Local and long Distance PRI's ????

[vbhere]

I am in a bit of a dilemma whcih I hope can get some help.

2-QUESTIONS:

QUESTION1 - If a long distance PRI circuit is used you cannot receive inbound video conference calls unless:
(a) the party is using the same long distance carrier
(b) the party picks over to our long distance carrier using a pic code
(c) we provide a toll free number so calling the party's long distance carrier is irrelevant

Also, is this the case for placing outbound video conference calls ?

QUESTION2 - Scenario: I have 2 conference rooms and 1 long distance PRI circuit that is shared between rooms.

My technical contact with the long distance carrier told me that only 1 number is assocaited with long distance PRI's and not a block of numbers as you can with a local PRI. He then indicated to me that he can give me a couple more numbers for the same circuit but once a call is connected to the circuit it uses the primary number for bonding the call and hence cannot receive any other call.

The problem for me is that I do not want to tie up 1 entire circuit with 1 room in the event of simultaneous video conference calls.

I am using a Atlas-550 which I am told manages bandwidth and also some DID. I think its possible to map a number given by the long distance carrier to a DID number so I can connect to the correct room but I still need clarification.

My main concern though is the fact that the primay number is engaged in the call and as result I cannot use the PRI circuit to make more call from a different unit.

Also is this the case with local and long distance PRI's where you can have DID's for each channel on a locall PRI but only 1-number on a long distance PRI ?

Please help !!

[carolyn]

I am not an expert on pri but have been around long time....my experience with pri's is simple..a PRI has a main number correct. you can get a bank of numbers from the telco for call routing. pri comes to the dmark and then typically needs to go into a "box" that breaks it down either for date or voive and date(video)...bri's if it to be spread out like through a PBX...We have 2 PRI's for our mcu. they come in, go through the csu then into the mcu which nreaks it apart and allows us to use all 23 of the 24 channels for each (the 24th channel is for the network clock). A pri essentially gives you 23 64kbps isdn lines to divide up...you do not need a number for all of them. we have 5 for each because we fluctuate from 384 to 256 kbps for our connections. If you don't use a mcu..you need a programmable interface...The one I am most familiar with does not exist anymore, i think..it was ascend. They were absorbed by lucent years ago. the basic premise of the ascend was to take the PRI and distributes it ..like a pbx

i do not know the interface you are speaking of...If you feel that can act as a "pbx"..you need to go to the manuf. of it to find out and get yourself some technical instructions/info to help you figure it out

What ISDN interface do you have on your end points? i have a PRI provisioning form that our service vendor gave me to have the telco fill out when we ordered the pri. It is a useful tool in ensuring you get right stuff from the telco and to manage the pri once it comes into your org. Give me your email address and I can forward it to you. I may also have soem other info that may be of use to you...i will have to look.

Good luck..

[vbhere]

We are using a Tandberg-6000 codec so it has a built in BRI and PRI interface.

[ssmith26]

A couple of questions for clarification
You mentioned your 6000 is BRI and PRI, and you mentioned an Atlas 550. Are you bringing the PRI into the Atlas and then converting to BRI for the codecs? Or are you bringing the PRI into the Atlas and then trying to split that PRI to pass through to the codecs?

To answer your first question there should not be any reason you cannot receive an inbound video call on a PRI unless something is configured improperly. Which leads back to the Atlas question.

I may be able to shed more light on question two once I understand the overall picture better.

Sondra

[vbhere]

The codec has both BRI cards and PRI cards.

Reason:

I have a PRI circuit that connects to the Atlas -550 that should provide some type of DID services and bandwidth mangement to each codec.

Secondly, I also have legacy ISDN lines for back up purposes in the event my PRI circuit fails hence the BRI card.

[Oliver Black]

You need to find a different PRI vendor or "Technical Contact"... A PRI is like a regular trunk phone line, only digital with 23 lines. When a LD call comes in, it does not care what LD service, it comes to the local switch via the LD carriers network, and is routed to the appropriate local number. Your service provider should be able to assign as many numbers as needed to which you then route accordingly using your own ISDN switch. We have two PRI's, which together are assigned 200 public numbers. We dial out LD using our default Sprint LDS, but receive from whomever dials into us. I would seriously question your technical contact and perhaps go above him to find out the real answer to your question. It is unfathomable that a LD carrier would limit you to one call at a time.

[jcicc]

Hi Read through the posts here and it sounds like you are doing something similar to what I have in a couple of my offices. I have a PRI that terminates in a Madge 60 (similar to the Atlas) switch. The PRI then breaks out BRI channels to serve a 3 different VTC units.

Regarding question 1: Your LD carrier's PRI bypasses the local LEC CO. Therefore it has no provision to hand off a call to another carrier unlike a local PRI. What that means is that you cannot make or receive a call to/from someone else who has a LD PRI. If they have local BRIs or a loca PRI, this is not an issue; but if you have a Sprint PRI , for example and your other party has a an AT&T PRI, you will not be able to communcate without some third party like a bridging service joining your call.
In regards to question 2: As someone else said, you can get a number per channel, if you want but as was noted those channels would bond together in your call. What you can do, in conjunction with your switch, is to have your carrier break the PRI into trunk groups. In my case with the three systems, I have three different trunk groups. I have a "main" number assigned to each trunk group so I utiize only the proper mount of bandwidth that each system can handle.

Hope this helps.

[vbhere]

Hello John:

Can you contact me. I'd like to discuss a couple things if possible.
'
regards
Vishal
vbrown@kramerlevin.com

[VTCNE]

Just a few points . . .

The PRI from a long distance carrier should be able to be provisioned with North American Numbering Plan (Area code+number) and hence available for inbound calls from any originating carrier. This needs to be coordinated with your LD carrier, and will likely cost a few dollars more than the restricted service currently delivered to your location.

On question 2, I have to assume that the WAN interface is PRI, and there are two PRI lines for each VTC system all tied to the 550. A minimum of two directory numbers are required to accept two inbound calls. Each of these numbers must permit multiple call appearances. In this scenario you would have i number on each PRI and that number would be the only one your VTC systems would use for BONDING. The Adtran and the VTC endpoints will handle this if you have more than one number on the PRI.

You should be able to receive one call to the system with the DID assigned and still be able to place another outbound call from the other unit so long as the total bandwidth does not exceed 23 B channels.

Creating trunk groups from your carrier within the PRI is not necessary. If you wanted to allocate bandwidth per system you should be able to do so in the Adtran.

Note that if your downstream connections to the VTC systems is BRI, you will need at least one number per BRI line or at least 6 if this is the connection method to the two systems.

Good luck.