We just bought our 6th CVX, and I have to say I like them better than Total Control. We started complementing our USR stuff about a year ago, and we're pleased with the results (more pleased they we would have been with the PM4 we were comparing with). The configuration is confusing at times, but once you get them going, you don't need to touch them for months at a time. Also, you don't need no damn Windows client to manage it remotely... everything can be done through telnet. Another thing to consider is that the CVX is more than a RAS. There is also code for VOIP (which will be unified with the RAS code this year), as well as other telco-specific applications (eg. T3 > T1 demux). Carl Litt Network Administrator Execulink Internet Services Other comments: On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Aaron Nabil wrote:
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Jamie Orzechowski wrote:
check out the Nortel CVX 1800! ... We are getting rid of our TC Gear (7 Racks - about 40 DSP's) and going to the Nortel CVX 1800 ...
http://www.nortelnetworks.com/promotions/cvxsolutions/index.html
Nortel is too "Jabba the Hutt" like to deal with, you are going to be too small to even be a blip on their radar. 3com at least has _distributors_ you can get pricing and information from. Does Nortel have a "totalservice" web site where you can find documentation and software, release notes, all that stuff? Nope. When you start having problems with
Yup. Performance Online. They have software, documentation, bulletins, etc. (We have a support contract, so I can't speak for those who don't) I do have one thing to say about software... there is so much development that it's sometimes hard to find a sitting target to upgrade to. But their patch levels are more stable than USR's general releases. Don't get me wrong... they have their problems, but nothing you can't work around.
the CVX1800, is there a newsgroups a mailing list you can turn to? Try calling Nortel's main number and try to talk to someone _right now_. You'll only be able to get someone to call you back. And when you
Non-emergency tech support is always available during normal business hours (9-5). After-hours emergency support is on call, and will call you back usually within 30 minutes. However, often when I call in with questions about configuration, etc., they have to research it and call back. At least when they call you back, they have answers better than "Umm, reseat the card and try again". And I've never had to teach a technician things about the box they should already know.
ask the operator when that will be (hmm, sometime later today?), "oh, we try to respond to all inquiries WITHIN 7 DAYS".
Here's an illustration of what you will be up against at Nortel. A few months ago, we got a "cold email" from one of their sales staff about their DSL gear. Since we were in the process of evaluating DSL solutions for a coming multi-million dollar investment in provisioning gear and DSLAMs, here is the reply I sent him...
From nabil@SpiritOne.com Thu Feb 10 15:55:07 2000 -0800 Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 15:55:02 -0800 (PST) From: Aaron Nabil <nabil@SpiritOne.com> To: Daniel Foreman <foremand@nortelnetworks.com> Subject: Re: Nortel Solutions In-Reply-To: <1142CC7C1392D111A64E0000F8C991800467B150@zrtpd001.us.nortel.com>
We are in the process of evaluating a DSL provisioning solution. If you'd like Nortel to be considered along with Redback, Cisco and Lucent, send us every piece of printed information you have about the Shasta line. Manuals, provisioning information, NTP's, everything. And _pricing_, of course. Not just pricing on a particular configuartion, pricing on all the configurations, support and maintainainance, and training.
Here's our address....
You know what I got back? Exactly the same glossies you might find in a Nortel booth at a trade show, all packaged in a nice Nortel folder. I'm expecting 80lbs, I get 8oz! Unless you are GST or Earthlink or US WEST, you are nothing to them. A million dollar sale is NOTHING to them. NOTHING.
Wrong. We are a small telco/ISP, and we get great support from them. We were interested in the Shasta, and they sent sales people down to meet with us. When we the CVX's were delivered, they sent 2 engineers for a couple days to help us set them up. You don't have to be a large service provider to get their attention. Maybe for a large sale, you need to get a human contact, to show you're serious. Call them up and see what happens. It would probably also help to be specific.
I noticed the above URL you gave at the Nortel web site, it suggest that there is some kind of "promotion". I challange you to find that information on their web site. In fact, try and find any information (beyond a picture of the outside of the box) on the CVX on their web site.
I'm sure Nortel is great if you are worth $500 million. If you are worth $5 million, forget it.
Keep us posted tho, eh?
-- Aaron Nabil
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