[Asterisk-biz] * vs. Call Manager Express/Unity Express

[Andre Gironda]

Jason,
CCME/CUE is better than Asterisk if you want to put "all eggs in one
giant basket".

Asterisk is better if you desire the additional features/functionality
that CCME/CUE do not provide (including scalability).  Of course,
there is additional headache by keeping the Asterisk solution
"up-and-running" along with a router, a firewall, a VPN server, etc.

I just built an office with the following equipment:
1) Cisco 3725 router with AIM-VPN(EP-II), AIM-VOICE-30, NM-HDV2-2T1
(with 4-FXO ports and a PVDM-64), WIC-CSU-T1, and 256M DRAM.  It's
running IOS Firewall and GRE/IPSec with my other offices with
full-routes BGP-4 from provider A (CSU-T1) and default-only from
provider B (Wireless bridged to an Ethernet port).  It also is running
SRST so if either the PRI or CCM fails, it knows what to do to
complete calls and get voicemail, etc
2) Cisco Catalyst 2948-G-GE-TX.  Servers, printers, ATA's, and
desktop/phone switches plug into this backbone/core switch
3) Cisco Catalyst 3560-48-PS with 4 GLC-T SFP's.  The 4 GLC-T SFP's
are Etherchannel/Trunked to the 2948-G-GE-TX.  There are 40 Cisco IP
Phones (7940G and 7960G) plugged into this device for POE.  All
desktops are plugged into the IP Phones
4) Cisco Callmanager 4.0 on an HP DL-360
5) Cisco Unity 4.0 on an HP DL-360 / RAID-1
6) Microsoft Windows 2k3 Server on an HP DL-360 / RAID-1.  This server
is a PDC, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP (option 150 support for the
phones), Print Spooler server
7) Microsoft Windows 2k3 Server on an HP DL-380 / RAID-1 OS / RAID-5
email/data.  This server is running Microsoft Exchange 2003 and also
acts as a file server and can run Sharepoint or IIS

I see that office as disadvantaged and over-spent.  What could be
better would be to implement Gentoo, LVS/Linux-HA, OpenLDAP, ISC BIND
/ DHCP, Samba, Quagga, Netfilter, Openswan, Horde.ORG (IMP), Postfix,
Courier IMAP, CRM114, ClamAV, CEPS, IRCd, sshd, Apache, Squid, and of
course - Asterisk (with Digium cards, or via IAX2 from "somewhere
else").  I would simply need two servers.  I would also need an IAD or
MUX that could covert TDM to Ethernet (easy enough).  Maybe something
to split a PRI to both servers for redundancy there as well.  And I'd
still need the switches and phones, but I could ditch the expensive
components like the Cisco 3725, CCM, and Unity boxes.

Is Asterisk cheaper, faster, and better than Cisco CallManager/Unity?  Yes.

Are there other factors besides "cheaper, faster, better"?  Yes.  You
must consider the total cost of infrastructure capital AND operations
capital.  It may also affect other organizations such as marketing or
engineering/manufacturing.  It may affect your company's finances
negatively to use Gentoo/Asterisk My guess is that ultimately, Gentoo
and Asterisk would shine in almost all environments.  But in order to
fully consider the cost of infrastructure capital, you have to take
into account social capital (how does it fit with your organization,
your boss, your officers, your co-workers, your colleagues, your
vendors, your contractors/consultants?), individual capital (is your
staff going to be happy, what will it cost to retain them, what will
it cost to train them, what will it cost to find/retain/train the
talent needed?), and instructional capital (how easy is it to
document, how much training is out there, what is the cost of
knowledge?).

-Andre

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 12:03:17 -0600, Jason Becker
<jason at coalescentsystems.ca> wrote:
> I'm hoping that someone that has experience with Cisco product can help
> me position an * solution against Call Manager Express/Unity Express.
>
> The customer has decided to use Cisco routers so naturally a Cisco
> IP-PBX (integrated with IOS) solution appeals to them. My understanding
> is that CME is $750 US and CUE (required for Auto-attendant and
> Voicemail) starts at either $2500 US or $1800 US (which itself depends
> on whether a HDD or CF is used for storage).
>
> I think our * based solution can compete on price and features with
> Cisco's solution, so if anyone can chime in on other pros and cons of a
> Cisco solution I'd really appreciate it. Is CME basically a "Loss
> Leader"? i.e. Eventually you'll end up using their Call Manager product?
> Is this how Cisco gets you to buy their expensive VoIP phones? Is
> CME/CUE disposable enough that someone buying Cisco routers can try it
> and if they don't like it then they'll consider buying a standalone IP-PBX?