Pros/Cons of IP Office

[SCANetAdmin]

I am seeking information on the Pro's and Con's of Avaya IP Office as a communications solution to a small office (75 phones approx.). I imagine the feed back I will get from you folks is all positive but, would like to read any critisism you might have. I am trying to contrast the Avaya IP Office and a full blown VoIP using Cisco equipment which is much more costly due to the equipment.
Thanks in advance,


Mr. Million

 

[IPGuru]

Pro. The IP Office is feature rich & extreamly flexible.
The Programming interface & structure is simple to understand.

Con. Due to deceptivly simple programming interface it is easy for inexperienced uses to mis configure & then incorrectly assume that ensuing problems are due to the system.

As I have no working knowledge of the cisco offering I would decline to comment on that platform.

The IPO in my opinion is ideal for an instalation of your size but as you predicted I am biased (I even paid for my one SOE for use at home!)

 

[bwilch]

I think if you really want a good overall feel for the IP Office, you can read through this forum. There are a lot of people whom have had various issues, and as IPGuru indicated, part of those issues can be related to user interface errors. However, there have been software bugs which users have had to work around. I am a believer in the IP Office, I think it is a good product and has a very wide niche to fit into.

We've installed a few of them and only had issues with one installation (which was hardware related). I've stuck with the 2.1 release of firmware and will continue to do so until things even out with the 3.x firmware though I do look forward to upgrading some of our clients in the near future for the additional features.

One last "feature" would be so far Aavya has not charged for any of the firmware upgrades. This isn't to say they won't in the future, but at least for now, added features and functions for free seem like a good thing.

You also have the ability to run the system as a "hybrid" not going full IP as I assume you will be required to with the Cisco system. This gives you a chance to move into the IP world at your own pace without having to replace your hardware.

 

[NuggiFirst]

For your company size, I would also go with tho IPO!

It's true that there's bug-problems, but to my knowledge this is also the case in the Cisco-camp.
Every up-front product has this struggle!

IP Guru has a big point about the "simple" interface. If you choose the IPO, then be sure to get an experienced installer, who can get you going. Then take over the maintenance at your own pace. My best installations has been handed over that way. On these installations I only experience minor issues.

When you have a good basic-installation, and you start to get creative, you can allways get good help in this forum ;-)

 

[VOiDDude]

Do you want to go 100% IP ? In that case I would prefer going to a S8300/G700 solution instead of IPO. If you consider taking digital phones I would go for the IPO.

Also look do not only look at the base platform but also at the "applications" that you will need such as voicemail, softphones, cti etc.

IPO -> hybrid, lots of features, cheap "applications", expensive and bad IP telephony.
CM -> hybird, all features, expensive "applications" but much more cheaper (compared to IPO) and best IP telephony solution.
Cisco -> IP only, excellent marketing, good IP telephony with no features.


FYI : I install and maintain Index, IPO, Avaya CM and Cisco CM.

 

[PeterXO1]

For your scale you are definitly better off with AVAYA IP Office. The main obstruction I see to the Cisco side is the over all price, both initially and for the support.

The Avaya has a better availability rate due to the lack of Cisco certified techs available to work with the phone side of their solutions.