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Nortel Networks, Northern Telecom and Meridian are terms that many end users have said to me when describing what phone system they have. It's easy to get confused here, but we can sort some of this out.

Northern Telecom became Nortel some years ago. More recently, they have taken the name of Nortel Networks. This company has been and remains one of the largest phone system manufacturers in the world. They have made everything from the Central Office phone switches that provide phone lines, Centrex, T-1's, and PRI's to Norstar and Meridian phone systems for business offices to single line phones for residential use.

Finding the model number for your phone is one of the first things you need to do in order expand your system or replace bad phones. If you order the wrong phone model, it won't have the same features and may not work at all on your phone system.

One of the most confusing things is that the word Meridian is used across much of their product line for business office phone system equipment. If you have a Northern Telecom or Nortel phone system in your office, there is a fair chance that it says Meridian somewhere on it. Meridian was put on Centrex phones, Norstar phones and Meridian and SL-1 PBX phones. If you are trying to identify what type of phone or phone system you have, the fact that it says Meridian on it doesn't identify it, but it does lead to a path that will help you to do so.

Look at the bottom of the telephone. Ignore the serial number. There is sometimes a model number. It may have a model number such as M7324, M7310, M7208, M7100, T7316, T7316e or T7100. If it has any of these it is a phone on a Norstar phone system.

The Meridian PBX and SL-1 have model numbers including M2008, M2006, M2616D, M3901, M3902, M3903, M3904 and M3905. There may be many variations of these.

Nortel and Aastra (that's another story for antoher day) also make Centrex phones and other single line and two line phones that say Meridian on them. These include M5316, M5208, M5008, M5312, M5216, M5212, M5209, M5112, M5009, M9417CW, M9316CW, M9110, M9116, M9120, M8004, M8009, and M8314.

The model numbers may be absent. If so, look for the part #. It will almost always begin with NT followed by several numbers and usually some letters. For instance, an M7310 is also known as NT8B20. The Aastra phones may begin with an A.

Remember, Meridian labelled phones may be on a Norstar system, a Meridian PBX or as part of your Centrex.

I hope this helps some of you understand your Meridian phones better.