[asterisk-biz] RE: asterisk-biz Digest, Vol 24, Issue 9
Andrew Philp
andrew.philp at national-it.co.uk
Tue Jul 4 09:57:46 MST 2006
Of course you can sell a Business PBX for $5000 remember it is not only the
hardware and the software but it is the support you are going to provide and
the technical services for actually installing it plus the time you will
take to sit down with the client and work out his/her dial plan
configuration. Not only this you will also need to take into account the
travel time and any expenses you incur as well. Trust me this is all
possible. I have just installed a system with 50 SNOM 320's and 40 X-lite 3
connections all connecting to a HP DL360 G4, the client is happy......What
more can you say!!!
Andrew Philp
National IT Services
www.national-it.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com
Sent: 04 July 2006 16:58
To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
Subject: asterisk-biz Digest, Vol 24, Issue 9
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Today's Topics:
1. RE: Bottom end of the market for an> Asterisk PBX ?
(Nikolai Manek)
2. Re: from ip address variable ? (Olle E Johansson)
3. Re: Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX ?
(paul at xedos.net)
4. RE: RE: Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX ?
(Curt Shaffer)
5. Full Time Position Available in London,UK (xirak at netscape.net)
6. General Asterisk Question (Jim Houser)
7. RE: General Asterisk Question (Steve Langstaff)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:06:44 -0700
From: Nikolai Manek <manek at nikotel.com>
Subject: [asterisk-biz] RE: Bottom end of the market for an> Asterisk
PBX ?
To: <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID: <C0CF5384.21E8A%manek at nikotel.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
No offense please. The question was if you could sell a business PBX for
5-15 users for approx. $5000. So I figured you were talking about the PBX
box itself (otherwise you would include 5 or up to 15 phones for free? Or
there is no price difference?). So maybe I just misunderstood the
question... Phones are more expensive and range anywhere from $100 to $800
dollars (for nice video SIP phones like these packet8 phones(I guess made my
leadtek?)).
Best
Nikolai
On 7/3/06 10:51 PM, "asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com"
<asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com> wrote:
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] RE: Bottom end of the market for an
> Asterisk PBX ?
> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID:
> <81000b5a0607032034l5ecbaee1id5d1f930998b635d at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Yeah sure think again. There is no way that you can sell a system with
> 5 phones for $1500.00 just the phones (at around $160 per phone for a
> decent business phone) will cost you $800.00.
> You think ppl buy these things like they buy bread? think again.
>
> On 7/3/06, Nikolai Manek <manek at nikotel.com> wrote:
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:24:32 +0200
From: Olle E Johansson <oej at edvina.net>
Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] from ip address variable ?
To: rehan at supertec.com, Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk
Discussion <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID: <200FDF4C-3E59-4CA8-AFF1-5561CE94DE2B at edvina.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
30 jun 2006 kl. 03.22 skrev Rehan AllahWala:
> http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+variables
>
> Has any one written or know of a variable to capture the from ip
> address of the call from the
> headers in extensions.conf ?
Depends on what protocol you are using. Check the SIP_PEER and
IAX_PEER functions.
/Olle
---
* Olle E. Johansson - oej at edvina.net
* Asterisk Training http://edvina.net/training/
* Coming trainings: Asterisk SIP Masterclass, Chicago, Asterisk
Bootcamp at the Beach, Spain
and Asterisk Bootcamp, Boston
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:38:28 +0100
From: paul at xedos.net
Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk
PBX ?
To: sb at cardiffitsupport.com, Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk
Discussion <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID: <1152002308.44aa290480714 at webmail.xedos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thanks for that Sean, that's good to know
Cheers
Paul
> My smallest commercial installation is 3 phones.
>
> I am doing my largest this Friday, 15 handsets, 6 analogue lines.
>
> I am also in UK, customers are interested because of features and
> possibility of free/low cost calls.
>
>
> --
> Sean Browne
> Cardiff IT Support Ltd
> 08456 442 551
> http://www.cardiffitsupport.com
>
>
> On 03/07/06, Brian Franklin <bfranklin at ntginc.net> wrote:
> >
> > My company is planning an all out marketing strategy, targeting the 5-30
> > user company. The reality is these firms are already buying overpriced
> > TDM
> > systems that offer a lot less functionality. The beauty of Asterisk is
> > that
> > it scales so effortlessly. We plan to sell our PBX w/4 phones and a
4port
> > Digium FXO for $3500.
> >
> > Brian Franklin
> > www.ntginc.net
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paul Matthews [mailto:paul at xedos.net]
> > Sent: Monday, July 03, 2006 3:40 PM
> > To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> > Subject: [asterisk-biz] Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX ?
