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Asterisk vs. IP Office vs BCM

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dibthree

Technical User
May 3, 2006
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Any opinions on which is better?
 
Give people some details. Number of users. in what circumstances etc etc...

It's like saying what is the best car.

An F1 car is fast, but not much use off road!

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004
 
Site 1: 60 phones PRI
Site 2: 20 Phones 8 Loop Start Trunks
4 Digit dialing between the two.

It is for a business so like all businesses today the phones have to be very reliable.
 
IPOffice is a great pick. Good support. Tried and tested.

Asterisk is also a good pick.

Depending your the needs, Vmail, call center, paging, teleworkers, etc., Asterisk gives a big bang for the buck.

VMPro could easily provide centralized voicemail for both sites in this scenario.

What is the cabling like at both sites? IPOffice allows digital phones working on single pair. If the backbone at either site is a nightmare, digital phones are a great.

If cabling was not an issue, the network infrastucture was sound, I would pick Asterisk due to the increase in features you get for the money.

If money is not an issue. If cabling is not the best. If a poor decision can cost you your job, I would pick IPOffice.
 
Asterisk will definately give you a lot more for you money. As with the previous post it does dependd on the rest of your infrastructure (this would apply to any IP phone system thought). I have to say I'm not keen on the BCM as this appears to be old technology shoe-horned into an IP phone system. I don't know the IP Office very well but as with any manufacturers system you will be locked into them in the future for upgrades whereas Asterisk gives you the freedom to choose.

If you need to connect digital handsets (to reduce the initial deployment costs then have a look at the Citel Portico range of digital extension to SIP adapters.

If you want to use Asterisk to trunk between the two sites you will need a good network connection which supports QoS (Quality of Service). QoS is also important on the LAN and ideally you will want netwotk switches that support PoE (Power over Ethernet).


Lee Mason
Optimal Projects Ltd
 
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