Mitel 5200 End Of Hardware Support: What You Need To Know

Following our initial announcement about the end of support for the 5200 series set, Mitel have now modified their position to allow these devices to come into service following the MiVoice Business 9.0 upgrade.

Whilst we expect the phones will operate as normal, the 5200 sets will not have the normal support level. Specifically, this means that, should issues arise after the upgrade to release 9.0, Mitel reserves the right to not fix specific issues isolated to the 5200 series sets operation. 

For customers who prefer a fully supported configuration, then there are 2 options:

• Transition away from the 5200 series sets to the current desktop portfolio for a fully supported solution. See our Mitel 6900 Series Handset Promotion here.
• Remain on MiVoice Business 8. Standard Mitel support policy would state that MiVoice Business 8.0 versions including SP’s will continue to be fully supported until the release of MiVoice Business release 10.0 which would be anticipated in mid 2019. At the time of release of 10.0 then the 8.x stream becomes unsupported. However, for customers who request extended support and who subscribe to premium Software Assurance, Mitel will extend support of the 8.x stream until July 2020. This would provide additional time to plan a desktop churn and upgrade once the estate is refreshed

MiVoice Business Release 9 – Mitel EX Controller 

As part of Mitel’s continued commitment to delivering on-site deployments of their communications platforms we are proud to introduce a new hardware variant that will not only be supporting the MiVoice Business call control, but which will also be used in MiVoice MX-ONE and MiVoice 5000 deployments.

The EX Controller will be a complement to the existing hardware family – specifically, the 3300 CX II and 3300 MXe III Controllers remain fully available to customers. Like the existing hardware, the Mitel EX Controller enables both call control and media gateway functionality to run on a single hardware instance.

The Mitel EX controller provides up to a capacity of 1,400 IP users and offers local survivability and PSTN access for analog users. It provides 8 expansion slots which can house cards to connect to TDM trunking services (ISDN PRI, E&M, and R2 T1/E1), analog trunks and analog extensions. Additionally, a DSP card may be required in certain configurations.

It is available in both single and dual power supply versions:

• Single power supply version with 4GB RAM & 60GB SSD – Part Number 50008229
• Dual power supply version with 8GB RAM & 120GB SSD – Part Number 50008230

WHAT IS SUPPORTED ON THE EX CONTROLLER?

• TDM support for Digital trunks (PRI, T1, E1, R2) and Analog trunks and extensions (FXS, FXO)
  -It uses IP all the way to the cards which incorporate the E2T gateway functionality
  -All required E2T resources are incorporated into each card so it is non-blocking
  -A digital link license (54000303) on MiVB is required for each link and this provides the necessary resources to program the gateway functionality
• Maximum 1400 IP user capacity
• 64 G.711 Media channels (software) for access to conferencing, direct paging, Music On Hold
• Embedded Voicemail capacity
  -750 Mail boxes
  -Max 30 ports of which 12 can be Voicemail and the rest embedded RADs
• MiVoice Business Release 9.0 will support a single LAN port 10/100/1000
• File based MOH supports 128 MB, also USB can be used to provide MOH input

We are delighted to announce the general availability of MiVoice Business R9.0.  With a complete software refresh, delivering platform, security, responsiveness and performance improvements, MiVoice Business R9.0 is available for all installed base customers with active Software Assurance who have platforms that meet the minimum requirements.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW / FEATURES & BENEFITS / DESCRIPTION  
MiVoice Business development is firmly aligned with Mitel’s focus on continuous improvement that will deliver innovation, new features to enhance customer interaction and reduce the overall cost of ownership.

MiVoice Business Release 9.0 is built upon 3 pillars:
1. Customer requests for feature enhancements
2. Software refresh and common hardware platform
3. Lifecycle transitions  

SOFTWARE REFRESH FOR MIVOICE BUSINESS 
MiVoice Business Release 9.0 includes a significant refresh of the software to deliver Total Cost of Ownership improvements. It is designed to facilitate enhanced system performance, a simplified process for the deployment of patches/security updates as we go forward and the delivery of an infrastructure ready to evolve to next-generation networks.

• Native Linux deployment: release 9 will run natively in a Linux environment by utilizing C and C++
• Improve responsiveness and deployment of changes (patches, security updates): A simplified process for the deployment of patches/security updates. Update individual software components rather than the whole software load
• Significantly enhanced system performance and serviceability
• Technology update; IPv6 in the core system (dual stack), FQDN (core system), SNMPv3 support
• Available on CX(i)* II, MXe III*, Virtual, Software only and new EX Controller in initial release (AX, MiVB Express, MiCD to follow

NEW FEATURES:

1. Caller ID Based Routing
To allow customers better manage calls, Mitel have created a whitelist/blacklist capability which can route specific incoming callers (based on calling line ID).

Whitelist – the calling line ID can be used to provide a white glove service to route known contacts to specific users or groups of users to help ensure optimum customer service.
Blacklist – unwanted calls can be routed either to a message only mailbox or simply disconnected, thus avoiding staff having to waste time dealing with unnecessary calls. 

2. Last Group Member Recall
The Last Group Member Routing (LGMR) feature allows the callers to be connected to the person that they spoke with in the event they have to call back rather than potentially getting connected to another member of the group.

EXPANDED BROWSER SUPPORT
MiVoice Business Release 9.0 expands the browser support for accessing the System Admin Tool, it now supports the following:

• Internet Explorer
• Firefox (36.0.4 or later)
• Google Chrome (59 or later)
• Microsoft Edge (38 or later)

MIVOICE BUSINESS CONSOLE 9.0
Microsoft Windows 10 support has been expanded to include the following:

• Windows 10 Education
• Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB
• Windows 10 Professional for Workstations

CONFIGURATION INFORMATION

MiVoice Business Release 9.0 requires the following:

• CX II and CXi II require a minimum of 1 GB Ram and 16GB HDD/SSD
• MXe III requires a minimum of 1GB RAM and 60GB HDD/SSD
• Virtual machines
-VMware
-Hyper-V

The following platforms will receive access to the new features, capabilities and software refresh as part of the MiVoice Business 9.1 release. Customers who run a MiVoice Business network of differing controllers will be able to utilise a mixed network of MiVoice Business releases until this time:

• AX Controller
• Multi-Instance MiVoice Business (Enterprise deployments)
• MiVoice Business Express

NOT SUPPORTED
As stated in the past the 5200 sets will not have the normal support level. This means that, should issues arise after the upgrade to release 9.0, Mitel reserves the right to not fix specific issues isolated to the 5200 series sets operation. Click here for more information.

MiVoice Business Release 9.0 also no longer supports the following:

• MiVoice 3300 LX
• 3300 MXe & 3300 MXe II & MXe Server
• 3300 CX and CXi
• Stratus servers – Direct deployment on RedHat Linux (although VMware deployment continue to be supported)
• FIM connections
• NSU, DSU, FD-PER, 200 Bay
• DNIC devices (consoles, multi-line DNIC sets, Single-line DNIC-sets)
• Analog/Digital on FD-PER or 200 Bay
• 5401, 6600 YA Pro, App Server, 5550 IP Console

Any customers who continue to have such equipment in their network will not be able to upgrade to MiVoice Business Release 9.0 until those items are removed.