[Asterisk-biz] * vs. Call Manager Express/Unity Express

[Jason Becker]

Andre,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned 
social/individual/instructional capital.

I think fundamentally it will come down to a question of perceived risk. 
A Cisco solution will be perceived as safer and our solution will be 
perceived as risky. This is where I need to direct my efforts.

Regards,

Jason

Andre Gironda wrote:

>Jason,
>CCME/CUE is better than Asterisk if you want to put "all eggs in one
>giant basket".
>
>Asterisk is better if you desire the additional features/functionality
>that CCME/CUE do not provide (including scalability).  Of course,
>there is additional headache by keeping the Asterisk solution
>"up-and-running" along with a router, a firewall, a VPN server, etc.
>
>I just built an office with the following equipment:
>1) Cisco 3725 router with AIM-VPN(EP-II), AIM-VOICE-30, NM-HDV2-2T1
>(with 4-FXO ports and a PVDM-64), WIC-CSU-T1, and 256M DRAM.  It's
>running IOS Firewall and GRE/IPSec with my other offices with
>full-routes BGP-4 from provider A (CSU-T1) and default-only from
>provider B (Wireless bridged to an Ethernet port).  It also is running
>SRST so if either the PRI or CCM fails, it knows what to do to
>complete calls and get voicemail, etc
>2) Cisco Catalyst 2948-G-GE-TX.  Servers, printers, ATA's, and
>desktop/phone switches plug into this backbone/core switch
>3) Cisco Catalyst 3560-48-PS with 4 GLC-T SFP's.  The 4 GLC-T SFP's
>are Etherchannel/Trunked to the 2948-G-GE-TX.  There are 40 Cisco IP
>Phones (7940G and 7960G) plugged into this device for POE.  All
>desktops are plugged into the IP Phones
>4) Cisco Callmanager 4.0 on an HP DL-360
>5) Cisco Unity 4.0 on an HP DL-360 / RAID-1
>6) Microsoft Windows 2k3 Server on an HP DL-360 / RAID-1.  This server
>is a PDC, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP (option 150 support for the
>phones), Print Spooler server
>7) Microsoft Windows 2k3 Server on an HP DL-380 / RAID-1 OS / RAID-5
>email/data.  This server is running Microsoft Exchange 2003 and also
>acts as a file server and can run Sharepoint or IIS
>
>I see that office as disadvantaged and over-spent.  What could be
>better would be to implement Gentoo, LVS/Linux-HA, OpenLDAP, ISC BIND
>/ DHCP, Samba, Quagga, Netfilter, Openswan, Horde.ORG (IMP), Postfix,
>Courier IMAP, CRM114, ClamAV, CEPS, IRCd, sshd, Apache, Squid, and of
>course - Asterisk (with Digium cards, or via IAX2 from "somewhere
>else").  I would simply need two servers.  I would also need an IAD or
>MUX that could covert TDM to Ethernet (easy enough).  Maybe something
>to split a PRI to both servers for redundancy there as well.  And I'd
>still need the switches and phones, but I could ditch the expensive
>components like the Cisco 3725, CCM, and Unity boxes.
>
>Is Asterisk cheaper, faster, and better than Cisco CallManager/Unity?  Yes.
>
>Are there other factors besides "cheaper, faster, better"?  Yes.  You
>must consider the total cost of infrastructure capital AND operations
>capital.  It may also affect other organizations such as marketing or
>engineering/manufacturing.  It may affect your company's finances
>negatively to use Gentoo/Asterisk My guess is that ultimately, Gentoo
>and Asterisk would shine in almost all environments.  But in order to
>fully consider the cost of infrastructure capital, you have to take
>into account social capital (how does it fit with your organization,
>your boss, your officers, your co-workers, your colleagues, your
>vendors, your contractors/consultants?), individual capital (is your
>staff going to be happy, what will it cost to retain them, what will
>it cost to train them, what will it cost to find/retain/train the
>talent needed?), and instructional capital (how easy is it to
>document, how much training is out there, what is the cost of
>knowledge?).
>
>-Andre
>
>On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 12:03:17 -0600, Jason Becker
><jason at coalescentsystems.ca> wrote:
>  
>
>>I'm hoping that someone that has experience with Cisco product can help
>>me position an * solution against Call Manager Express/Unity Express.
>>
>>The customer has decided to use Cisco routers so naturally a Cisco
>>IP-PBX (integrated with IOS) solution appeals to them. My understanding
>>is that CME is $750 US and CUE (required for Auto-attendant and
>>Voicemail) starts at either $2500 US or $1800 US (which itself depends
>>on whether a HDD or CF is used for storage).
>>
>>I think our * based solution can compete on price and features with
>>Cisco's solution, so if anyone can chime in on other pros and cons of a
>>Cisco solution I'd really appreciate it. Is CME basically a "Loss
>>Leader"? i.e. Eventually you'll end up using their Call Manager product?
>>Is this how Cisco gets you to buy their expensive VoIP phones? Is
>>CME/CUE disposable enough that someone buying Cisco routers can try it
>>and if they don't like it then they'll consider buying a standalone IP-PBX?
>>    
>>


-- 
Jason Becker
Director & CEO
Coalescent Systems Inc.
403.244.8089
www.voxbox.ca