Cisco vs Avaya vs Nortel

[Breezermagic]

I am preparing to deploy a new IP telephony solution and am grappling with the Cisco vs Nortel vs Avaya argument. There has been a lot of bad press about CCM including security vulnerabilities, lack of core features, scalability, etc. What is true? What isn't? Only users will know? What can you tell me? Where are the "hidden holes" that I might fall into with Cisco?

 

[PalmTest]

One thing to consider is that Cisco is good at Networking and is moving toward the Voice area (moving up the OSI layers), Avaya is good at Voice and is moving toward Networking (walking down the OSI layers).
From a user perspective Avaya is better in Functionality toward the End-User.
From a CCIE perspective Cisco is better in the underlying techniques.
Possible "hidden holes" are:
- Voice mail integration.
- Call diversion.
- Least Cost Routing.
- Welcome messages.

But these are only my thoughts. Perhaps other readers can give additional info.

Did you take a look at the VoIP forum?

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=462

 

[MHiggs]

I work for a large company and we have been struggling with the Cisco - Siemens - Nortel question for three years. My background is Voice. From the beginning I did not like Cisco. We had three Pilots between 300 and 500 users each. At the end of three years, I have become a Cisco fan. When we had problems with the Siemens and the Nortel, we found the technitions lacking IP knowledge. In the end I was able to use the Cisco.com site and get lots of information. In the end, they all will work well on a LAN or small site. It is a matter of developing a relationship and trust with your vendor. By the way, We have eliminated the Nortel, and continue the evaluation process.