[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
Nathan C. Smith
smith at ipmvs.com
Tue Mar 20 18:50:02 MST 2007
I think you discovered there are a number of facets to making the switch.
Perhaps it would be interesting to compare something like asterisk and
Nortel to knowledgetree/alfresco and SharePoint?
It is probably safe to point out that open source often 'displaces' costs.
Shifting the costs from licensing to implementation and from products to
people.
IMHO your test case is pretty sane. It is possible to use existing Nortel
handsets with an * system, but the cost of doing so is pretty much a wash
with buying all new IP phones. You can get a nice IP phone set for
$200-$300 USD, where the box to use the Nortel handsets is in the $2,500
ballpark. Replacement Nortel sets are "dumb" and still fall in the $300
range. Don't forget about the eBay sale of the old system ;)
There are also a lot of intangibles to consider. The backing of "qualified
engineers" for companies like Avaya, Cisco, etc. vs. the incredible
flexibility of an open source solution. There is also the possibility that
the open source flexibility would give a business some kind of competitive
advantage they would not normally have - depending on the nature of the
business.
If you can find a "scrappy" consultancy that knows their stuff cold the open
source alternative may become very attractive.
There is a lot of conjecture here.
The most unfortunate thing is that a lot of companies are not interested in
taking the chance. They want something that says "Cisco" on it because they
think that is the only way they are guaranteed support.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Byron Pile [mailto:bpile at hotmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 8:22 PM
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
>
> Once I get a better idea of what the telecom here provides in
> their contract it might be easier to see what I should
> include in the Asterisk based system.
>
> Is switchvox a proprietary system? Or are they based on
> Asterisk? They don't mention asterisk on the site anywhere.
> I've also noticed Digium offers a support service plan.
> Perhaps this with an estimated initial setup cost would be a
> good comparison to the telecom offering.
>
> I really want to highlight the flexibility and also feature
> set of Asterisk.
>
> Thanks again for your comments!
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> > Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:34:22 -0400
> > From: stotaro at totarotechnologies.com
> > To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
> >
> > The bottom line is that you will save money or at the very
> least, over
> > the course of a year or two, break even. Considering some
> proposals I
> > did on NEC IPK systems several years ago, an eight port conference
> > bridge card was $5,000, another $5,000 for an eight port VoIP card
> > MGCP, $3,000 for a four port voicemail card, add some other feature
> > and you get the point. Also, support contracts were
> something to the
> > tune of $4 per port per month, that includes all ports (concurrent
> > voicemail access
> > + phones + PSTN + conference bridges). So lets say that "whatever"
> > company has 4 FXO, 16 FXS, and 4 voicemail, that is a total of 24
> > ports X $4 = $96/mo X 12mo = $1,152 and that only included
> very specific limits.
> >
> > This is all free in Asterisk. You could purchase a
> Switchvox (or some
> > other turnkey) system pretty cheaply, have all of those
> costly add-on
> > features included, they offer support via SSH and over the
> phone, and
> > with IP, MACs are a breeze. A low level A+ tech can do it, unlike a
> > traditional system where a telephone guy has to come out
> with a butt
> > set, toner, and punch down tool. Most proprietary systems are not
> > exactly easy to program even in a "Turnkey" solution.
> >
> > You have many variables to look at but I think that your
> paper will be
> > a very interesting look into a paradigm shift.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Steve
> >
> > Byron Pile wrote:
> > > I was going to assume that yes, there are Linux people on
> staff and
> > > that they could be taken away to set up and support asterisk. But
> > > because I was comparing it to a turnkey solution that
> most likely is
> > > including service as part of the contract, comparing it
> to a similar
> > > contract based asterisk setup makes more sense. However, I guess
> > > when starting this I was hoping to eliminate "license"
> fees from the
> > > open source solution, but if I'm using a small company, I
> think its
> > > more realistic to assume they don't have a support
> department ready
> > > to devote man hours to an asterisk system when they were using a
> > > turnkey solution before.
> > >
> > > Thanks for clarifying the handsets, I was considering using SIP
> > > phones in the case study, but thought it might be possible to
> > > "reuse" some existing equipment. This is also a
> technology upgrade in this case.
