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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=703464702-21032007>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.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=703464702-21032007><A
href="http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf">http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf</A></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<B>From:</B> Byron Pile [mailto:bpile@hotmail.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday,
March 20, 2007 6:22 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk
Discussion<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to
Asterisk<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">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.<BR><BR>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<BR>a support service plan. Perhaps this with an estimated
initial setup cost would be a good comparison to the telecom offering.<BR><BR>I
really want to highlight the flexibility and also feature set of
Asterisk.<BR><BR>Thanks again for your comments!<BR></DIV><BR><BR><BR>
<HR id=stopSpelling>
> Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:34:22 -0400<BR>> From:
stotaro@totarotechnologies.com<BR>> To: asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<BR>>
Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<BR>> <BR>>
The bottom line is that you will save money or at the very least, over <BR>>
the course of a year or two, break even. Considering some proposals I <BR>>
did on NEC IPK systems several years ago, an eight port conference <BR>>
bridge card was $5,000, another $5,000 for an eight port VoIP card MGCP,
<BR>> $3,000 for a four port voicemail card, add some other feature and you
<BR>> get the point. Also, support contracts were something to the tune of $4
<BR>> per port per month, that includes all ports (concurrent voicemail
access <BR>> + phones + PSTN + conference bridges). So lets say that
"whatever" <BR>> company has 4 FXO, 16 FXS, and 4 voicemail, that is a total
of 24 ports <BR>> X $4 = $96/mo X 12mo = $1,152 and that only included very
specific limits.<BR>> <BR>> This is all free in Asterisk. You could
purchase a Switchvox (or some <BR>> other turnkey) system pretty cheaply,
have all of those costly add-on <BR>> features included, they offer support
via SSH and over the phone, and <BR>> with IP, MACs are a breeze. A low level
A+ tech can do it, unlike a <BR>> traditional system where a telephone guy
has to come out with a butt <BR>> set, toner, and punch down tool. Most
proprietary systems are not <BR>> exactly easy to program even in a "Turnkey"
solution.<BR>> <BR>> You have many variables to look at but I think that
your paper will be a <BR>> very interesting look into a paradigm shift.
<BR>> <BR>> Thanks,<BR>> Steve<BR>> <BR>> Byron Pile
wrote:<BR>> > I was going to assume that yes, there are Linux people on
staff and <BR>> > that they could be taken away to set up and support
asterisk. But <BR>> > because I was comparing it to a turnkey solution
that most likely is <BR>> > including service as part of the contract,
comparing it to a similar <BR>> > contract based asterisk setup makes more
sense. However, I guess when <BR>> > starting this I was hoping to
eliminate "license" fees from the open <BR>> > source solution, but if I'm
using a small company, I think its more <BR>> > realistic to assume they
don't have a support department ready to <BR>> > devote man hours to an
asterisk system when they were using a turnkey <BR>> > solution
before.<BR>> ><BR>> > Thanks for clarifying the handsets, I was
considering using SIP phones <BR>> > in the case study, but thought it
might be possible to "reuse" some <BR>> > existing equipment. This is also
a technology upgrade in this case.<BR>> ><BR>> > I was going to
assume that the workers were just as productive as <BR>> > before, but the
ROI would come mostly from reduction in operating <BR>> > costs
(hopefully). If they don't have any "linux people" on staff, <BR>> > this
makes it harder to include some of the open source benefits like, <BR>> >
fixing bugs, adding features and the other flexibility that Asterisk <BR>>
> would provide over using the Norstar.<BR>> ><BR>> > Thanks for
the response Steve, I have more research to do obviously!<BR>> ><BR>>
><BR>> ><BR>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<BR>>
> Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:59:03 -0500<BR>> > From:
stotaro@asteriskhelpdesk.com<BR>> > To:
asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<BR>> ><BR>> > For several varying
quotes, one could go to www.buyerzone.com<BR>> >
<http://www.buyerzone.com/> and put in exactly what you<BR>> >
