Connecting two buildings + Possible upgrade?

[samhuangavaya]

My company is currently looking to expand into a nearby building that is directly across a small road. We need to get these two buildings connected somehow, with phone and LAN.
I think I've got LAN handled, as I could just use a wireless network bridge and DD-WRT. The second building are really just 20-ft away over a small road. As for the phone (Avaya Partner ACS R8), I'm stumped. I don't know what I could do...I don't think running phone cable over public road would be possible, and not much came up for a "Wireless POTS Bridge". Even if I was able to somehow wireless extend the extensions, I will still need to get 5-15 phones throughout 10-20,000 SQFT in both facilities.
How could I someone connect the two locations wirelessly? Is there a way you could use the power/phone lines running overhead on poles? Could I use this wireless network bridge to connect the phones (probably not)? Could it be done with IP Office, or another brand's system?

Thanks so much as always,
Sam

P.S. Sorry for using this forum so much...

 

[norstarboy125]

Partner systems aren't IP so any network solution is out the window with that, as for the IP Office along with many other VoIP systems you could install IP phones at the other location with no problem.

Charm City Communications

http://www.charmcitycommunications.com

 

[samhuangavaya]

So what type of IP System do I need? We don't want to spend that much for a phone system, so probably an older version, such as an IP Office 406. Now I'm not familiar with IPOffice at all (only worked with Partner/ACS systems). If someone could point me over to an article or fact sheet about it, that'd be great. Right now I have no idea how they work whatsoever- does it connect over existing network, can you use an Ethernet switch for expansion, etc.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[samhuangavaya]

Oh and one more thing-
Why is IP office so much cheaper than Partner? What? Isn't IP Office newer and more advanced? I'm really confused now..


See the two links below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Avaya-IP-Of...t=Phone_Switching_Systems&hash=item3cd44e3f50

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Avaya-Partn...e-6-18D-Euro-Phones-and-VM-Card-/300932543085

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Availability and demand, and the non-support of the IPO 406...

 

[samhuangavaya]

Non support? Like no support from Avaya? You can't get it for Avaya Partner systems anymore anyways-?
Anyways, could we somehow use existing analog 18d phones with the new IP system?

Sam

 

[samhuangavaya]

Oh and about demand- why would one prefer an analog system to a IP and analog system with so many more features?

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Sam-

The 406 is very old, in the world of IP Office. It can not be upgraded to any revision that is currently supported by Avaya. The current release is 8.1, and the oldest release that is eligible for them to support is 8.0

You can use the 18-D's on a Partner version IPO, but only 18 of them. The system won't work exactly like a Partner ACS, and no, you still can't get them working across an Ethernet bridge.

Peruse the 8.1 matrix from here

http://www.ipofficeinfo.com/pdf/IP Office Matrix - Release 8.1.xlsx

 

[samhuangavaya]

Ok. Thanks for the help.
I'm now looking at what I believe is a newer version, IP500.
So how would this connect over the network? I still do not understand how expansions work- obviously we need to pop a Module into the system, but would the phone still need to connect directly to the system? I was really hoping with IPOffice, we could connect the phone to any ethernet jack in the building, which is connected to a switch, then to the phone system. I've seen this with some mitel systems.

Sam

 

[TouchToneTommy]

If you use a bridge to get between the buildings, with enough bandwidth, and QOS for the voice traffic, you can put IP phones in the outbuilding and IP or Digital phones in the main building. Or, even 2 systems, one in each building, and use the bridge to link them together.

 

[samhuangavaya]

So for IP Phones, how would we connect multiple ones to the controller? I saw in a video tutorial that it goes to the WAN port, which there is only one of. Is this where a switch comes in?

 

[TouchToneTommy]

IP phones connect to a POE switch (or use a power brick with a non-POE switch), and pull an IP address from your DHCP server, or the IP Office can hand out DHCP, or you can set everything staticly. They can share your data lan if you do VLAN for the phones, or they can be on their own flat network that doesn't touch your data network.

 

[samhuangavaya]

So theoretically, as long as there's enough ports on the switch, we can have an infinite number of phones without additional expansion cards and licenses??

 

[TouchToneTommy]

384 IP phones, each one requires an IP endpoint license.

 

[samhuangavaya]

Endpoint licenses... $85 each on CDW? No way.

I really wish these IP Office system were as simple as the Partner systems. Looks like we might go with a Asterisk server with Avaya IP Phones...

 

[smokinjoe2938]

if you can get an underground cable between the two sites then you could connect two partner systems together, then you could still use all of the existing phones, but would need to pay for the cable, lightning protection boxes, expansion partner switch etc... ButI would upgrade to a new ipoffice and deploy ip phones at the remote site, phones would register off the main site giving you all kinds of new features, either way this is gonna cost you some money no matter which option your company chooses.

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[SYQUEST]

Another way using the Partner ACS, would be to have Centrex lines installed at both locations with Partner systems at both locations. You can use the call transfer feature of Centrex for switching calls between the buildings, along with other features that might be applicable to your situation...

....JIM....