Multi Site IP Office, best option.

[stevietp]

We are based in the UK and are looking into an IP office solution. At first we are looking to connect a main HQ office with one satellite office, if this is successful we will be rolling the solution out to a number of small offices in the UK and some possible home workers. We have narrowed it down to two options.

1. An IP Office 406 in the main HQ with analogue handsets and IP phones in the satellite office.
2. An IP Office 406 in the main HQ with analogue handsets plus an IP Office 403 in the satellite also with analogue handsets.

We are going to use the Avaya Phone Manager, so basic telephones will be fine.

We will have an ISDN 30 in the main HQ, with all calls going through our single reception. We may add an ISDN 2 in the satellite office if needed at a later date.

At the moment the only link between the two buildings is an uncontended 2meg adsl link across our own MPLS network. Our provider is supplying us with QoS routers. We are looking into joining the buildings with a direct fibre cable, but this might not be possible.

I have a number of questions that you guys maybe able to help with. If we only have the one IP Office 406 with IP phones do we only need the one VCM, am I right that we will need 2 in the other option? As we will only have 256kps up to the other office, how many simultaneous calls can we have at good quality? Are we better to stick to normal handsets or to go down the IP handset route?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Morrack]

You are correct that option 1 needs only 1 VCM whereas option 2 requires 2 VCM cards. I wouldn't count on squeezing more than 3 calls down a 256k pipe at the same time personally. If that's all you have I would go with option 2 and put local trunks for dialing out in the satellite office. Then those 3 voip paths are only needed for branch to branch calls.

How far apart are the two offices? If they are a long distance call away from each other you will definatley want option 2. With option 1 if a worker in the satellite office calls his wife it will be a long distance call from HQ - even if physically his house is just down the street. Also (especially if you up your bandwidth) you can setup toll bypass with option 2, whereas you can't with option 1.

Peter