Looking for documentation or insight on implementing 4620SW IP phones

[telboy01]

Greetings -

Admittedly so, I am new to the Telecommunications field, (migrated over from Desktop Support/Data Center Management) and have been assigned the daunting task to implement a IP Telephony/VoIP solution for our company. After obtaining all of the documentation from Avaya (we are an exclusive Avaya "shop"), I found that not only am I in over my head, but very am intimidated by all of the required specifications.

Conceptually, I understand the way that IP Telephony and VoIP works, and I understand the benefits/risks of said technologies, but transferring the terminology and application to my specific criteria is what I am struggling with.

For some background information, my company has approximately 600 "in house" users, however the implementation will only begin with 2 IP telephones (the CIO, and CEO... go figure!)

Any helpful hints, suggestions, starting places, methods of suicide that should be considered would be helpful... (just kidding on the latter).

Thanks in advance,

Telboy01
World Access Service Corporation

http://www.worldaccess.com

 

[tmgpbx]

First things first. Let us know your setup(Software, Hardware, etc)and then I'm pretty sure someone can help out.

 

[mojoputter]

Letting the CEO & CIO be the guinea pigs is your best method of suicide. When we deployed our voip we started with peeps in our own department so we could get everyday users using the ip phones. The phones were not there main phones until we had all the bugs fix with the network.
I would suggest getting a network assessment done to make sure your network can handle all the voip requirements, this will make your life happier in the long run.

 

[phoneguy55]

I agree 100% with mojoputter. You might as well resign now, giving the first 2 IP phones to the CEO and CIO is career sucide.

I would make sure you get a good Avaya Business Partner.

 

[SF0751]

Good advice. Tell the CEO & CIO that they will have the first IP phones that are in "production" but that the IT staff, including yourself, will be "testing" the phones and the VoIP phones prior to deployment.

Susan
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work."
- Thomas A. Edison

 

[telboy01]

Well, that's where my "newb"ness begins...

I know that we have:

Definity (r. 11 I belive)
Avaya Communication Manager Software (higher than 1.1)
S8700 (total of 3 cabinets) equipped w/ Med Pro Boards

We do administer our own PBX, which is what I am just beginning to learn, but unfortunately, as far as the network is concerned, the specs are not as available due to our being "regulated" by our parent company... the administration and control of the network is "housed" in a different department. Obvoiously we have our own DHCP with mulitple switches and such.


Telboy01
World Access Service Corporation

http://www.worldaccess.com

 

[telboy01]

let me rephrase... the testing will be done by myself and another senior administrator (15+ years experience in Telecommunications)

mojoputter, phoneguy55, SF0751 - You are all correct, they will have the first production phones...

All of this stems from the opportunity to have call center associates work from home due to our running out of occupancy space in a brand new building (less than 3 years old, built specifically for us)

With that, obivously those associates would use VoIP and the solution offered by Avaya seems so bundled and easy, but for all internal traffic (my project) doesn't seem that nice and the budget really doesn't exist for all the extravagent toys.

Sorry to sound like a whiny newb, I remember how much I hated to hear everyone else on other forums (non-technical related), I would have already been flamed by now

Telboy01
World Access Service Corporation

http://www.worldaccess.com

 

[nohuhu]

telboy01,

for agents to work from their homes, i suggest you consider using ip agent application in telecommuter mode. in short, it is a special softphone that does call control over ip (you'll need one c-lan board in your switch) but voice path goes over pstn to an ordinary home phone that sits somewhere near an agent. done this way, you'd eliminate all voip problems and get what you need for a price of slightly lowered agent effectiveness.

 

[telboy01]

dwalin - thanks for the info... the "at-home" solution is being delivered for approval shortly and we are presenting both a softphone option and a hardware dependant option... Thankfully I was only responsible for obtaining quotes for hardware/software and monitoring packages on a per person basis...

the othher project is a completely different animal , because all of the legwork is mine to do...

Telboy01
World Access Service Corporation

http://www.worldaccess.com

 

[mikeydidit]

http://esearch.avaya.com/r/results.asp?querytext=ip agent&SITE=SUPPORT&SCOPED=N

The above link will give you some of the info you are looking into. The first 2 items are IP Agent and IP softphones.

And dont feel bad about being a newb. We all were at one point and time and you are at the best place to get help.

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something."
(Plato)

 

[telboy01]

mikeydidit - Thanks for the link... I have been "raping" Avaya's site for all of the documentation that they have. I just finished reading the LAN administrator guide for 4600 series IP telephones and found the first three chapters helpful, but bewildering at times.

I'm bogging myself down with the EAS guide for Call Vectoring and Expert Agent Selection as well this weekend (all 740 pages of it). Gotta teach myself something.

Thanks again for everyone's help and tolerance of my ignorance.

Telboy01
World Access Service Corporation

http://www.worldaccess.com