I realize that most people don’t get sentimental about telephones; I’m just a little weird that way.

This little gem, a Meridian M2616 phone, has been my companion here at CGNET for the last year or so.  And the Nortel Meridian 1 Option 61 it’s connected to is one that I helped CGNET pick out way back when.  They needed a system that could handle more than a dozen Primary Rate Interface connections, to support a voice-over-frame-relay service they were offering.  And since I was the guy in charge of PRI at Nortel, I had a vested interest in seeing this baby work.

Good times, yes.  But all that talk of “multimedia convergence” from back then has caught up with CGNET.  In today’s lingo, it’s “Unified Communications.”

And so we’ve installed our Microsoft Lync 2013 system, which provides for instant messaging, “presence,” and audio and video calling.  So my phone, pictured above, is being retired in favor of a Jabra headset and Lync software client:

The sentimental part of me hates to see the Meridian gear retire.  But I have to admit, I love the new Lync capability.  For instance, I was just on the phone with a business partner and was getting ready to say, “I’ll have our tech lead call you.”  That would have delayed getting the information he needed to get something set up for me, something I wanted to start Monday morning.  Instead, I checked my Lync client, saw that our tech lead was available, and clicked a button to conference him into the call.  We had our discussion, and everyone has what they need to keep our project going.  I love it!

I can already foresee the death of that phrase, “I’ll try to transfer you now but in case I lose you…”