[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk
Byron Pile
bpile at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 21 11:25:57 MST 2007
Ack, unfortunately the local telecom didn't have anyone available that knew about systems and will be phoning me back...hopefully. I've also submitted a request for a quote from Nortel through their reseller program explaining my intentions and keeping things transparent. Hopefully someone will take the time to give a quote back, it should take too much time on their part, I was pretty explicit in the requirements and I'm really more interested in the support contract and licensing fees.From: bpile at hotmail.comTo: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.comSubject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to AsteriskDate: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:48:08 -0700
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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