[Asterisk-Users] Mission-Critical Deployments

[C F]

On 11/17/05, pdhales at optusnet.com.au <pdhales at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Goerzen" <jgoerzen at complete.org>
> To: <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 2:37 AM
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Mission-Critical Deployments
>
>
> > I work for a company that is nearing the end-of-life on its existing
> > Nortel Meridian switch and is considering Asterisk.  We have
> > approximately 200 existing extensions, and probably 150 out of those 200
> > are using basic analog phones and would stay that way.  The rest would
> > have VOIP phones at the desk.
> >
> > We're seriously considering switching to Asterisk.  I've done quite a
> > bit of tinkering with Asterisk for my home, but I'm not certain about a
> > few aspects of how we might deploy Asterisk in the enterprise.
> >
> > Here are my questions:
> >
> > 1. Where could I look for some resources on server sizing?  Is it
> >    any problem to support this number of users with a single server?
>
> A decent dual xeon should be fine for that...or 2 or 3 smaller servers...
> (depends on the funtionality you need)
>
> > 2. What do we need to do for our data network to make VOIP reliable?
> >    QoS, basic traffic prioritization on the switch, vlan, ???
>
> If it's doable, a serapate data network for VOIP.
> A friends install moved to that after running VOIP on their main network,
> and it made a huge difference.
> YMMV.
>
> > 3. What's the best way to integrate these 150 analog extensions?
> >    I've seen interface boxes that usually come in 24-port sizes.  Some
> >    have an Ethernet/SIP interface to hook up to Asterisk, and others
> >    have a T1 interface.  What sounds best and is the most reliable?
>
> Here I am going to disagree with you. Buy cheap IP phones.
> The hardware, setup and lack of functionality of analog extensions makes
> them a second choice for me.
>

I disagree with PaulH on this one. Cheap IP phones makes for *cheap*
phone, cheap sound, and cheap features. The cheapest IP phone you can
get will come to around $60.00 USD, which multiplied by 150 makes
$9,000.00. While a channel bank (ADIT 600) with 6 FXS cards (48 ports)
runs around $1200.00 multiplied by 3 (3 * 48 = 144 the closest I can
get without overbuying) makes for $3600.00, each QuadT1 card runs
around $1,500.00 or $2,500.00 with echo can, multiplied by 2 makes
$5,000.00 at the most, Total = $8,600.00 at the most, and you already
have the phones, and I'm telling you that it will be cheaper. Also,
you might have to rerun wiring for VoIP, beside the fact that for
cheap VoIP phones you don't get POE, which also means you need outlets
where you are going to put phones, as well as in featurewise; you can
do much more in the DP with ananlog phones (or VoIP since it's in the
DP), then *any* VoIP phone under $100.00 can do without the DP, and
even a Cisco or Polycom cannot do much without some fancy programming
from the phone itself with no DP.

> > 4. What is a good company to contract with for emergency support?
> >    Digium?
>
> Find a local consultant. There are quite a few around...
>
> > 5. What are people doing to make VOIP phones resiliant in the face of
> >    power outages?
>
> I have found the device called a UPS to be a useful in this regard, when
> hooked up to POE.
>
> > Is there anybody here that would be willing to serve as a reference
> > check for Asterisk should we pursue that path?
>
> I could. But I live in melbourne, australia.
> Which is not the same as austria.
>
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > -- John
>
> All just my 2 cents.
>
> PaulH
>
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