ASA is not going away. It's used on the newer CM systems and supports all previous Definity software as well.
You can also use Putty, Tutty, Procomm, CMS terminal emulator, Terranova, and several other means for command access.
A great teacher, does not provide answers, but methods to teach others "How and where to find the answers"
bsh
42 years Bell, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya
Tier 3 for 32 years and counting
http://bshtele.com