NEC recently made it known that they are ceasing sales for their on-premise phone systems and related devices, including UNIVERGE SV9100, SV9500, SL2100, 3C, and more.
Here’s the basic situation as it stands in December 2024: by the end of this month, December 2024, all on-premise NEC PBXs and related devices will be EOL and will not be sold new. All technical support and maintenance will cease by the end of March 2026.
Put short: if your business uses an NEC on-premise telephone system, you need to find a replacement.
Migrating from a phone system can seem daunting: all the devices you use, all the habits you’ve established.
We’re here to tell you: there are excellent options for small business VoIP phone systems that give you the control and performance of an on-premise NEC PBX — or improve on it.
In this blog, we provide expert recommendations for migrating from an NEC on-premise phone system to another on-premise VoIP phone system.
If you’d like an in-depth look at VoIP phone systems in general, check out our expert, detailed VoIP Phone Systems Buyer’s Guide.
Migrating to a New VoIP Phone System from an NEC Phone System
NEC is phasing out their on-premise small business phone systems, the NEC PBXs, telephones, and terminals that for a long time have been one of the go-to solutions for business communications.
So what you need is a new phone system and compatible peripherals like VoIP phones or existing phones integrated using a VoIP gateway or ATA (analog telephone adapter).
There are two basic types of VoIP phone system: cloud and on-premise.
Cloud phone systems or hosted VoIP phone systems (they mean the same thing) are subscription services and often come as part of a larger unified communications package. There are many cloud phone services out there: Microsoft Teams, Zoom Phone, RingCentral, Vonage, 8x8, Nextiva, Dialpad, Ooma, Intermedia, and so on.
By the way, it was announced in September 2024 (external link) that NEC UNIVERGE BLUE North American cloud phone services are going to be assumed by Intermedia with whom NEC has been partnered since 2020.
Because you’re upgrading from an on-premise NEC phone system, however, we’re going to assume you’re more interested in an on-premise VoIP phone system.
Recommended NEC On-Premise Phone System Replacements
There are budget-friendly and feature-rich options for replacing your NEC phone system with another on-premise VoIP phone system. If you use SIP trunking with your NEC UNIVERGE phone system, you’ll still be able to set up SIP trunking with these.
Two of the most popular and trusted are from Grandstream and Yeastar.
Grandstream has developed a small business communications ecosystem with IP PBX appliances and a robust platform that centralizes everything and gives you control over it. Perfect for small businesses, Grandstream UCM phone systems are cost-effective, versatile, trustworthy, and modern.
If you just want audio communications and don’t need video conferencing (or use a separate video conferencing platform), check out the Grandstream UCM6300A Series of Audio-Only IP PBXs. It supports up to 1,500 users and up to 200 concurrent calls.
If you want a full-fledged unified communications system with video conferencing, check out the Grandstream UCM6300 Series. A scalable system, it can support up to 3,000 users and up to 450 concurrent calls.
Both series support instant messaging, web meetings, and fullband audio quality. They work with the free Wave app for desktop, mobile, and browser. Grandstream UCM RemoteConnect is an add-on plan that enables secure, remote access to the phone system, helping you integrate remote workers, home office workers, and hybrid workers into your new phone system.
If you have analog phones and fax machines that you want to keep using, Grandstream also produces a wide range of VoIP gateways and ATAs to help bring those devices into your VoIP phone system.
The Yeastar P Series is another great option for a NEC small business phone system replacement.
In fact, just this month Yeastar announced (external link) that they now support auto-provisioning of NEC IP phones, including NEC DT800 Series phones and NEC DT900 Series phones. That means that it will be very easy to integrate your existing NEC phones into a Yeastar on-premise phone system.
Yeastar P Series IP PBXs are modular and customizable, letting you establish the business communications system you desire. They offer an array of modules, including FXO port modules for PSTN fallback and 4G modules for cellular phone integration.
We recommend both Grandstream phone systems and Yeastar phone systems to replace NEC phone systems.
Another option is to use a software IP PBX like 3CX.
A software IP PBX is similar to the phone systems we just discussed, except it doesn’t come with a dedicated appliance for running the platform. Instead, you run it on your own servers, which can be located on-premise or in the cloud.
It gives you the control of an on-premise phone system while also giving you the freedom you to choose your own hardware to run the system on.
Want help replacing your NEC on-premise phone system? Give us call today!