> >
> > Does anyone in this list have any success selling Asterisk PBXs to the
> > very small end of the market. I was planning a 5 -15 user pbx product,
> > with dedicated network, installation and support for about #3-3500 in
> > the UK ( about $5000) . Some advice offered elsewhere suggested that
> > Asterisk was a product for 15-200 seats and it was doubtful below that
> > number whether the very small SMEs would be interested. Would others
> > tend to agree? If so, I need to rethink my strategy
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
> >
> > asterisk-biz mailing list
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
> >
> > asterisk-biz mailing list
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
> >
>
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------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 06:50:44 -0400
From: "Curt Shaffer" <cshaffer at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] RE: Bottom end of the market for an
Asterisk PBX ?
To: "'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'"
<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID: <007f01c69f57$b4251ca0$181b10ac at betsy>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I would have to agree here as well. Just because you can install * on a good
cheap system does not mean that you want to. I really think if Asterisk is
going to be a competitor in the VoIP market we really need to make sure it
shines. We can not just be "throwing" together a system that will get the
job done. We need to plan these installs, give good quality phones and
provide redundancy if possible. When was the last time the company's
POTS/PRI lines went down? When they pick up the phone they expect, and
rightfully so, for it to work. I all too often hear people getting by with
just the essentials and I would bet that there are a lot of unhappy
customers out there with it. I know of a few personally where the company
now has a bad taste in their mouth about VoIP because some "Asterisk Guru"
came in and saved them thousands on their phone system. What they were left
with was choppy quality because of lack of QoS and horrible echo. And IP
termination, which was supposed to save them money, was sub par and down a
lot. Lack of needed configuration and bad choice of providers? Probaby, but
they ditched the system and dubbed VoIP as a technology that is not ready
for prime time. This really gets me going....arg!
>From what I have seen and been selling is features. Even to small
businesses. Yes you will get a system that is a little cheaper than Avaya,
Cisco or 3Com, although this is getting not to be the case with items such
as Avaya's new phone that acts like a small PBX. Yes you MAY be able to save
some money on long distance with LCR. But, this IVR will allow you to field
phone calls via the phone system and provide customers with valuable
information without a person spending time on the phone with them. This find
me follow me will make sure someone can always reach you. This conferencing
will save you on expensive bridges and hosted solutions. This XML app on
your phone will allow your employees to log into your time card app. This
system will integrate your voicemail and email into the same inbox. This is
all about convergence! Anyone can beat the cost of a traditional PBX these
days, yes even Cisco with their new Call Manager Express! You need to make
the customer feel, and you won't be lying, that they need a full system and
to invest in this. Show them the real money savings! Even a high end
Asterisk system is cheaper then most of the others. I'll get off my soap
box for now. I just hate when people make probably the least important
things about Asterisk the most important and vis a vis.
Someone mentioned a model like hosting. I think if your customers are really
concerned about pricing of the system, despite your good sales tactics, then
this may be the best idea. At that point you can provide the redundancy they
need and maintain everything on your end. The only problem I see here is you
want to make absolutely sure that you are not the cause of failure. This
would mean clustering, this would mean battery backup with generator back up
on that. This would be a reliable high speed connection for both you and
them, think about what the phone company does to make sure you have dial
tone even when the power is out! What about E911! You don't want to be
responsible for a person dying(like happened near here in Maryland,USA). But
it could be done. I do believe with the architecture that should be built on
this model, it would take some time to get your return on investment but if
this is where most of your clients would like to be then it may be worth it.
Just my 2 cents.
-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of C F
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2006 11:34 PM
To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] RE: Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX
?
Yeah sure think again. There is no way that you can sell a system with
5 phones for $1500.00 just the phones (at around $160 per phone for a
decent business phone) will cost you $800.00.
You think ppl buy these things like they buy bread? think again.
On 7/3/06, Nikolai Manek <manek at nikotel.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> You want to charge $5000 for a small biz Asterisk server? Yes, you
> definitely need to rethink your strategy. I would rather think that $1500
is
> the absolute maximum. For very small companies (5-15) you can put a
Asterisk
> on a Linksys router with Linux. I think there are some projects you can
> Google up who are doing it. And then your customers will figure out very
> quick that they can get your PBX for a couple hundred bucks including
> service from someone. Why don't you set up some Astersik servers yourself
> and offer hosted Asterisk? This way you can charge a monthly fee, your
> customers don't have the headache of running their own server and you will
> make over time your $5000 without overcharging people (which is IMHO not
the
> way to do business). You might want to google around and see what other
> people are charging. But my educated guess would be that a small business
is
> very much willing to pay let's say $20 per seat per month and have their
> service hosted with you. On top you are selling the minutes at approx. 55%
> margin in the UK for international calls and probably 70% for domestic
> calls. Then you can make money and your customers are very happy too. You
> can bill the service with our new Asterisk billing solution (it's free)
> (www.remwave.com) which will be released by the end of the week or any
other
> billing platform. I am also thinking that a hosted solution is better for
> your business bottom line since it will enable you to have a consistent
> revenue stream.
>
> Best
>
> Nikolai Manek
> http://www.remwave.com
>
>
> On 7/3/06 6:30 PM, "asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com"
> <asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com> wrote:
>
> > Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX ?
