New software release adds frills for Meridian Norstar PABX; cut-down Norstar announced
Northern Telecom Ltd has released two enhancements to its Meridian Norstar digital telephone system product line a very small version of the system and upgraded Norstar software for existing systems. The software upgrade, Design Release 3, has 16 new features and seven enhancements to existing features. Many of the new features on the upgraded software consist of stylish designer trimmings to make the systems more appealing in terms of gadgetry. Automatic Dialling, for example, enables a caller to begin dialling a number without lifting the handset or pressing a key to get dial tone. Hotline automatically connects to a pre-specified number when the handset is lifted. Other features include Call Forward on Busy which forwards an incoming call automatically when it encounters a busy line. Other features, are designed for a group of phones. Service Modes change ringing patterns according to the time of day so that incoming calls, for example, ring only on some phones. Northern has also released the M7100 telephone, a basic set that works only with the DR3 software package. The M7100 has a 16-character display, hold and release keys, a programmable feature key, on-hook dialling and paging reception. List price is $750 for the DR3, $240 for the M7100. Along with the DR3, Northern has launched a version of its Meridian Norstar digital key telephone system which supports a three-line by eight-station configuration, making it the smallest in the Norstar range. Standard features on the system include use prompts, internal messaging, intercom, paging and speed dial. Optional features include an analogue terminal adaptor, data communications interface – a Hayes compatible 2,400 bits-per-second and 19.2 kilo-bits-per-second rate adaptor for internal and external communications, a station message detail recorder interface unit, which tracks telephone usage and generates call detail records and a battery back-up system. Norstar 3×8 requires incoming phone lines, wiring for the set and an external power supply for installation. Telephones that can be used with the set are the liquid crystal display Norstar M7310 and M7208. The displays guide users through features of the system which include use prompts, internal messaging, intercom, paging and speed dial. List price for the standard version is $650.
Frame Relay support promised for the DPN-100 packet-switching system
Frame Relay, the fast inter-networking packetswitching protocol, is all the rage and after the announcement of US Sprint’s international Frame Relay network, (CI No 1,532), Northern Telecom has announced plans to integrate support for the protocol into its DPN-100 digital data packet networking system. The announcement follows a deal struck last month for agreed specifications of frame relay connections between Northern Telecom, DEC, StrataCom and Cisco Systems, which has now had backing from a string of other companies. DPN-100 frame relay will conform to the interworking specification, enabling networking products from DEC and Cisco to connect to private networks based on Northern Telecom’s DPN-100 or StrataCom’s IPX, and to public networks based on Northern Telecom SuperNode public telephone exchnages for local and inter-exchange carriers. Customer trials, using frame relay for end-to-end virtual private line communications at T1/CEPT1 speeds over a DPN network, are planned for 1991. Trunking between DPN-100 nodes via frame relay is anticipated in 1992. Last month, Northern Telecom announced frame relay support for its public telephone exchanges, with the introduction of DataSPAN wideband communications capability for the DMS-100 SuperNode and DMS-250 SuperNode digital switching systems. As with Sprint’s network, Northern says that local area network interconnect will be an important initial application for DPN-100 frame relay. DPN-100 frame relay will support inter-bridge and inter-router communications in Ethernet and Token Ring local area net environments using SNA, DECnet, TC
P/IP, XNS, IPX and OSI protocols.
ACI’s 4D Callcenter ties 4D database on the Mac to Northern’s Meridian PABX4D
Callcenter has been developed by French company ACI SA, based on its 4th Dimension relational database for Apple Macintoshes. Announced from the company’s US arm, ACIUS Inc in Cupertino, California, the Callcenter enables Mac users to make phone calls from an ACI database via Northern Telecom’s Meridian Telecenter. A purchaser, for example, calling suppliers, could dial by choosing names from a database list and keep track of conversations and account activities. CallCenter is a set of software development tools, available to ACIUS developers and is the first third party application for Northern Telecom’s Meridian TeleCenter, the software tool that uses the graphic interface of the Apple Macintosh computer to enhance access to the features of Northern Telecom’s Meridian 1 PABX. It will enable TeleCenter users to access applications, inbound or outbound, developed for 4th Dimension. 4D CallCenter will be supported by and available from ACIUS by the end of the year. List price is $200. A 4th Dimension program or a 4D runtime application on the Mac is also required.
Alltel has the biggest DPN-100 packet network in North America
Northern Telecom Ltd reports that in partnership with long-distance phone company Alltel Corp, it has completed installation of the largest all-DPN-100 digital data network in North America. The DPN-100 network, valued at more than $5m, has been established to provide the communications backbone for Alltel’s in-house corporate information systems, using IBM Systems Network Architecture SDLC, and asynchronous protocols over the network. Network reconfiguration and expansion can be performed dynamically, without disrupting existing services, and the network consists of DPN-100/20 data switches in Little Rock, Arkansas; Matthews, North Carolina; Kittanning, Pennsylvania; and Twinsburg, Ohio; and 114 DPN-100 access data switches in 74 locations.
