[asterisk-users] A question about an install i have been asked about...

[Barry D. Hassler]

The point about the "politcal" side of this is extremely valid. But it also
becomes a business opportunity to provide the hosted PBX as a service to
BOTH companies! Beyond that, some sort of written agreement between the two
companies, the one "owning" the box and the other as a client may be
worthwhile.

On 4/13/07, Gordon Henderson <gordon+asterisk at drogon.net> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 13 Apr 2007, Gavin Spurgeon wrote:
>
> > Hi List...
> >
> > Lets say I have been asked to do an Asterisk/Trixbox install for an
> > environment where 2 companies 'live' in the same... building...
> >
> > Both companies have 2 incoming Analogue BT Lines and then have good old
> > BT Phones plugged into them..
> >
> > I have been asked to setup a VoIP system for one of the companies and
> > the other company has showed an interest, There is one central Server
> > Room/Cabinet will all of the shared services (www,file server, etc,
> > etc...) and I thought of going down the lies of installing one more
> > Dedicated * Box into this cabinet with would service both companies...
> >
> > My 1st questions are as follows....
> >
> > 1.) can one * box host both separate phone setups and handle them as
> > separate setups.. (I.e. user in company A can not dial and internal line
> > to user in company B)
> >
> > 2.) can I use a Single 4 FXO port card and reserve 2 ports for one
> > company and the other 2 ports for the other company?
> >
> > This would also need to work for outgoing calls, all calls made by
> > company 1 MUST go over the 2 lines that belong to company 1 and of
> > course the same for company 2...
> >
> > 3.) How easy is this setup ? or should I just make up 2 different *
> > Boxes, 1 for each company ?
>
> Answers to the above are generally "Yes". People sell hosted VoIP boxes
> all the time (centrex/virtual PBX), and you can bet it's not one box per
> client - just like web hosting, that's not really financially viable
> unless they are paying lots of money!
>
> But one issue you might have is the LAN to both companies. A typical * box
> might only have one Ethernet port - do both companies share the same LAN
> (I'd generally hope not!)
>
> Also the outgoing Internet connections - do they have their own separate
> ADSL lines, or share one? If they're separate and want to do the remote
> working thing, then routing the calls to each one is an additional factor.
>
> If there's one Internet connection and they have a DMZ (small subnet
> routed down the ADSL line) and 2 routers, one for each company, then
> putting the asterisk box in the DMZ is the thing to do, but you then
> have issues with NAT (probably) and firewalling for the phones on the
> inside. Not insurmountable, but an additional thing to go wrong.
>
> And then there's the "political" side of things - what if one company
> decided it doesn't like the other company anymore and pulls the plug on
> the PBX ... Or gets access to the box and listens to all their voicemail?
> (Although since they already seem to have one common comms cupboard, it
> would seem they are friendly enough already!) So if you want a GUI to let
> each company manage their own extensions then you'll have to write your
> own - and at that point it might be just as easy to install 2 boxes...
>
> > I hope someone could shed some light on this for me
> > and give me some idea's..
>
> Read-up on contexts, and I'd suggest you look into asterisk in the raw
> rather than rely on a GUI of some sorts...
>
> The book helps. Asterisk, The future of Telephony. You can get it in PDF
> form.
>
> Personally I'd install 2 boxes.
>
> Gordon
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-- 
Barry D. Hassler
President, HCST

http://www.hcst.net/
937-427-9000
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