[Asterisk-Users] A few questions on a conversion to *

[Warren]

Background:
I have been tasked with moving from a Norstar Meridian system to an
Asterisk system.  My budget is flexible as long as I can show that what
I am doing is worthwhile.  My current setup is a T1 (non-PRI) and 4
copper POTS lines in going to about 22 phones and 1 fax (there is
another dedicated POTS line to a fax but that does not go through the
phone system).

I will be getting a Dell 2850 or 2950 (Dual Xeon 3.0 Ghz, plenty of HD
and RAM).  I think I have settled on Polycom IP601 phones and probably a
cisco PoE switch to feed them.

But in order to finish the proposal I need a few more pieces of
information...

I want to get a dual T-1 card (with hardware EC) so I have some room for
expansion if I need a second T-1.  If the digium rep is to be believed,
they will have one by mid-July, but then again they gave me a time frame
for a single-port T-1 card with echo cancellation back in January.

I need to get a good 4-port analog card as well to handle those backup
POTS lines.

Questions:
(1) Good 2xT1 card with hard echo cancellation?
(2) Good 4-port analog card?
(3) How can I best handle fax?  Should it come through one of the POTS
lines or should it come through the T1?  Am I best off using Hylafax? 
Separate DiDs are not a problem.  I have plenty now and the important
ones are 866, 877 and 888 numbers that are forwarded to local numbers
anyway so getting a separate fax DiD and having the 877 fax number
forwarded to it is not a problem.
(4) Can I use an existing data T-1 or does it have to be somehow
reprovisioned?  I have a backup T for my web servers that is hardly used
and it would be a great testing utility.

I sincerely thank you in advance for any/all help with this.
W