[asterisk-users] Implementing an Asterisk Server behinda MeridianNorstar

[Steve Totaro]

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 12:23 AM, John Faubion <jfaubion at tx.rr.com> wrote:
>> Well, I am not sure what is needed to interface between the
>> two. I hoped there was something you could use and from the
>
> Joseph,
> Now I'm pretty sure we are not talking about the same things. Let me see if
> I have the correct picture in my head. I now think you have a Norstar in one
> office and an asterisk system in another office and want to allow them to
> send calls between them. Is this correct?
>
>> Do they make phones with a gig switch in them? I am told
>> there are phones with 100meg switches in them?
>
> The new Polycom 670 has a gig interface but at this point I'm not sure why
> you need that. Are you thinking that if the Norstar phones and lines can't
> be used, that you would need the phone to have a switch to share the
> Ethernet connection? Sorry for the confusion but I just want to make sure I
> know what you need before making a recommendation.
>
> John
>

Citel will never get my business again.  Their gateways are simply
DTAs (digital terminal adapters) and I had nothing but problems with
the Definity boxen, maybe they have got better.

Heck, you have many options people are passing right over.

Asterisk on a modest server with a quad port T1 card and a couple or
few Adtran or Adit channel bank populated with the modules you need.

Populate the channel bank with however many lines (FXO) coming from
the telco and also populate the same channel bank or more with lines
(FXS) that connect to your Meridian (I assume you are using POTS lines
now), then connect the channel banks to Asterisk via T1.

I have done this many many times and it always words great.

Some just want additional functionality, others want a slower
migration path and add SIP phones with new hires or when old phones
break.

Some that don't want VoIP on their LAN or only have CAT3 and others
that run the FXS ports (single pair POTS) to the work stations so they
can use any kind of regular analog phone that they want.  There are
place where a free after rebate phone is called for such as the lunch
room.  There are also some very nice analog handsets.

The migration does not have to happen all at once, you can take it
slow, make it invisible to the end user, start using VoIP trunks and
all that Asterisk has to offer, and have a super flexible migration
path.

Thanks,
Steve Totaro