Installation manual
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While Partner started with only two system phones, the MLS-6 and -12, it
soon added phones with more programmable buttons, and added a display.
At introduction, Partner was a “poor cousin” to Merlin, but during the 1990s,
Partner grew to have more user-oriented features than Merlin. Merlin evolved
to handle more complex situations such as multi-office networking.
Appendix A, “Comparison of Avaya phone offerings,” on page 44, offers a
detailed comparison between Avaya’s current offerings.
Partner was also designed for end-user self installation. Circuit cards are
encased in large, “friendly” plastic shells that are designed to be easy to fit
together with little chance of error. Smaller installations use only 1 or 2 such
cards. All connections are done with modular plugs.
Unlike the Merlin series, Partner has remarkably been able to handle older
parts with newer processors. Even the earliest expansion boards and
telephones will work with the newest ACS processor.
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Throughout this document, we typically say “AT&T,” but Partner systems
have been manufactured by AT&T and its successors, as described below.
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After the breakup of the Bell System, AT&T Technologies, a part of AT&T,
manufactured electronic telephone systems. The Western Electric name was
retired. Partner was originally engineered, built, and sold by AT&T. The
name “AT&T” was used on Partner equipment.
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In 1997, AT&T spun off Lucent, all the manufacturing divisions of AT&T.
AT&T wanted to be able to buy equipment from other manufacturers, and the
Lucent folks wanted to be able to sell more widely (including AT&T
competitors.)
Lucent continued the Partner line of equipment. Many models of AT&T
equipment were simply re-branded Lucent; later, Lucent introduced new
models.
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Avaya is a new company, with a heritage dating back to Alexander
Graham Bell and AT&T. Avaya grew up in the Bell system. Over the
decades, the core of what is now Avaya became AT&T's Global
Business Communication Systems group. The next evolution came in
1996, when Avaya was part of the systems and technology business
that was spun off from AT&T as Lucent Technologies. Four years
later, Avaya was finally set to launch when the enterprise networking