specified. You will get several vendors proposing different<BR>> >
systems, prices, and most importantly, service contracts. It does<BR>> >
cost each vendor about $25 dollars to buy your “lead” so be aware<BR>> >
that you are costing them money by doing this. Whether or not<BR>> > that
is ethical, is your decision. I am just pointing out that<BR>> > “one
could do it”. Make sure to include that you need a<BR>> > conference
bridge that can handle unlimited callers, also<BR>> > unlimited voicemail
ports, support SIP, and also consider<BR>> > scaling. That should freak
them out.<BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> > Does “whatever”
company have people on staff that know Linux and<BR>> > have time to learn
and support Asterisk? What is the cost of<BR>> > taking them from what
they usually would be doing to work on the<BR>> > Asterisk system?<BR>>
><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> > I would suggest going with SIP
phones and a four port FXO board. <BR>> > You could run both systems side
by side until you are ready to cut<BR>> > over and then just switch your
four POTs lines. <BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> > Most
proprietary systems use digital sets so you cannot use a<BR>> > mutiport
FXS board. I have used proprietary handset gateways such<BR>> > as Citel
and my person experience was very very poor. <BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>>
><BR>> > How much ROI is going to depend on increased worker
productivity<BR>> > which is fairly hard to figure out and also ongoing
average costs<BR>> > of MACs (cost of Moves Adds Changes) as well as
support contracts. <BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> >
Thanks,<BR>> > Steve Totaro<BR>> >
http://www.asteriskhelpdesk.com<BR>> > KB3OPB<BR>> > <BR>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
><BR>> > *From:* asterisk-biz-bounces@lists.digium.com<BR>> >
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces@lists.digium.com] *On Behalf Of<BR>> > *Byron
Pile<BR>> > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:28 PM<BR>> > *To:*
asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<BR>> > *Subject:* [asterisk-biz] case study
on switching to Asterisk<BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> > I
thought the biz list was most appropriate for this. Hope I'm not<BR>> >
wrong!<BR>> ><BR>> > I'm trying to write a term paper on adopting an
open source<BR>> > solution over a commercial solution and comparing the
cost.<BR>> > Specifically if a legacy system is in use already, when will
the<BR>> > initial investment of hardware for an asterisk based system
pay<BR>> > off against the licensing fees of a proprietary system.
After<BR>> > reading a good chunk of the free Asterisk book
"Asterisk:The<BR>> > Future of Telephony" I think that Asterisk is an
excellent topic<BR>> > for the paper. <BR>> ><BR>> > I'm new
to telephony stuff so bear with me if my questions are a<BR>> > bit dumb,
I've tried to do quite a bit of research and reading<BR>> > before posting
to the mail lists. So my idea was to use the fake<BR>> > company
"whatever" and they have 15 telephones and are currently<BR>> > using a
Norstar ICS with 4 incoming lines and 15 internal lines<BR>> > and I would
like to switch this over to an asterisk based system.<BR>> ><BR>> >
The reason for choosing the Norstar as this is a turnkey solution<BR>> >
provided by a large local telecom so I will be able to get some<BR>> >
pricing information for them fairly easily and I think it does<BR>> > what
a 15 telephone small office might need...I'm open to a better<BR>> >
suggestion if the Norstar is a poor choice.<BR>> ><BR>> > My quick
questions are...is it possible that the handsets being<BR>> > used with a
Norstar could be converted and used with the Asterisk<BR>> > system? (a
bit of asset recovery)<BR>> ><BR>> > A system consisting of a
suitable linux server running Asterisk<BR>> > and a Digium TDM2441B PCI
Card 16FXS / 4FXO would be a suitable<BR>> > replacement and could deliver
the same performance/functions as<BR>> > the Norstar system?<BR>>
><BR>> > I'm going to try and be as thorough as possible in assessing
the<BR>> > costs in switching to this system. The most obvious being some
new<BR>> > hardware, but also, downtime, training, support costs,
contract<BR>> > penalties (if there are any) etc....But this is a term
paper and a<BR>> > highly hypothetical situation. And I know my questions
are a bit<BR>> > general, but the paper will probably be kept quite
general. I hope<BR>> > I can learn more about this cool app!<BR>>
><BR>> > Thanks!<BR>> ><BR>> > <BR>> ><BR>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
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