Cisco VoIP pros vs. cons

[TechCUTelecom]

Hello all Cisco users,

I come from a Nortel PBX-Hybrid shop and wonder if you can give me some advises and some of the pros vs. cons if I decide to go with Cisco VoIP system.

We will have a small remote office and we are thinking to deloy Cisco VoIP phones system with its own PRI circuit, voicemail system, etc... This system will be stand alone and will not network to our current PBX.
We can also do Nortel VoIP and network with our current system but my network guy asks why we don't go with Cisco VoIP since we use all Cisco routers and switches.

I welcome all your comments, suggestions and some of the pros vs. cons if we go with Cisco VoIP. The cost also a factor in making the decision. Thanks for your help and you have a great day.

 

[jamming1]

Any feature that doesn't require another server to add on...Look if you think you need to go Cisco to do VoIP then you need to go back to school. It's not cheaper, better and faster. The problem is you got all these guys fresh out of CCNA boot camp who know little to nothing about telecom claiming all these wonderful things that Cisco can do because thats what the rep told them to say. That's not the case and its now really starting to come out that Cisco is not the only game in town. It's all about app intergration and you don't need to go VoIP to do it.

There is something to say about a PBX that has been in place for 20 years and still works.

 

[BuckWeet]

I definately agree with that.. One thing that I do see a great benefit from (having worked on TDM PBX's) is that API's were slim to none on any system.. Now that IP based systems are more common, its easier to integrate applications with our telecom systems. I remember back in the old AVAYA days you had to have all kinds of huge and funky adjuncts, serially integrate systems together (SMDI).. Just very clunky. Now everything is finally getting to IP based communcation using standard APIs..


BuckWeet

 

[ethereal112]

I would just stick with what you have in upgrading the Nortel. We just implemented Cisco IP but havent fully deployed it yet, I didnt agree and still dont agree on this choice and the reason behind that is we already have VoIP services thru NEC. The price difference between the phone units that are identical is not to great but the greater the amount ordered the greater the cost is for Cisco phones rather than the NEC phones. Not to mention our very Non-Telecomm. director wants to intermix both IP solutions in the same building. This does pose a very difficult situation in feature capabilities, Also training users on the new VoIP units. The most challenging part was getting both platforms to shake hands and cooperate properly, Than having both use the same voicemail server had its own difficulties. Everything did work out as far as we know! As far as having color screens and internet access on your phone its just a waist of budget in my opinion, thats what PC's are for.

 

[jneiberger]

It appears that the original poster hasn't come back to comment on this thread. TechCUTelecom, have you made any decisions about this yet?

 

[TechCUTelecom]

Hello,

Thanks for all your input, recommendation and explanation about the 2 systems. I enjoyed to read every posted from everyone. We will stick with Nortel Switch and move on with the Nortel IP solution. We recently upgraded our CS 1000 software to released 4.5 with 2 new Pentium CPUs. We will also roll-out another remote site with Nortel IP phones.
Again, thank your for sharing your ideas and experience.