Can we reuse our existing Avaya desk phones with RingCentral?
In some cases, yes.
Several newer Avaya J100 Series phones can be used with RingCentral. However, organizations should not assume that every Avaya IP phone can simply be moved from an Avaya system to RingCentral.
The phone model, firmware, current operating mode, provisioning method, age of the device and the features required by the user all need to be considered before deciding whether existing phones should be reused.
At High Country Workplace Technologies (HCWT), we recommend performing a detailed telephone inventory and testing representative phones before the migration and before making purchasing decisions for replacement phones.
RingCentral currently identifies several Avaya J100 Series phones as compatible with its service, including:
| Avaya Phone | RingCentral Compatibility | HCWT Migration Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Avaya J139 | Supported | Strong reuse candidate |
| Avaya J159 | Supported | Strong reuse candidate |
| Avaya J169 | Supported | Strong reuse candidate; verify firmware and operating mode |
| Avaya J179 | Supported | Strong reuse candidate; verify firmware and operating mode |
| Avaya J189 / J189A | Supported | Strong reuse candidate |
| Avaya J129 | Do not assume compatibility | Verify current RingCentral support before including it in the migration design |
| Avaya 9600 Series | Generally plan for replacement | Evaluate individually; do not assume RingCentral support |
| Older Avaya digital phones | No | Replacement required |
| Older Avaya analog phones | Not directly | May be retained using an appropriate analog gateway where justified |
The important point is that Avaya J100 Series and older Avaya phones should not all be treated the same way.
A J179 installed on a relatively recent Avaya IP Office deployment presents a very different migration opportunity than a 9611G, 9608, 5410 or other legacy Avaya endpoint.
A modern IP phone is effectively a specialized network computer.
The physical telephone may be capable of standard SIP communications, but the way it is currently configured may be specific to the existing Avaya environment.
An Avaya phone may currently obtain its configuration from:
Moving the phone to RingCentral therefore involves more than changing the extension number.
The phone needs to be removed from its previous provisioning environment, placed into the appropriate operating state and provisioned for RingCentral.
This is one of the details that can easily be overlooked during an Avaya migration.
Avaya J100 Series phones support SIP firmware, but some Avaya environments—particularly older deployments—may have J169 or J179 phones that were configured to operate using H.323 firmware.
That matters.
A phone operating as an H.323 Avaya endpoint cannot simply be assumed to be ready for RingCentral. The phone may first need to be converted to the appropriate SIP firmware and returned to a suitable configuration before it can be provisioned for the new platform.
For organizations running newer releases of Avaya IP Office, this may be less of an issue. Avaya documents J139, J159, J169, J179 and J189 phones as SIP endpoints on current IP Office releases.
But the model number alone doesn't tell the entire story.
HCWT recommends checking both the model and the actual operating environment before deciding that a phone can be reused.
This is where organizations should be particularly careful.
Many Avaya IP Office and Avaya Aura customers have large quantities of 9600-series phones, including models such as the:
These phones may still work perfectly well on the existing Avaya system.
That does not mean they should automatically be included in a RingCentral migration plan.
RingCentral's current supported-phone information specifically identifies newer Avaya J100 Series models such as the J139, J159, J169, J179 and J189/J189A.
For a large migration, HCWT would generally recommend budgeting to replace older Avaya endpoints unless the exact model and proposed provisioning method have been validated.
Trying to save money by retaining an unsupported or marginally supported telephone can create more support expense than the phone is worth.
The opposite mistake also occurs.
An organization may receive a proposal that assumes every Avaya phone needs to be replaced.
If the organization has hundreds or thousands of relatively new J139, J159, J169, J179 or J189 phones, replacing every telephone could add a substantial and potentially unnecessary hardware cost to the project.
For example, an organization with 1,000 reusable Avaya phones could be looking at a significant difference in project cost depending on whether those devices can be successfully retained.
That is why telephone reuse should be determined during discovery—not assumed by either the customer or the vendor.
No.
This is another important distinction.
A supported Avaya phone may function very well as a RingCentral endpoint, but that does not mean every feature or button behaves exactly as it did when connected to Avaya IP Office or Avaya Aura.
Organizations should evaluate features such as:
The question should therefore not simply be:
"Will this phone register to RingCentral?"
The better question is:
"Will this phone provide the RingCentral features this particular user needs?"
Those are not necessarily the same thing.
Not necessarily.
A migration is also an opportunity to evaluate the age and condition of the existing telephone inventory.
HCWT typically considers:
Age of the phones. A technically compatible phone approaching the end of its useful life may not be worth migrating.
Physical condition. Handsets, cords, displays, buttons and Ethernet ports should be evaluated.
Firmware and provisioning effort. The labor required to prepare hundreds of older phones can sometimes offset the savings from reusing them.
User requirements. Receptionists, executives, administrative personnel and heavy telephone users may benefit from newer RingCentral-certified hardware even when their existing Avaya phone could technically be reused.
Consistency. Supporting too many different telephone models can make training and long-term support unnecessarily complicated.
For those reasons, a migration can use a hybrid endpoint strategy.
Some existing Avaya J100 phones can be retained while older phones and phones assigned to users requiring different capabilities are replaced.
HCWT strongly recommends testing representative Avaya phones before committing to an endpoint strategy.
A migration pilot should include the actual phone models and hardware revisions found in the customer's environment.
Testing should confirm at least:
Only after this testing should the organization finalize how many existing Avaya phones will be reused and how many replacement phones should be purchased.
