[Asterisk-Users] A Head Check

[WipeOut]

Greg Boehnlein wrote:

>Hello,
>	I have been retained by a Building Management Company to install a 
>combined Voice/Data solution for a Tennated Office Space. This space will 
>rent offices, with telephone and internet service to inviduals or small 
>groups of individuals. As fate would have it, the service will be 
>provided in a building where we have a major Pop, with a DS-3 worth of 
>ISDN PRI circuits, 345 megs of upstream bandwidth and diesel generator 
>backup. We are providing everything for the solution, from the initial 
>wiring to the ongoing maintenance of the PBX and Internet service.
>	I have arranged for a single PRI to be broken out of our DS-3 w/ 
>100 inbound DID numbers assigned to it and have PICd it to the LD provider 
>of our choice. I intend to plug this PRI into an Asterisk server w/ a 
>Digium TE410P card, and deploy SNOM 200 IP phones to the desktops. We will 
>be using a RedHawk power-injector system to provide power to the phones.
>	Now.. This is our first deployment of Asterisk, and I need a head 
>check here. Am I making the right decision? :)
>
>Sepcifically...
>
>1. Are the SNOM 200 IP phones a good choice for standard users? Or should 
>I consider Cisco? Price of the phone is not the important thing.. What is 
>important is ease of use with minimal training and reliability!
>
IMO Snom 200's are great, I have never had an issue with them and they 
are simple enough for a standard user while being feature packed enought 
from power users at the same time.. GS phones have been fine but may be 
a little too basic for an office and I have not tried the cisco's (Cant 
afford them).

>
>2. Does anyone have reccomendations for a solid motherboard to use as the 
>basis for the Asterisk server? Again, reliability and stability are the 
>important issues here. I'm looking for a Dual CPU board (Athlon MP or P4) 
>that will work flawlessly with the TE410P. I've used the Tyan Tiger MPX 
>(2466) http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tigermpx.html with Dual MP 
>processors with incredible success in the future. I'm considering building 
>the box on that platform.
>
My Advice would be to stick with intel processors (no flames please I 
know some of your love AMD's) becasue I have never heard of 
compatibility issues with Asterisk and Intel proc's and chipsets but I 
have heard some weird issues with VIA chipsets and AMD procs.. Also 
AFAIK you can't use the Athlon optimised kernel with Asterisk on an AMD 
which will probably mean you have to use the i386 kernel where on a 
P4/Xeon you can happily use the i686 kernel.. Not sure exactly what that 
means in terms of Asterisk performance but I will stay with the P4/Xeon.

>
>3. I am also responsible for delivering inbound faxes to the DID numbers 
>via Email. I.E. customer has a document faxed to them and they get it in 
>Email as a tiff. I'm considering using Hylfax with a Multitech DID capable 
>modem, but other suggestions are welcomed!
>
My initail thought would be Hylafax but havent had enough experience in 
this area to comment.

>
>4. I have built some cost for support from Digium and/or other Asterisk 
>experts into the budget. Does Digium have paid support plans? What about 
>other consultants out there?
>
>I'm just trying to make sure that I cover all the bases. This is got to be 
>a bulletproof solution, and I'm departing from my comfort level with 
>Altigen to give Asterisk a run for the money. We've got TONS of Linux 
>experience here, and comfort with customizing code, so I am happy with 
>what Asterisk gives me.. What else should I be worried about?
>
>  
>
Good luck..

Later..