Control room telephone systems - know some good ones?

[Megatomic]

Hello again ATOT, I have another question to ask that doesn't belong in any of the other forums here at AT. So here it is.

I work at particle accelerator facility where I both run the accelerator, do some sys admin work, and help manage technology used in the control room. Later this year we are upgrading our control room infrastructure including our operating consoles which will also include our phones. We're rerunning the wires, but the phone system itself is not changing, we just want new phones.

Currently we use AT&T Model 7410 phones but we want something modern that:

1. is digital
2. has multiple lines
3. has speed dial buttons
4. has connections for headsets
5. has a nice professional look, futuristic is ok

So, if anyone here has control room or call center experience and has some recommendations I'd love to hear them. Links to vendors or suppliers is welcome but I'd like to hear how much you like/dislike your phones and why. Thanks everyone. :beer:

 

[spidey07]

If you have a pbx then you'll have to use those phones I believe. There should be different models available for your PBX.

Also don't forget to run a POTS line (hard line to your local carrier, not thru the PBX) for emergencies.

 

[Megatomic]

We won't be chaning our batphones (POTS), just the ones on our desks. I guess I should check with Telecom Dept. to see if they can provide any guidance.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
We won't be chaning our batphones (POTS), just the ones on our desks. I guess I should check with Telecom Dept. to see if they can provide any guidance.

yeah, if anybody knows what you can and can't use with the phone system it would be them.

 

[syee]

AT&T is now Avaya...check out their site and see what kind of phone sets are compatible with their PBX. From what I could tell, it appears it's using a Definity...

We have a Avaya Definity Prologix at the office and use the 6400 series sets, like the ones here though I wouldn't be able to tell you whether it is compatible or not.

 

[Megatomic]

Thanks guys, I did check on our intraweb and our system is Avaya. I've got a call into our PBX Admin now to get our particular model.

Let me ask this now, will I have to buy Avaya stuff or can I mix and match with other vendors? My manager wants something that looks really nice, futuristic is a plus. He's a trekkie. Our consoles are being purchased from a company called Evans. We're having this model of console installed, but the wood veneer is not the finish we chose. We'll have 3 rows of these, 1 for us operators, one for the crew chief, and one for the PIs (principal investigators). It's gonna look really sharp, the phones must be as cool as the consoles.

So what do you all think?

 

[K1052]

<---mops drool off desk

Those are some sweet consoles.

 

[Carbonadium4]

I got IPC turrets... 30x20 (600 total) buttons per screen 10 soft program key. 4k each + back end system is nearly 150k.. pretty cool, 30 people conference w/o static.. i tried doing a lan counter strike party.. Gets DID/T1/PRI/POTS etc into the system. Not affordable

 

[Megatomic]

They are pretty sweet. I can post pics later this year when our upgrade is done. These are the things we're doing:

1. New raised floor.
2. New raised roof.
3. New Evans Axiom consoles.
4. New HP B2600 workstations.
5. New telephones. I just found out that we may be switching over to a VoIP system!!!
6. New video wall. Jupiter video server with 8 Mitsubishi 52" cubes. Oh my god you guys this thing is cool.

I can't wait to run the accelerator in the new control room.

 

[syee]

You're pretty much stuck with that particular manufacturer's phone sets. Usually, they'll make different lines of phones so you can get a different style for your particluar PBX, but I'd check with them first before purchasing.

 

[Megatomic]

Well, towards the end of the workday I learned that an Avaya rep. is coming to our site to make a VoIP presentation. It really looks like we're going to upgrade our sitewide telecom system to VoIP not just our control room.

 

[sygyzy]

Cisco IP Phone 7940

 

[syee]

The Cisco phones look nice...we have some in our lab here in our office...Don't really care for the Avaya VOIP phones...they look kinda funny...they only have one line of VOIP phone sets