Two Mitel 5000 systems in same physical location?

[Rishi]

We are in the process of moving our office, and we're exploring the possibility of purchasing a new 5000 to set up in the new location beforehand, and then moving over the older Mitel 5000 when the move is complete. My understanding is that the Mitel 5000 is good for about 200 users, so the second system could come in handy to possibly split the load when we start to pass this number of employees.

The vendor we deal with didn't think two Mitel 5000s in the same location would work well. Perhaps he figured we'd have one PRI that we'd somehow split, which I can understand being complicated, but, assuming we had separate connections for both, and perhaps got a new set of DIDs for one of them, is this option feasible? Are there other benefits to this setup? It was also conveyed that the 5000 doesn't have an real business continuity/DR benefits, but maybe this is incorrect?

Thanks.

[acejavelin]

The Mitel 5000, assuming you mean MiVoice Office 250, does not have any redundancy or resiliency, that is correct... But having multiple ones in a single location is not only doable, it is recommended in some rare instances, but it must be planned very carefully.

The 5000 has a capacity of 250 devices, although once you start pushing 75 it would be recommended to look at your traffic and resources as additional resources or an external processor (PS-1) may be required.

This is a tough situation to address with the limited information.

[DND ON]

Multiple controllers are not an issue. I'm guessing your vendor doesn't have a lot of experience with large installations.

Like Ace said, it takes some planning and the ability to understand the reason why things are done. For example, splitting DIDs across disassociated PRIs doesn't make a lot of sense - bonding two PRIs and using a dual T1/PRI card does.

My main site has 3 controllers with PS-1 servers, 2 of which are being virtualized this weekend. We just installed Node 66 yesterday, the second controller in our remote data center. It's function will be to internally host phones at some of our smaller offices that don't really need their own controller.

This stuff is fun!

[marcreid]

We just had 2 MIVO 250's installed in our office and it has been a nightmare.

Do you have to export/import to all of your multiple 250's every time you make a change or add/delete a phone on one of the other?

[acejavelin]

We just had 2 MIVO 250's installed in our office and it has been a nightmare.

Do you have to export/import to all of your multiple 250's every time you make a change or add/delete a phone on one of the other?

No, you shouldn't need to... It should show up within 24 hours for changes (it should sync during the nightly maintenance routine), although new devices should populate immediately I believe.

Force of habit from years of working on the Axxess makes me do it though, so I don't pay much attention.

[DND ON]

I can’t imagine why having a second controller is any more difficult than using just one, let alone being a nightmare.

New devices automatically populate across the network within minutes, there is no need to import/export each time.

My particular setup does require logging into multiple controllers to add phones: centralized voice mail in on one node and DIDs are on another. Our redundant SIP trunks terminate in our remote data center, so those Call Routing Tables need to updated as well.

I’m spanning nodes with ACDs, auto attendants and anything else you would do on a single controller. A good, tight numbering plan is definitely required. But with 66 nodes, I don't have a typical environment.