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<body><div style="text-align: left;">I'll see if the local telecom has a leasing option. Thanks for the info, gives me another scenario to compare.<br><br>Byron<br></div><br><br><br><blockquote style="border-left: #008080 2px solid; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;"><hr id="EC_stopSpelling">From: smith@ipmvs.com<br>To: asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<br>Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<br>Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:52:45 +0000<br><br>
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<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="EC_436394913-21032007"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Much of the time businesses lease expensive phone systems with a
trade-in or dollar-buyout at the end of the lease. For a small business
the lease is nice becuase it means the price of the system is constant at $X
each month and that is helpful with cash flow. Phone systems do look like
a huge cost of doing business when you look at the bottom
line.</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="EC_436394913-21032007"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="EC_436394913-21032007"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">-Nate</font></span></div><br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<div class="EC_OutlookMessageHeader" dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Byron Pile [mailto:bpile@hotmail.com]
<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, March 21, 2007 12:00 AM<br><b>To:</b> Commercial
and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion<br><b>Subject:</b> RE:
[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<br></font><br></div>
<div></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">I guess I'm a bit naive... but holy crap some of
those systems are expensive. Thanks for the link, I'll be data mining the site
for more info tomorrow!<br><br>Byron<br></div><br><br><br>
<blockquote style="border-left: #008080 2px solid; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<hr id="EC_EC_stopSpelling">
From: shadowym@hotmail.com<br>To: asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<br>Subject:
RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<br>Date: Tue, 20 Mar
2007 19:50:32 -0700<br><br>
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<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="EC_EC_703464702-21032007">This site has a
comparison chart which includes Asterisk Business Edition, Fonality,
SwitchVOX as well as proprietary solutions. It's not exactly apples to
apples and I question the prices they came up with but it's the best I've
found so far. They have 2 or 3 other comparison charts and some good
whitepapers as well.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="EC_EC_703464702-21032007"><a href="http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf</a></span></div><br>
<div class="EC_EC_OutlookMessageHeader" dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<b>From:</b> Byron Pile [mailto:bpile@hotmail.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday,
March 20, 2007 6:22 PM<br><b>To:</b> Commercial and Business-Oriented
Asterisk Discussion<br><b>Subject:</b> RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on
switching to Asterisk<br><br></div>
<div></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">Once I get a better idea of what the telecom
here provides in their contract it might be easier to see what I should
include in the Asterisk based system.<br><br>Is switchvox a proprietary
system? Or are they based on Asterisk? They don't mention asterisk on the
site anywhere. I've also noticed Digium offers<br>a support service plan.
Perhaps this with an estimated initial setup cost would be a good comparison
to the telecom offering.<br><br>I really want to highlight the flexibility
and also feature set of Asterisk.<br><br>Thanks again for your
comments!<br></div><br><br><br>
<hr id="EC_EC_stopSpelling">
> Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:34:22 -0400<br>> From:
stotaro@totarotechnologies.com<br>> To:
asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<br>> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] case study
on switching to Asterisk<br>> <br>> The bottom line is that you will
save money or at the very least, over <br>> the course of a year or two,
break even. Considering some proposals I <br>> did on NEC IPK systems
several years ago, an eight port conference <br>> bridge card was $5,000,
another $5,000 for an eight port VoIP card MGCP, <br>> $3,000 for a four
port voicemail card, add some other feature and you <br>> get the point.
Also, support contracts were something to the tune of $4 <br>> per port
per month, that includes all ports (concurrent voicemail access <br>> +
phones + PSTN + conference bridges). So lets say that "whatever" <br>>
company has 4 FXO, 16 FXS, and 4 voicemail, that is a total of 24 ports
<br>> X $4 = $96/mo X 12mo = $1,152 and that only included very specific
limits.<br>> <br>> This is all free in Asterisk. You could purchase a
Switchvox (or some <br>> other turnkey) system pretty cheaply, have all
of those costly add-on <br>> features included, they offer support via
SSH and over the phone, and <br>> with IP, MACs are a breeze. A low level
A+ tech can do it, unlike a <br>> traditional system where a telephone
guy has to come out with a butt <br>> set, toner, and punch down tool.
