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.
“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.
The city of Richardson, Texas, which has a large IP-enabled Nortel PBX deployment, currently runs many of its IT applications on Linux servers. Moving telephony to the platform would be a positive thing, says Steve Graves, the city’s CIO.
“From what we’ve seen, once you’ve installed a Linux machine, except for doing patches or updates, they just run and they’re solid. I think it’s a good idea for [Nortel] to move to that platform,” he says.
Another Nortel user also sees Linux as the way of the future for IP-based phone systems. But he questions the blanket assumption that this will lead to more secure systems.
“I think that more and more telecom managers are looking at Linux-based platforms,” says John Tichenor, telecom manager at Chadbourne and Parke, a New York law firm with offices nationwide, which uses Nortel PBXs. “But are they doing this strictly because Linux has less security patches than Windows? The question is, if more telecom vendors go with Linux, do people who want to disrupt telecommunications then go and write more Linux viruses?”
One industry observer sees Windows and Linux as being on par in terms of reliability when deployed on IP PBXs. But there is still a stigma around Windows in the telecom realm.
“I haven’t heard many horror stories lately regarding IP PBX uptime that can be traced back to problems due to Windows,” says Brian Riggs, an analyst with Current Analysis. “But it is still the case in some larger enterprises that they tend to be fairly wary of running their voice network on a Microsoft platform.”
The Linux-based BCM 50 will include support for up to 50 phones, which could include a mix of Nortel IP phones, digital handsets, PC-based softphones and analog lines. The device includes built-in voice mail (up to 1,000 mail boxes and 100 hours of recording) that can integrate into a Microsoft Outlook client for unified voice/e-mail messaging. The device has the option of including an integrated WAN router (with T-1 or DSL connection interfaces) as well as a VPN gateway and firewall, which lets users deploy a single box in a small office or remote site. Nortel says the BCM 50 will cost between $350 and $500 per user.
Later this year, Nortel says it will release a version of the BCM 50 called the Survivable Remote Gateway. This box will act as a local VoIP gateway for a remote office tied to a centralized Nortel IP PBX (such as a larger BCM or Communication Server 1000). The Survivable Remote Gateway will connect local IP phones to the main IP PBX, and provide local public switched telephone network connectivity and call control in case of an IP WAN link failure.