>
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
> asterisk-biz mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>
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------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2006 10:39:26 -0400
From: xirak at netscape.net
Subject: [asterisk-biz] Full Time Position Available in London,UK
To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
Message-ID: <8C86D8EC8B840B8-1FC4-1407D at mblkn-m12.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Hi All,
We have a full time position available and are looking to recruit an
engineer to assist in the support of our telephony network.
Candidates need to have good hands on experience of SIP protocol,
Asterisk, Linux sys admin and good debugging skills.
Location is London, UK.
regards,
Sirak
=====================
Sirak Mussie
de la Phone Technologies Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 2074426100
Mob: +44 (0) 7747562859
email: sirak.mussie at delaphone.com
www: www.delaphone.com
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 10:00:17 -0500
From: "Jim Houser" <jhouser at trustamerifirst.com>
Subject: [asterisk-biz] General Asterisk Question
To: <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID: <20060704150301.59FE41F8A68 at mail.trustamerifirst.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi,
Please accept my apologies in advance. This question may be more suited
to the user list, but I would have to believe people deploying Asterisk
professionally have had to deal with this. I manage an IT department in a
financial company and am trying to integrate Asterisk into it beside an
Avaya switch.
I started playing with AAH and tried a few other GUIs. Currently I have
been happiest with the Pound Key build and doing everything manually. I
miss some of the GUI but have found this the most flexible for our needs.
My question my be dumb but I just need to ask. I've got past basic dial
plans and adding features. I currently have Asterisk networked with our
Avaya S8300 via T1. I am struggling with H323 but should get past it, (any
hints are welcome as I can't find much regarding Pound Key).
My reason for writing is there is one item I would like to improve upon
but it may be something SIP based and not possible to change. ???
The standard "accepted and expected" operation of a PBX, (yes I'm an old
telecom guy), is for the PBX to collect digits and when it has enough digits
to fit into a route it selects it and outpulses. From the end user they
dial 9, dial tone is not broke as the 9 is just an access code as the PBX is
waiting for digits, then upon the next digit dial tone is broke digits are
collected and it dials out when the dialed number fits a route. Due to the
route patterns if it fits in 7 digits the dial starts immediately after the
7th digit, you already know this...
On Asterisk, to call out you dial and press send, (for example on my
Grandstream 2000s - I can't get my Avaya 46XX phones to stay registered on
Asterisk). My users see this as "cell phone" operation and somehow that
lowers their perceived value of Asterisk. I know, stupid, but it is what it
is. Has anyone built a dial plan that emulates the original PBX operation
at the deskset removing the need to push a send button at the phone?
Thanks, in advance, for any feedback.
Jim
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 16:57:57 +0100
From: "Steve Langstaff" <steve.langstaff at citel.com>
Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] General Asterisk Question
To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Message-ID:
<592CA2F7E2BFBD4088AC87ECFF34BECE4F10F2 at not01-mxc01.citel.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
See if you can setup a dial plan on your phones... that way when they
collect enough digits they "press send" automatically.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com]On Behalf Of Jim Houser
> Sent: 04 July 2006 16:00
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [asterisk-biz] General Asterisk Question
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Please accept my apologies in advance. This question may
> be more suited
> to the user list, but I would have to believe people
> deploying Asterisk
> professionally have had to deal with this. I manage an IT
> department in a
> financial company and am trying to integrate Asterisk into it
> beside an
> Avaya switch.
>
> I started playing with AAH and tried a few other GUIs.
> Currently I have
> been happiest with the Pound Key build and doing everything
> manually. I
> miss some of the GUI but have found this the most flexible
> for our needs.
>
> My question my be dumb but I just need to ask. I've got
> past basic dial
> plans and adding features. I currently have Asterisk
> networked with our
> Avaya S8300 via T1. I am struggling with H323 but should get
> past it, (any
> hints are welcome as I can't find much regarding Pound Key).
>
> My reason for writing is there is one item I would like to
> improve upon
> but it may be something SIP based and not possible to change. ???
>
> The standard "accepted and expected" operation of a PBX,
> (yes I'm an old
> telecom guy), is for the PBX to collect digits and when it
> has enough digits
> to fit into a route it selects it and outpulses. From the
> end user they
> dial 9, dial tone is not broke as the 9 is just an access
> code as the PBX is
> waiting for digits, then upon the next digit dial tone is
> broke digits are
> collected and it dials out when the dialed number fits a
> route. Due to the
> route patterns if it fits in 7 digits the dial starts
> immediately after the
> 7th digit, you already know this...
>
> On Asterisk, to call out you dial and press send, (for example on my
> Grandstream 2000s - I can't get my Avaya 46XX phones to stay
> registered on
> Asterisk). My users see this as "cell phone" operation and
> somehow that
> lowers their perceived value of Asterisk. I know, stupid,
> but it is what it
> is. Has anyone built a dial plan that emulates the original
> PBX operation
> at the deskset removing the need to push a send button at the phone?
>
> Thanks, in advance, for any feedback.
> Jim
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
> asterisk-biz mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>
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