[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk vs. Websphere Voice Response?

[Ted.Thomas]

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I am a collaboration consultant doing some research for a major client who
has a problem.  They have an existing IBM Direct Talk 2 IVR which they were
going to upgrade to the current Websphere product, but choked on the price.
My task is to find out the following:

1. The spec calls for a 24 analog line system with a fairly sophisticated
response matrix using SQL into Oracle & text-to-speech (among other
things).  Is Asterisk in the same class of product as Websphere, or is it
for a more straightforward "voicemail" office environment?
2. I assume Asterisk runs on PC class servers using PCI cards for incoming
lines.  Can the hardware side of a 24 line system be put together for less
than $10K, or is it typically a lot more than that?
3. Can Asterisk be administered and/or programmed remotely?
4. Is Asterisk being used by any Fortune 500 companies in mission critical
settings that you know of?

Sorry for the general nature of the questions; although I use and promote
open source products such as Linux, I am not that familiar with IVR
servers.  Thanks for any help you can give me...

Sincerely,

E.A. (Ted) Thomas, CEO
eThomasGroup.biz
"Collaboration for Business"
502-802-6130
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