IPO Thoughts?

[anna35]

We are looking into an IPO for our 10 sites. Main functionality we are looking for include 4 digit dial between the sites and call center in our corporate site that shows us that a call came in for our B location even though we are answering the call at our headquarters. Being able to send those calls back out to our branches is important as well.

What is everyone's experience with IPO good or bad?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[ronromano]

This is what The IP Office is designed to do. It does these things very well. The IP Office will not be the issue, the ability and commitment of the company and its employees that install the system will be.

 

[jml2665]

yep, as Ron said, get references for the group that implements your system, make sure they've done good work elsewhere on similar installs, and remember your required network assessment if you're doing VoIP site to site

 

[tlpeter]

How many phones will be needed ?
which type of connection is or will be between those sites ?


ACA - Implement IP Office
ACA - Voice Services Management
______________
Women and cats can do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea!

 

[johnnybrian]

I would definetly recommend the IPO for this. We have 7 sites with IPO´s and we call seamlessly between sites in 7 different countries, as if we were sitting in the same office. Its a brilliant system for you need i would say.


/JB

 

[ABCIP]

dont forget to consider your growth? if you plan to add more sites you might want to consider CM solutions such as the s8300/Gxxx solutions which could give you 1 single point of programming for the whole network? how many users total are you talking?

 

[intrigrant]

Ha, putting in a CM just for one place of programming.
You can hire a engineer for a year if you buy IPO and still have some money left for a nice vacation.

NIHIL NOVI SUB SOLE

 

[tlpeter]

And if you have a CM with gateways you can program your ipo from one location too
even when no iptrunks used you can program from one location


ACA - Implement IP Office
ACA - Voice Services Management
______________
Women and cats can do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea!

 

[anna35]

The vendor we are looking at is Carousel Industries. I hear very good things about them. Any of you have any experience with them? They are mostly east coast.

 

[kwing112000]

Anna35

I am a tech for them. I have worked for a few different companies over my 10 years. out of the ones i have worked for they are about as good as it comes. I am not just saying that because i work there. chances are if you go with them then i will be very involved. I do alot of the IPO work for them. We have a great NOC that is being built in RI for our remote support. I work mostly from home setting up systems remotely. The IPO sounds like a great fit for you. If they gave you the proposals for the IPO then the CM must be more than you need.

 

[bsmo]

intrigrant,

It depends from config to config. Sometimes a CM is even cheaper then an IPO. And to be honest for 10 sites I would prefer real centralised management (one system) instead of being able to reach 10 different systems over the network.

 

[kwing112000]

Have any of you guys worked with the new distibuted office? I have read about it but i dont know if it is out there yet.

 

[anna35]

For us, moving to the enterprise platform at this point in time is a bit overkill. The IPO seems like it will fit our needs nicely. We currently have a Siemens HiPATH that I personally am not happy with its functionality for hot desking & call center features. Plus the system has its share of weird things happening that no one seems to be able to explain why they happen. We also have open items with Siemens (via our vendor) that Siemens acknowledges are known issues, but they still haven't been fixed.

I want to make sure that all the promised Avaya functionality we are looking for will work out of the box like the Siemens was supposed to.

 

[anna35]

tlpeter to answer your questions, we are looking at about 388 phones and we have MPLS VPN between our 10 sites with PAETEC.

 

[janni78]

If you are looking at 388 phones, I would go with CM.

Sure the IPO could handle it and there systems that big out there but I would rather have a CM.

 

[big70]

Sorry guys i agree with janni78

you should go with a CM

Starting 10 side,s, 388 phone,s and a callcenter!!!


Greets Peter

 

[tlpeter]

peter it depends on how big they want to go
and even when they outgrow the ipoffice they can buy a CM (for the headquarter)
then the ipoffices can be connected to the CM
so for starting the ipoffice is (i think) the best solution


ACA - Implement IP Office
ACA - Voice Services Management
______________
Women and cats can do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea!

 

[ProviderReborn]

I would say IP Office is a great product.
As stated above its certainly worth while getting some references from companies your BP has installed for.

CM would be worth a look if your company has mega plans ahead. Or the need for big time disaster recovery requirements as the CM will act as an LSP (Local Survivable processor)

As you have many sites, expect any person tendering for your business to require an avaya network report. (If they dont offer it ask why not)

ACA - IP Office Implement
ACA - IP Telephony
ACS - IP Office Implement (Aug 30th)

 

[anna35]

Our quote includes having a full network assessment done. I'm not sure if we need it though as we are already running VoIP over our current infrastructure.

 

[ProviderReborn]

Trust me, it saves a whole load of ball ache. If it all goes horribly wrong Avaya will often throw this in your face.

It also avoids the "ITS YOUR NETWORK" if you get any network related woes on the product.

ACA - IP Office Implement
ACA - IP Telephony
ACS - IP Office Implement (Aug 30th)