[asterisk-biz] RE: Bottom end of the market for an Asterisk PBX ?

[Warren (mailing lists)]

Raymond McKay wrote:

> [-snip-]
> Sellers of Asterisk hear me!!  Don't sell yourself short here.  When
> you sell Asterisk, you are selling a top grade, top of the line phone
> system comparable with the big names.  There is no nead to try to
> compete with the low end Korean imports.  Let them have their fun and
> go in and replace them when the customer realizes that they don't
> provide everything they thought they would.  You will end up with
> happier customers that actually get what they need.  Anybody looking
> for the above system with an expectation of a $1500 system cost does
> not have a reasonable expectation for costs of a top notch phone
> system such as asterisk and is not a customer you want.
>
> OK enough of my rant.  Please flame me directly if you think I'm on
> crack so as not to bog down the list.
>
>
> Raymond McKay
> President
> RAYNET Technologies LLC
> http://www.raynettech.com
> (860) 693-2226 x 31
> Toll Free (877) 693-2226

Raymond,

I have to agree with you rather than flaming you, sorry :)

I am not a provider, but rather a systems/network admin and programmer. 
We are replacing an aging (ancient) Norstar system with *.  We will be
using a Dell 2850 server so that we can add in cards as needed and have
redundancy, high-end phones (Polycom IP601s probably) and Dell
PowerConnect PoE switches.  While lower cost termination and toll-free
origination using VoIP certainly helps justify the expense to the
owners, the reason for getting the system is for the flexibility.

We intend to do a LOT of custom programming to match incoming caller id
to the customer database to make the sales person's life easier, better
routing of incoming calls, easier adding of custom toll-free DiDs for
marketting purposes - the possibilities are endless to us.

* is not low-end, in fact for our purposes, it is likely the highest-end
product that we found.  People have to stop confusing open-source with
low quality.  Do you consider Firefox a low-end browser?

W