[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk

Byron Pile bpile at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 21 09:48:08 MST 2007


I'll see if the local telecom has a leasing option. Thanks for the info, gives me another scenario to compare.ByronFrom: smith at ipmvs.comTo: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.comSubject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to AsteriskDate: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:52:45 +0000










Much of the time businesses lease expensive phone systems with a 
trade-in or dollar-buyout at the end of the lease.  For a small business 
the lease is nice becuase it means the price of the system is constant at $X 
each month and that is helpful with cash flow.  Phone systems do look like 
a huge cost of doing business when you look at the bottom 
line.
 
-Nate

  
  
  From: Byron Pile [mailto:bpile at hotmail.com] 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 12:00 AMTo: Commercial 
  and Business-Oriented Asterisk DiscussionSubject: RE: 
  [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
  
  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!Byron
  
    
    From: 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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