Is the IP Office still relevant in 2018?

[CTravel]

Hi,

Here we are at the end of 2017 going into 2018 and I'm still using equipment purchased 7-8 years ago (IPO500). I use a very poor mixture of ISDN and SIP trunks and hosted SIP phones and the time has come to streamline things.
We are only a small office (16 phones) with 4 even smaller branches (3-5 phones in each)

I appear to have two main options:
1) Completely change and "go hosted" eg an LG system to take away an administrative headaches
2) Plough on with my IPO but move towards VOIP using something like a Gamma leased line with branch SIP phones connecting via a VPN.

To be slightly contentious Is the IPO still relevant going into 2018 and onwards when there has been a move to outsourced "cloud" solutions ?


Constraints are:
Only ADSL is available in 3 of 4 offices with up to about 10mbs / 0.7mbs in each.
Fibre is available veyr soon in the other office.
The Main office has ADSL (no FTTC) and Virgin Fibre but no issue getting a reasonable leased line for this purpose based on potential monthly savings on hosted SIP phones.
(Small print ... I'm leaning towards keeping the IPO)

 

[joe2938]

do not go hosted and stick with the ip office going forward

 

[pmcook]

With weak connections like that you will have nothing but trouble.

 

[CTravel]

Thanks. The ADSL has always been an issue so I’ve run redundant services in each office to mitigate service issues, but I have been plagued with issues over time.
Any recommendations would be helpful - especially if you think I should stay with the ISDN or move towards SIP on a leased line.

 

[qtelcom]

Hosted isn't for everyone, and I think it's over-hyped by every provider out there grasping for your business. When you add up the long term cost (look at 5 year TCO i.e $25 X 100 phones/month, but hey we get free unlimited calls! -Well you kinda do with TeleAgility 500 min per phone per month lumped into a pool... but I digress...) There are also some very shady internet hosted sales people that have no interest other than to SELL you. I like the TelAgilty folks and how they have delivered the solution, they empower the partners, who in turn look out for whats best for their customers. It's a good marriage, surprised Avaya didn't think of that themselves, and now Avaya uses TelAgility for their own departments.

It's hard to beat a reasonably priced IP Office (with a LOCAL Avaya Business Partner) sitting on your local network with IP phones in a voice vlan and a local rock solid carrier for trunking. Peace and love for years to come. -However, multsite locations? awesome backbone links? smaller offices that want rich features? local carriers that suck? maybe hosted is your pearl.

Also, how many of us Partner's selling IPO have real customers that use OneX / One-X mobile preferred all day long aside from the few power users here and there. Even then, you have to explain that "Hey, if you are using One-X on that nice shiny new iPhone using VoIP and you receive a REAL cell phone call, it places that ever so important One-X call on hold, oops! you were talking to the CEO? too bad, they are on hold now." Isn't that nice? At the end of the day, most users enable mobile twinning and call it a day.

Also, is anyone selling the Web Collaboration piece on IP Office? and are customers loving it?

 

[amriddle01]

LG ?

 

[IPGuru]

All forms of Voip require a high quality reliable data network, even more so for hosted as if your internet connection fails you also loos the ability to tell anyone about it (no -email & cant even use phone for internal communication!)


Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear

 

[Westi]

We still hosted and offer customers LATE gateways as backup but of course it comes with a cost.
I have an IPO at home and will NEVER go hosted because I am just old fashioned that way and want to have full control of my system as well as being able to make all and any changes I want to at the time I want to.
With less than ideal internet connections you want to stay on the IPO (agree with the statements made here before mine) and just make sure you don't keep your hardware until it really does but maybe plan for partial replacement (processor) within a5 to 10 year time span.
Just was talking to a customer with a Hotel system from 1998 that had intermittent problems that 20 years is a good she for a system and nobody drive a 20 year old car or has a 20 year old computer on their desk.

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME)


"This is the end of the world, make sure to buy your T-shirt before it is too late"
Original expression of my daughter

 

[CTravel]

Hi,

Thanks for all your comments, which tend to re-enforce my own thoughts. Keep the IPO, streamline my current SIP trunks and ensure I have some kind of ISDN/PSTN backup solution for the IPO & branch offices in the event of connectivity failure + plan for hardware upgrades in the near future.

My only question mark is the backup solution in the offices which currently only have SIP phones and redundant ADSL lines. Is there some kind of inexpensive, simple to maintain gateway device the SIP phones can connect to locally in the event of failure which can then go via the PSTN network ?

 

[Westi]

Another IPO would be the solution for it but that would mean licenses.
Not sure if that would be in the inexpensive range for you.

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME)


"This is the end of the world, make sure to buy your T-shirt before it is too late"
Original expression of my daughter

 

[CTravel]

Hi Joe,

Another IPO in each office is probably a litte overkill for 3-5 users in the branches. It's not out of the question but would require more support services (£££) and make the exercise less atractive.
I currently have two IPO's (V1 & V2) on a support contract - mainly for hardware replacement and have had both chassis's replaced in the past 4 years for hardware faults so am slighty wary of risking IPO's in remote offices without hardware support. The cost of the support might negate the benefits achieved.
Need to do some numbers I think.

 

[tlpeter]

The IP500v2 seems to be better as the power supply is better and failed more on the v1.
You could also look at a hosted IPO.

BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[CTravel]

Totally agree that the V2 power supply is more reliable. I think it will come down to numbers in the end, despite my desire to move forward and streamline things.

 

[pmcook]

Another IPO in each office is probably a litte overkill for 3-5 users in the branches. It's not out of the question but would require more support services (£££) and make the exercise less atractive."

Not true. I have installed a few SCNs and I have not head a complaint in years.

 

[IPGuru]

hosted has advantages in that it reduces your outlay on physical hardware
it also has disadvantages

You need a high quality broadband connection with enough bandwidth to support your users (not usually an issue for sites 2-3 phones & rarely an issue for larger sites these days)
when you have a network outage on the broadband you loose EVERYTHING, no email & even no internal calls so even reporting the outage becomes an ordeal - think of a well known phrase involving eggs and baskets.

In the end there is no one-size fits all solution despite the claims of the hosted only providers, a classic when your only tool is a hammer every problem is a nail.

in the real world you should try to provide a solution that best fits the customer> sometimes this will be hosted, Sometime this will be PBX & sometimes it will be a mix of BOTH


Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear

 

[Westi]

We have some customers that combine our hosted with the IP Office to solve emergency calls and still allow extension to extension calling without the need for another IP Office.
It will not be Avaya handsets though so the SIP stuff is not quite as nice (IMHO)and feature rich.

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME)


"This is the end of the world, make sure to buy your T-shirt before it is too late"
Original expression of my daughter