> > >
> > > I was going to assume that the workers were just as productive as
> > > before, but the ROI would come mostly from reduction in operating
> > > costs (hopefully). If they don't have any "linux people"
> on staff,
> > > this makes it harder to include some of the open source benefits
> > > like, fixing bugs, adding features and the other flexibility that
> > > Asterisk would provide over using the Norstar.
> > >
> > > Thanks for the response Steve, I have more research to do
> obviously!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ----
> > > Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
> > > Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:59:03 -0500
> > > From: stotaro at asteriskhelpdesk.com
> > > To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> > >
> > > For several varying quotes, one could go to www.buyerzone.com
> > > <http://www.buyerzone.com/> and put in exactly what you
> specified.
> > > You will get several vendors proposing different systems, prices,
> > > and most importantly, service contracts. It does cost each vendor
> > > about $25 dollars to buy your "lead" so be aware that you are
> > > costing them money by doing this. Whether or not that is
> ethical, is
> > > your decision. I am just pointing out that "one could do
> it". Make
> > > sure to include that you need a conference bridge that can handle
> > > unlimited callers, also unlimited voicemail ports,
> support SIP, and
> > > also consider scaling. That should freak them out.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Does "whatever" company have people on staff that know Linux and
> > > have time to learn and support Asterisk? What is the cost
> of taking
> > > them from what they usually would be doing to work on the
> Asterisk
> > > system?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I would suggest going with SIP phones and a four port FXO board.
> > > You could run both systems side by side until you are
> ready to cut
> > > over and then just switch your four POTs lines.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Most proprietary systems use digital sets so you cannot use a
> > > mutiport FXS board. I have used proprietary handset
> gateways such as
> > > Citel and my person experience was very very poor.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > How much ROI is going to depend on increased worker productivity
> > > which is fairly hard to figure out and also ongoing
> average costs of
> > > MACs (cost of Moves Adds Changes) as well as support contracts.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Steve Totaro
> > > http://www.asteriskhelpdesk.com
> > > KB3OPB
> > >
> > >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ----
> > >
> > > *From:* asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
> > > [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] *On Behalf
> Of *Byron
> > > Pile
> > > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:28 PM
> > > *To:* asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> > > *Subject:* [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I thought the biz list was most appropriate for this.
> Hope I'm not
> > > wrong!
> > >
> > > I'm trying to write a term paper on adopting an open
> source solution
> > > over a commercial solution and comparing the cost.
> > > Specifically if a legacy system is in use already, when will the
> > > initial investment of hardware for an asterisk based
> system pay off
> > > against the licensing fees of a proprietary system. After
> reading a
> > > good chunk of the free Asterisk book "Asterisk:The Future of
> > > Telephony" I think that Asterisk is an excellent topic for the
> > > paper.
> > >
> > > I'm new to telephony stuff so bear with me if my
> questions are a bit
> > > dumb, I've tried to do quite a bit of research and reading before
> > > posting to the mail lists. So my idea was to use the fake company
> > > "whatever" and they have 15 telephones and are currently using a
> > > Norstar ICS with 4 incoming lines and 15 internal lines
> and I would
> > > like to switch this over to an asterisk based system.
> > >
> > > The reason for choosing the Norstar as this is a turnkey solution
> > > provided by a large local telecom so I will be able to get some
> > > pricing information for them fairly easily and I think it
> does what
> > > a 15 telephone small office might need...I'm open to a better
> > > suggestion if the Norstar is a poor choice.
> > >
> > > My quick questions are...is it possible that the handsets
> being used
> > > with a Norstar could be converted and used with the
> Asterisk system?
> > > (a bit of asset recovery)
> > >
> > > A system consisting of a suitable linux server running
> Asterisk and
> > > a Digium TDM2441B PCI Card 16FXS / 4FXO would be a suitable
> > > replacement and could deliver the same
> performance/functions as the
> > > Norstar system?
> > >
> > > I'm going to try and be as thorough as possible in assessing the
> > > costs in switching to this system. The most obvious being
> some new
> > > hardware, but also, downtime, training, support costs, contract
> > > penalties (if there are any) etc....But this is a term
> paper and a
> > > highly hypothetical situation. And I know my questions are a bit
> > > general, but the paper will probably be kept quite
> general. I hope I
> > > can learn more about this cool app!
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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