Moving Away from IPO to Asterisk -- WAN IPO connectivity

[mobiledynamics]

I have a IPO licensed to the gills....from a former business venture. I sold the phones but kept the control unit and dongle.

I've since started a new business. I'm projecting 25 employees in the next 12 months.I've debated long and hard, look at TCO, phone provider costs, etc. The biggest issue was $$$ techs for programming changes. Sure, I can managing using manager and renaming/resetting a name or voicemail, but that was it. The Asterisk based systems are fairly straightforward to manage & I like the fact that it was fairly easy to configure phones that could connect *outside the LAN on the WAN* and it was simple as pie. Sure some things will be missed, like Visual Voicemail, but sofar, aside from VV, I can't seem to find a feature I would be missing be transitioning from IPO to a full Asterisk solution.

For all you telephony gurus, love to hear some thoughts. Sure, I'm posting this in a IPO forum, so there may be some bias. I'd welcome all feedback.

 

[mforrence]

I'm not sure there's much of a question. If you're happy with an Asterisk solution, use an Asterisk solution. It is just that simple.

Mike

 

[mobiledynamics]

I don't know all the products out there....or variables. I've tried doing the due diligence of researching as much as I could. And reading brochures, etc. It obviously helped that I was familiar with IPO, Cisco UCS and Broadsoft switches.

The hosted is such a expensive model.....for any SMB once you get past like 5-7 employees

 

[mforrence]

Without knowing your business and how you plan to operate, folks here would only be guessing as to what may work for you. 25 employees all out cutting corn in the field is very different than 25 employees in an outbound telemarketing center. If you want to avoid paying for trained and experienced help in the form of a local vendor, then your own research is what you'll need to use. Let your findings guide you.
Mike

 

[mobiledynamics]

The problem is finding a good vendor. I previously went through 4 vendors....the 4th vendor was the one we stuck with. I can't recall the specifics but 2 hr job scopes turned out to be 8 hr billable jobs with the end result being advised they could not be able to do the scope of the job that was outlined even before they were onsite. But since they tried to make it work for 8 hrs, they were not waiving the extra 6 hrs. Things like this left not a good experiences.

Or for example, we had like 15-18 phones that rang simul. in a hunt group. Simple software upgrade on the IPO and the phones starting ringing like church wells - not in unison. That went into 2 hrs of troubleshooting before the vendor went back in time and went back to the previous versions.

 

[tlpeter]

You have had the wrong techs.
such simple things are done in 5 minutes from remote.
The Asterix cannot do half of what the ipo can but do you need mobile twinning, digital phones, vmpro with all the bells.
I can name everything but it is a lot.


BAZINGA!

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

 

[DanACS]

Click on the below link and find a local partner - I would expect most would be happy to send a consultant over to you with a view to you signing an maintenance agreement.

Think you have had a bad experience with a company that does not have officially trained engineers or maybe does IPO as a second or third product so does not work on the system enough.

http://www.avaya.com/uk/partner-locator/

ACSS - SME
APSS - SME
APDS - Unified Communications
ACS - IP Telephony
ACA - IP Telephony

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Where about in the UK are you? ;-)

ACSS - SME

 

[mobiledynamics]

Sorry mates. I'm located across the pond in the US.

 

[tlpeter]

There are enough good business partners on this site from the US.
So be a little Patience and wait for one instead of ditching the ipo.


BAZINGA!

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

 

[DanACS]

then use this link instead

http://www.avaya.com/usa/partner-locator/

ACSS - SME
APSS - SME
APDS - Unified Communications
ACS - IP Telephony
ACA - IP Telephony

 

[ConXtion]

You know why they call it Asterisk, right?

I agree with tlpeter, "You have had the wrong techs".

 

[klubar]

Here’s my $0.02 worth from the end-user perspective.

The advantages of the IP Office is that you have a dedicated box that is pretty rock solid as a phone system. If you need high-end call center features you’re probably better off with IP Office.

However, IP Office makes it really hard to be a self-maintenance customer; you pretty much have to go through a business partner for custom hardware, phones and software upgrades. The Asterisk system makes it easier to do your own administration, and it uses standard off-the-shelf parts for the control unit (just a PC) and you have a wide choice of phones (high- and low-end) from a variety of vendors. You also have a wide choice of hardware options—from high end servers with redundant power supplies, out-of-band monitoring to less expensive white boxes. You also can have a single box that is both phone switch and VM; with IP Office you still end up needing a dedicated PC for VM for anything but the smallest of systems.

For what it does (and there are feature advantages to both systems) the Asterisk system is easier for an end-user or casual administrator to administer. IP Office is probably easier for a highly trained, and dedicated administrator to configure.

With IP Office, you’re much more reliant on your business partner for administration, repairs and upgrade. There are some great BPs out there—but there are also some that are “not so great”. One of the challenges is qualifying your BP, as it appears that there are quality control issues (read this list, or even this thread. for comments on the topic) on BP certifications. If you can self-maintenance Asterisk with existing staff (it’s not that hard), in the end, the cost—purchase and ongoing maintenance—of IP Office will probably be higher. Probably a cost toss-up if you completely outsource maintenance for both systems.

Although we are generally satisfied with IP Office, if I had to do it again I would have gone with Asterisk. Keep up posted on what you end up doing.

 

[tlpeter]

Klubar, the ipo will be server based in the near future.
So then you can have a server with redundant power supply.

Basic ipo administration is simple once you have done it a couple of times.


BAZINGA!

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

 

[chaunymony]

Klubar, I disagree. I train all of our customers (that want it) to admin their own systems after install. Most of those tend to find the basic admin of the system easier than their older systems they come from and most I wouldn't consider very technical. I don't know too many people that, after initial installation, need to completely revamp the way their PBX works. A good BP and technician should have your system working exactly how you want it when they leave your job which then makes the admin changes after that very easy. It's a simple GUI with a great help section that, if people would actually do a little reading, can teach them anything they want to know about their system.

ACSS-SME
ACIS-SME

 

[klubar]

I agree that the basic admin for IPO is easy and the documentation (and help) is some of the best in the business. Stuff like adding a user or even admining VM is easy. My point was that you're still dependent on a BP for anything complex like licensing, hardware or upgrades, so you're still dependent on a relationship with a BP.

And to tipeter...is it official that IP Office will just run on standard PC hardware? If so, that's great because then we would have a lot more flexibility in hardware and be able to run everything on one box. Do you know what OS Avaya is going to use?

 

[amriddle01]

It will come as part of the Linux disc that has the apps on now

ACSS (SME)
APSS (SME)

http://www.ipoffice.tel

"I'm just off to Hartlepool to buy some exploding trousers

 

[chaunymony]

One disk to rule them all. . .

ACSS-SME
ACIS-SME

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

oh dear

ACSS - SME

 

[IPGuru]

Klubar
you may have a wider choice of suppliers & hardware for an asterix system but who do you turn to when (note when not if) something doesn't work as expected with something else?

I am a huge pusher of open source but would still want some kind of support if it was vital to my business (how do you think Red Hat make money on free software?)

I do not Have A.D.D. im just easily, Hey look a Squirrel!