| Nortel Networks, Northern Telecom and | | | | will help you to do so. |
| Meridian are terms that many end users have | | | | |
| said to me when describing what phone system | | | | Look at the bottom of the telephone. Ignore |
| they have. It's easy to get confused here, | | | | the serial number. There is sometimes a model |
| but we can sort some of this out. | | | | number. It may have a model number such as |
| | | | M7324, M7310, M7208, M7100, T7316, T7316e or |
| Northern Telecom became Nortel some years | | | | T7100. If it has any of these it is a phone |
| ago. More recently, they have taken the name | | | | on a Norstar phone system. |
| of Nortel Networks. This company has been and | | | | |
| remains one of the largest phone system | | | | The Meridian PBX and SL-1 have model numbers |
| manufacturers in the world. They have made | | | | including M2008, M2006, M2616D, M3901, M3902, |
| everything from the Central Office phone | | | | M3903, M3904 and M3905. There may be many |
| switches that provide phone lines, Centrex, | | | | variations of these. |
| T-1's, and PRI's to Norstar and Meridian | | | | |
| phone systems for business offices to single | | | | Nortel and Aastra (that's another story for |
| line phones for residential use. | | | | antoher day) also make Centrex phones and |
| | | | other single line and two line phones that |
| Finding the model number for your phone is | | | | say Meridian on them. These include M5316, |
| one of the first things you need to do in | | | | M5208, M5008, M5312, M5216, M5212, M5209, |
| order expand your system or replace bad | | | | M5112, M5009, M9417CW, M9316CW, M9110, M9116, |
| phones. If you order the wrong phone model, | | | | M9120, M8004, M8009, and M8314. |
| it won't have the same features and may not | | | | |
| work at all on your phone system. | | | | The model numbers may be absent. If so, look |
| | | | for the part #. It will almost always begin |
| One of the most confusing things is that the | | | | with NT followed by several numbers and |
| word Meridian is used across much of their | | | | usually some letters. For instance, an M7310 |
| product line for business office phone system | | | | is also known as NT8B20. The Aastra phones |
| equipment. If you have a Northern Telecom or | | | | may begin with an A. |
| Nortel phone system in your office, there is | | | | |
| a fair chance that it says Meridian somewhere | | | | Remember, Meridian labelled phones may be on |
| on it. Meridian was put on Centrex phones, | | | | a Norstar system, a Meridian PBX or as part |
| Norstar phones and Meridian and SL-1 PBX | | | | of your Centrex. |
| phones. If you are trying to identify what | | | | |
| type of phone or phone system you have, the | | | | I hope this helps some of you understand your |
| fact that it says Meridian on it doesn't | | | | Meridian phones better. |
| identify it, but it does lead to a path that | | | | |