I know that quite a few of us have been asking about the current roadmap for the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600. And while Avaya hasn’t exactly come out and explicitly detailed the future of the ERS 8600 they have provided hints with respect to some of their announcements.

We now know that any new switches purchased with the 8895SF/CPU will be labeled an ERS 8800 a opposed to an ERS 8600 switch. We also know that Avaya has released 7.0 software which will put pressure on their customers to upgrade to at least 5.x software. We also know that a lot of old hardware is coming MD and/or EoL. I just realized that the classic non-E cards (8648TX, 8608SX, 8608GB, 8608GT) have been EoL since 2006. I knew they were EoL but I didn’t think it was 4 years ago. So I went back and looked over the last few bulletins announcing (in some cases updating previous announcements) regarding the MD (Manufacture Discontinued) of various hardware modules.

Here are some notes that I came up with after looking threw the various bulletins;

• The Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8691 SF/CPU, 8616SXE, 8632TXE, 8616GTE, 8648TXE, 8608SXE, 8624FXE, 8608GBE, 8608GTE, 8632TXM, 8648TXM, 8608GBM, 8608GTM, 8672ATME, 8672ATMM, 8683POSM modules are to be declared Manufacturing Discontinue effective either Dec 31, 2009 or Apr 30, 2010. The official End of Life for these modules isn’t until April 30, 2015 (5 years).
• The Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch Web Switching Module (WSM) was declared Manufacturing Discontinue effective Feb 28, 2009. At this time for the Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 Security Modules (SDM 8660 versions) are also being declared Manufacturing Discontinue effective Dec 31, 2009. The official EoL for this module isn’t until March 31, 2014. Please note that the WSM includes the following products that were already MD in January 2009,  8600SM 8660FW, 8600SDM 8600TPS, 8600SDM 8600FW/TPS.
• The Avaya Data Solutions (ADS) [Nortel] Ethernet Routing Switch 8800/8600 R-Modules, namely 8630GBR (DS1404063-E5), 8648GTR (DS1404092-E5), 8683XLR (DS1404101-E5), and 8683XZR (DS1404064-E5) are to be declared Manufacturing Discontinue effective July 30, 2010 with an associated last order date of June 30, 2010. The official EoL for these modules isn’t until July 30, 2015 (5 years).

If the intention is to support the older hardware for 5 years isn’t it obvious that Avaya will also need to support the software for 5 years?

If you’re looking to deploy a new ERS 8600 you might really need to consider that the older cards and software will probably only be supported until 2015. However, if you deploy an ERS 8800 switch you’ll likely be supported for much longer than that… again 10+ years might not be unreasonable, although you might also consider a VSP9000 or similar high density 10Gbps switch.

Bulletins:

• Hardware Lifecycle Support Update for ERS 8800/8600 R-Modules Pre-Notification of Manufacture Discontinue
• Hardware Lifecycle Support Update for ERS 8691SF, and E/M Modules Final Notification of Manufacture Discontinue
• Hardware Lifecycle Support Update for ERS 8600 WSM and Security Modules Notification of Manufacture Discontinue

Cheers!