[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk

Byron Pile bpile at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 20 21:59:56 MST 2007 

I guess I'm a bit naive... but holy crap some of those systems are expensive. Thanks for the link, I'll be data mining the site for more info tomorrow!ByronFrom: shadowym at hotmail.comTo: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.comSubject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to AsteriskDate: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:50:32 -0700








This site has a 
comparison chart which includes Asterisk Business Edition, Fonality, SwitchVOX 
as well as proprietary solutions.  It's not exactly apples to apples and I 
question the prices they came up with but it's the best I've found so far.  
They have 2 or 3 other comparison charts and some good whitepapers as 
well.
http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf


From: Byron Pile [mailto:bpile at hotmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, 
March 20, 2007 6:22 PMTo: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk 
DiscussionSubject: 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 offersa 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!> >> > > >> > 
------------------------------------------------------------------------> 
>> > Live Search Maps – find all the local information you need, 
right> > when you need it. Find it!> > 
<http://maps.live.com/?icid=wlmtag2&FORM=MGAC01>> >> 
> > >> >> > 
------------------------------------------------------------------------> 
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