NEC DTL and ITL End of Life (EOL), and what to consider

Before we dive into any details, lets discuss what exactly End-of-Life or EOL means for your desktop phones and phone system.  As newer hardware technology replaces older outdated gear, support for the older "legacy" equipment is ended.  This means the item will no longer be manufactured or supported, and often times you're encouraged to migrate to a newer system. 

Another term used by NEC is EOS, or End-of-Sale.  A self explanatory title, this is the date in which sales for the product will end.  Although you could still purchase the item refurbished from a third party or vendor, the manufacturer will not be selling/manufacturing any more after that date.  However, they will still support the product and offer licensing up until the EOL date arrives.

This is what is happening to the NEC DTL and ITL phones if you're running the Univerge SV8000 series Communications Servers.  The Univerge SV8000 series is reaching its end of life in December 2018.  Though this may seem some time away, it really is time to think about your current system.

To migrate, or not to migrate - this is the question

I'm the type of person who always likes to have the "new" thing, but coming from a business perspective the cost must be justified.  When asked by a customer if they should migrate I always ask if they're growing or plan to grow in the future.  The main reason I ask this is because of licensing.  As we talked about above, once a product reaches its EOL the manufacturer will no longer offer licensing - for example, adding additional phone licenses to your phone system would not be possible.

If you're an established business and don't plan to grow, adding additional phones won't be a necessary.  To be clear, I don't mean you can't replace a phone or add another phone if you already have the licensing.  What I mean is if you have licensing for 100 phones, then you hire your 101st employee, you won't be able to add that additional phone.

Migrating to the Univerge SV9100 Communications Server

Migrating to the Univerge SV9100 certainly has some great benefits, best of all support for your SV8100 DTL/ITL phones will be extended.  It's an easy 2-step process to migrate; simply replace your SV8100 CPU with the SC9100 CPU and then purchase and install the hardware migration license.  Check out the table below to see the supported terminals for upgrading.

Here at Refurbished Phone Exchange, we sell a wide selection of NEC products.  If you're interested in purchasing NEC gear, or selling your old equipment, please feel free to contact us.