[Asterisk-Users] A rather big setup.

[Tom Rymes]

On Nov 27, 2005, at 10:22 PM, Vedran Dakic wrote:

> What worries me is the fact that when you have 100-200 offices -  
> they're
> used to having 2-3 lines only for them - one for fax, two for  
> voice, etc.
> So, in a way, having in mind around 200-300 outbound calls at peak  
> time is
> pretty much "normal". Also, when you think of the number of phones  
> - it
> would only be normal to assume for people to have up to 1000  
> internal phone
> conversations peak (the less transcoding - the better, of course).

If you're providing them with analog lines that they would plug  
faxes, phones, etc into, you should use T1/E1 cards and Analog  
Channel banks. This choice, of course, affects:

> I have a freedom of making whatever I want, so I can have a  
> separate LAN for
> VoIP purposes only - a bunch of dedicated patch panels, VLANs on Cisco
> switches, or whatever. I'm just considering this setup way before  
> it has to
> go online because of the price of traditional PBX for this kind of  
> setup
> which can only make you hurl. And you know how much potential  
> upgrades cost
> for a setup like this - a traditional PBX can be a nightmare :(

If you are using analog channel banks instead of ATAs or SIP  
hardphones, then VLANS, etc are not necessary. Of course, you will  
then need wiring for however many lines into each office, but then  
again, that most likely already exists. (thus saving on investment...)

Also, if these tenants are not related, then why not run more than  
one Asterisk server and avoid interconnecting them? Sure, you'll have  
multiple systems to maintain, but they will be smaller, less complex  
systems. Also, since each company is unrelated, there is little  
benefit to having them all on the same server (no need to dial  
between offices, etc)

Tom

--------------------
Tom Rymes
Cascade Link Systems
www.cascadelinksystems.com
(603) 375-1414

"Intelligent technology solutions for small businesses."