[Asterisk-Users] Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I need?

[Wiley Siler]

You clipped the original so there are some other things that need to be
known.

How many users are being supported again?
The biggest hits to servers seems to be due to transcoding in most
cases.
Look on the wiki for an explanation of server sizing and decide based
upon how you will connect your users to dial tone.
A good bet is to figure on a dual processor machine with 1 GB (or 2 is
better at current RAM costs) of RAM, and at least 80GB HDD.  You may
want something that has drive redundancy via RAID (most would I think)
so factor that into the cost.  

How many phones do you need?
What features?  Great phones can be had for $150-200.
Do you need one line LED only?  Get the Polycom IP300.
Need multi-line?  Get the Polycom IP501. (best value in my opinion but
others are great too)

How many ports for your Gigabit network?  How many replacement NICs?
How many switches at what size?  I assume you can price that yourself?
Do you really even need this?  I think moving to Gigibit is great but
you may want to make sure you focus more on QoS enabled switches.
Plenty come in Gigabit capable and with high port density.  Linksys has
some nice managed switch at 24 ports with gigabit and QoS.

How many lines do you need to have dialing at once?
Do you need 40 hard lines?  Do you need 23 (PRI T1)?
Figure a PRI T1 at $600-800 per month (may be different in your region)

Software phones are pretty much free at this point.  USB Headsets are
around $50 for good ones from Logitech or Plantronics (my fave).

PCI cards are pretty much decided like this.  From what I have seen,
Sangoma cards require more technical savvy than Digium cards so plan on
getting some Digium cards unless you want to deal with the learning
curve.  Others may disagree but that is my opinion.  Examples of the
card costs can be seen at voipsupply.com and other places.  They make
multiport cards that support up to 4 T1s on one card if you need more
than 23 channels of voice. 

I think most of the pricing is really something you can do yourself if
you just answer the questions above and go from there.  I don't think
anyone here will be able to give you a budget number.  You will need to
start a tally sheet and go from there.  Post your numbers when you are
done and I bet someone will double check them for you.  Until then, you
need do a little more of the calculation on your own.  You don't need to
understand telecom to get this budget completed.  You just need to know
what your basic requirements are.  Answer the questions above and you
will know all of your hardware and line provisioning.  Factor in an
additional 10% for cost overrun and you should be good.  Don't forget to
add any consulting fees you feel you may need (figure a couple grand at
worst).

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Wiley







-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Ed Pastore
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 10:07 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Systems Admin; Telecom Newbie - What do I
need?

Thanks for all the great replies. I guess I over-asked my question  
(since so many kept popping up).

For now, what I really need to determine is what I need to budget for  
a full implementation. Unfortunately, I don't have time now to do  
testing and analysis... I just need to get my budget submitted. So  
I'm trying to figure out what all I'll need to buy and budget for.  
Obviously this is pretty hard, since I understand so little about  
telecom.

So that said... Can anyone help me in determining what all I will  
need? The only thing I really need is one ballpark figure for a grand  
total cash outlay. However, it it is too low, I may be hosed. If it  
is too big, the project may be cut out of the budget. So I'd like to  
get within, say $5K of the actual expected cost.

The items I had identified in my original post were:
- A server, running Debian Linux or OS X (our preferred operating  
systems here)
- A good network. We're on switched 100 Base-T, but will move to  
gigabit next year.
- A T1 or some dedicated channels of a T1
- Gateway PCI cards or devices (in the case of OS X, only devices I  
guess)
- VOIP phones or phone software (I'd like to use software and USB  
handsets)

Are there more things I need? Or does someone have a rough estimate  
of what it costs to implement an Asterisk system in a small business?  
We have about 50 users and currently have something like 20 POTS  
lines coming into our PBX.

Thanks again.
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