[Asterisk-Users] Pricing for DS3000P

[trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com]

On Sat, 2005-06-04 at 09:50 +0100, Tom Fanning wrote:
> >Agreed, those are the figures we were able to get 
> >from Digium... I'm still waiting for a confirmation, 
> >but I'm being safe with a $4k estimate.. 
> <snip>
> 
> What's so special about Digium cards that makes them this expensive? $4000
> for a PCB is extortion IMO!

A ds3 does 672 channels, normally on 2 strands of coax (and there are
bnc connectors on the pic on digiums site).  The port cost is then about
$6/port.  That is really cheap in all honesty.  672 ports can in theory
support about 10,000 customers (given the rather dated 7% of people use
the phone at any given time - that figure I think was accurate in the
early/mid 90s and I am sure its higher now but I havent checked any
reliable sources for an update.  I did read a more recent study that
suggested that the average person usese the phone 6 minutes a day, I use
it for hours a day my parents maybe 16 mintes 3 times a week, so who
knows).

Even if its 5000 customers (ie calling is 2x higher, people stay on 2x
longer, etc) that is still much more cost effective than the 28
individual DS1s that it would take to fill a DS3.  There is a EU
standard that afaik is framed basically the same but instead of 4 DS2s
which are 7 DS1s (logical framing a DS2 always exists on a DS3
physically afaik) its built upon E1s, so there are slightly fewer E1s
since they are 30 DS0s instead of 24.  

Not to mention that a DS3 circuit normally costs about what 12 DS1s cost
so its like getting 16 free.  This makes everything cheaper in the long
run, thus companies are able to offer better rates for PSTN
interconnection which can be passed to the consumer.  


I am curious on cpu load, if all dsp functions are done via software
instead of offloaded onto a specialized processor (DSP board) that has
to have some effect on call processing, meaning a more beefy machine to
handle the load, and the real possiblity of not having a single board do
everything (application, media gateway, VoIP, etc).  While it makes
sense on that type of a system (high capacity) to spread it out for load
balancing and redundancy and all that stuff that gives you a warm fuzzy
feeling, it may now be more of a requirement.


-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
UK +44 870 340 4605   Germany +49 801 777 555 3402
US +1 360 207 0479 or +1 516 687 5200
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