For organizations preparing an RFP or requesting proposals for an Avaya-to-RingCentral migration, HCWT recommends providing bidders with an endpoint inventory.
At minimum, document:
Model | Quantity | Hardware revision if applicable | Firmware | Location | Current user type | Required features
This allows the RingCentral migration design to separate phones into categories such as:
Reuse as-is or with supported reprovisioning
Firmware/provisioning work required
Requires additional testing
Replace
That produces a much more accurate hardware budget than simply telling a provider, "We have 1,500 Avaya phones."
Desk phones are only part of an Avaya migration.
Organizations frequently discover analog devices connected to their Avaya system, including:
These devices should be inventoried separately.
Some can be migrated using an appropriate analog telephone adapter or gateway. Others may require a different solution.
The analog environment should therefore be evaluated before the Avaya system is disconnected.
This is particularly important for schools, government facilities, manufacturing operations and multi-building organizations.
The existing Avaya system may connect to paging amplifiers, overhead speakers, door-entry systems or other equipment that doesn't behave like a normal telephone.
Replacing Avaya IP Office or Avaya Aura does not automatically replace these systems.
The RingCentral migration design needs to determine how each system will interface with the new cloud communications platform.
This may require SIP paging endpoints, analog FXS interfaces, analog FXO interfaces, SIP gateways or integration with an existing IP-based paging/intercom platform.
HCWT also recommends separating system deployment from number porting.
The new RingCentral environment should be built and tested before the production telephone numbers are moved.
That includes:
For larger Avaya environments, a phased migration may also allow the existing Avaya system and RingCentral to coexist temporarily while users and locations are migrated.
The objective should be to discover endpoint problems during testing—not during the production cutover.
Yes.
High Country Workplace Technologies has supported Avaya IP Office and other business telephone environments for many years and is also a RingCentral Certified Delivery Partner.
That combination is particularly useful during an Avaya-to-RingCentral migration because the project requires understanding both sides of the migration.
HCWT can help organizations:
Yes. The Avaya J179 is included in RingCentral's current list of compatible desk phones. However, the phone's existing firmware and provisioning configuration should be checked before migration. Some J169 and J179 phones deployed in older Avaya environments may require firmware or configuration changes before they can be provisioned for RingCentral.
Yes. RingCentral currently identifies the Avaya J169/J179 as compatible desk phones. Before reusing a J169, verify its firmware, operating mode and provisioning configuration. HCWT recommends testing representative phones with RingCentral before deciding to reuse a large inventory.
RingCentral currently lists several Avaya J100 Series models as compatible, including the J139, J159, J169, J179 and J189/J189A. Compatibility should still be verified before migration because firmware, provisioning and required features can affect whether an existing phone is a practical candidate for reuse.
Organizations should not assume that older Avaya 9600 Series phones such as the 9611G or 9608 can be reused with RingCentral. These models are not included in RingCentral's current public list of compatible Avaya desk phones. HCWT generally recommends planning for replacement unless the exact model and proposed provisioning method have been specifically validated.
They may. The requirements depend on the Avaya phone model, existing firmware and how the phone is currently deployed. This is particularly important for J169 and J179 phones that may have been used in older Avaya environments. HCWT recommends verifying and testing the actual phones before performing a large-scale conversion.
Not necessarily. A phone being compatible with RingCentral does not guarantee that every Avaya feature, programmable button or workflow will operate exactly as it did on Avaya IP Office or Avaya Aura. BLF keys, shared lines, park buttons, directories, expansion modules, hot desking and other features should be tested against the user's requirements.
It depends on the model, age, condition, firmware, required features and cost of preparing the phones for RingCentral. Newer supported Avaya J100 Series phones can be good candidates for reuse, while replacing older phones may provide better long-term reliability and support. A hybrid approach—reusing appropriate phones while replacing others—is often practical.
Yes. HCWT recommends building and testing the RingCentral environment before porting production telephone numbers. Testing should include representative Avaya phones, replacement phones, call routing, voicemail, E911, paging, analog devices and other critical integrations. This allows problems to be identified before the production cutover.
Often, but they should be evaluated individually. Fax machines, paging systems, door phones, modems, courtesy phones and other analog devices may require an appropriate analog gateway or a replacement solution. These devices should be inventoried before the existing Avaya system is removed.
For larger organizations, a phased migration may be designed so the existing Avaya environment and RingCentral coexist temporarily while users, locations and telephone numbers are migrated. The exact design depends on the Avaya platform, carrier services, dial plan and migration requirements.
Yes, some Avaya phones can be reused when migrating from Avaya to RingCentral.
The strongest candidates are newer supported Avaya J100 Series phones, including the J139, J159, J169, J179 and J189/J189A.
Older Avaya phones should not automatically be assumed to be reusable.
And even with a supported J100 phone, HCWT recommends verifying the model, firmware, operating mode, provisioning requirements and required user features before making it part of the final migration design.
The goal isn't to reuse every possible phone.
The goal is to determine which existing phones make technical and financial sense to reuse while replacing the devices that could create unnecessary limitations or support problems after the migration.
For organizations planning an Avaya IP Office or Avaya Aura migration to RingCentral, HCWT can evaluate the existing telephone inventory and develop a migration strategy before replacement hardware is purchased or telephone numbers are ported.
Please contact us for you upcoming migration
This article was authored by Jim Whitfield