Most proprietary systems are not <br>> exactly easy to program even in a
"Turnkey" solution.<br>> <br>> You have many variables to look at but
I think that your paper will be a <br>> very interesting look into a
paradigm shift. <br>> <br>> Thanks,<br>> Steve<br>> <br>>
Byron Pile wrote:<br>> > I was going to assume that yes, there are
Linux people on staff and <br>> > that they could be taken away to set
up and support asterisk. But <br>> > because I was comparing it to a
turnkey solution that most likely is <br>> > including service as part
of the contract, comparing it to a similar <br>> > contract based
asterisk setup makes more sense. However, I guess when <br>> >
starting this I was hoping to eliminate "license" fees from the open
<br>> > source solution, but if I'm using a small company, I think its
more <br>> > realistic to assume they don't have a support department
ready to <br>> > devote man hours to an asterisk system when they were
using a turnkey <br>> > solution before.<br>> ><br>> >
Thanks for clarifying the handsets, I was considering using SIP phones
<br>> > in the case study, but thought it might be possible to "reuse"
some <br>> > existing equipment. This is also a technology upgrade in
this case.<br>> ><br>> > I was going to assume that the workers
were just as productive as <br>> > before, but the ROI would come
mostly from reduction in operating <br>> > costs (hopefully). If they
don't have any "linux people" on staff, <br>> > this makes it harder
to include some of the open source benefits like, <br>> > fixing bugs,
adding features and the other flexibility that Asterisk <br>> > would
provide over using the Norstar.<br>> ><br>> > Thanks for the
response Steve, I have more research to do obviously!<br>> ><br>>
><br>> ><br>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>>
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<br>>
> Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:59:03 -0500<br>> > From:
stotaro@asteriskhelpdesk.com<br>> > To:
asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<br>> ><br>> > For several varying
quotes, one could go to www.buyerzone.com<br>> >
<http://www.buyerzone.com/> and put in exactly what you<br>> >
specified. You will get several vendors proposing different<br>> >
systems, prices, and most importantly, service contracts. It does<br>>
> cost each vendor about $25 dollars to buy your "lead" so be
aware<br>> > that you are costing them money by doing this. Whether or
not<br>> > that is ethical, is your decision. I am just pointing out
that<br>> > "one could do it". Make sure to include that you need
a<br>> > conference bridge that can handle unlimited callers,
also<br>> > unlimited voicemail ports, support SIP, and also
consider<br>> > scaling. That should freak them out.<br>>
><br>> > <br>> ><br>> > Does "whatever" company have
people on staff that know Linux and<br>> > have time to learn and
support Asterisk? What is the cost of<br>> > taking them from what
they usually would be doing to work on the<br>> > Asterisk
system?<br>> ><br>> > <br>> ><br>> > I would suggest
going with SIP phones and a four port FXO board. <br>> > You could run
both systems side by side until you are ready to cut<br>> > over and
then just switch your four POTs lines. <br>> ><br>> > <br>>
><br>> > Most proprietary systems use digital sets so you cannot
use a<br>> > mutiport FXS board. I have used proprietary handset
gateways such<br>> > as Citel and my person experience was very very
poor. <br>> ><br>> > <br>> ><br>> > How much ROI is
going to depend on increased worker productivity<br>> > which is
fairly hard to figure out and also ongoing average costs<br>> > of
MACs (cost of Moves Adds Changes) as well as support contracts. <br>>
><br>> > <br>> ><br>> > Thanks,<br>> > Steve
Totaro<br>> > http://www.asteriskhelpdesk.com<br>> >
KB3OPB<br>> > <br>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>>
><br>> > *From:* asterisk-biz-bounces@lists.digium.com<br>> >
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces@lists.digium.com] *On Behalf Of<br>> >
*Byron Pile<br>> > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:28 PM<br>>
> *To:* asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com<br>> > *Subject:*
[asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk<br>> ><br>> >
<br>> ><br>> > I thought the biz list was most appropriate for
this. Hope I'm not<br>> > wrong!<br>> ><br>> > I'm trying
to write a term paper on adopting an open source<br>> > solution over
a commercial solution and comparing the cost.<br>> > Specifically if a
legacy system is in use already, when will the<br>> > initial
investment of hardware for an asterisk based system pay<br>> > off
against the licensing fees of a proprietary system. After<br>> >
reading a good chunk of the free Asterisk book "Asterisk:The<br>> >
Future of Telephony" I think that Asterisk is an excellent topic<br>>
> for the paper. <br>> ><br>> > I'm new to telephony stuff so
bear with me if my questions are a<br>> > bit dumb, I've tried to do
quite a bit of research and reading<br>> > before posting to the mail
lists. So my idea was to use the fake<br>> > company "whatever" and
they have 15 telephones and are currently<br>> > using a Norstar ICS
with 4 incoming lines and 15 internal lines<br>> > and I would like to
switch this over to an asterisk based system.<br>> ><br>> > The
reason for choosing the Norstar as this is a turnkey solution<br>> >
provided by a large local telecom so I will be able to get some<br>> >
pricing information for them fairly easily and I think it does<br>> >
what a 15 telephone small office might need...I'm open to a better<br>>
> suggestion if the Norstar is a poor choice.<br>> ><br>> >
My quick questions are...is it possible that the handsets being<br>> >
used with a Norstar could be converted and used with the Asterisk<br>>
> system? (a bit of asset recovery)<br>> ><br>> > A system
consisting of a suitable linux server running Asterisk<br>> > and a
Digium TDM2441B PCI Card 16FXS / 4FXO would be a suitable<br>> >
replacement and could deliver the same performance/functions as<br>> >
the Norstar system?<br>> ><br>> > I'm going to try and be as
thorough as possible in assessing the<br>> > costs in switching to
this system. The most obvious being some new<br>> > hardware, but
also, downtime, training, support costs, contract<br>> > penalties (if
there are any) etc....But this is a term paper and a<br>> > highly
hypothetical situation. And I know my questions are a bit<br>> >
general, but the paper will probably be kept quite general. I hope<br>>
> I can learn more about this cool app!<br>> ><br>> >
Thanks!<br>> ><br>> > <br>> ><br>> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>>
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