Nortel to support the products. Third-party software developers and integrators also will have an easier time writing Nortel-based convergence applications for a single operating system, he adds.

The BCM 50 might find a place in the network of Global Materials Technology, a manufacturing company in Palatine, Ill., with offices worldwide. The company uses a BCM 400 in its headquarters to tie together plants throughout the U.S., China and Europe over VoIP.

Putting a BCM 50 in some of the company's plants as a local phone switch might make sense, whereas a larger BCM might be overkill, says Ed Jones, vice president of IS at Global Materials. Plants are currently connected using IP-enabled legacy PBXs or IP handsets and softphones, which link back to the central BCM 400.

The current Windows NT-based BCM platform has been trouble-free for Global Materials. "Both the embedded Windows NT and Linux platforms are stable platforms," Jones says. "But I think the Linux has a much better security background on it."

He cites the numerous security warnings and patches that are released for Windows servers as being a cause for concern.