Norstar phone systems, manufactured by
Nortel Networks, are the most popular brand of communication systems on
the market today. Commonly referred to as the Norstar ICS (Integrated
Communications System), the platform is comprised of fully digital
switches, telephone sets, voice mails, and peripherals that work
together to provide reliable, feature-rich, and sophisticated
communications solutions for offices of varying in size from anywhere
between two to (150) users.
Norstar ICS systems
There are three different sizes of ICS
that make up the current Norstar product line:
-
Mini 3x8 system, supports up to
3-incoming lines and 8-stations.
-
Compact ICS system, designed for
small businesses, and is scalable up to a maximum of 8-incoming lines
and 24-stations.
-
Modular ICS system, designed for
larger, growing businesses. This system platform is scalable by adding
expansion modules to support up to 272-ports, which is a combination
of incoming lines and stations. The largest system Option Telecom will
support is a Modular ICS with 150-telephone sets.
In addition, there are a couple of older
platforms that we support: the Modular M8x24 systems (discontinued in
favor of the Modular ICS line), and the small 6x16 systems, which were
replaced by the Compact ICS line. These two platforms are considered
Legacy products, and are only available refurbished.
Reliable
The success of the Norstar
line is primarily attributed to their reliability, functionality, and
ease of use. In fact, they are arguably the most reliable system
produced, with an extremely low Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rate.
Nortel's documented MTBF for the system, utilizing Bellcore standards,
is 50 years! Compare that to Lucent's 2.1 years.
Functional
Functionally, Norstar
systems are on the leading edge of technology. Nortel spends a great
deal of capital on research and development in order to maintain their
market share. So customers can rely on the product to be more
feature-rich than other systems on the market.
Easy
Since the Norstar system's
telephones all have LCD displays, the system is extremely easy to use
and to learn. The LCD prompts the user one step at a time to move
through the various functions of the system. The Norstar systems make it
easy to get started, easy to make and manage calls, and easy to add
options (such as voice mail or message-on-hold solutions).