Recommendations For New VOIP PBX And Voicemail System

[wbelk7777]

We currently have an Avaya Definity G3siV11 and an Intuity Audix LX Voicemail Server. We use about 75 phone lines, but may grow to 100 over the next 3-5 years. We are looking at purchasing a new Avaya VOIP PBX to replace the Definity G3. The G450 Gateway was recommended. We would also like to have better integration of our voice mail system. Two feature enhancements that we are looking for are:

1. To have voicemails pushed to our mailboxes and not having to setup POP3 in Outlook

2. To have the voicemails saved in MP3 format or another non-proprietary format that we can play on our computers and iPhones without the need to install a client.

Right now our voicemail server saves messages in Avaya’s proprietary format and we cannot even play them on our iPhones.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the G450 Gateway and recommendations for a voicemail solution (can be Avaya or 3rd party)?

Thank you for your help.

 

[jordy5535]

We use Mutare for voice-mail .wav file delivery of Audix messages. Works great (

http://www.mutare.com)

 

[jimbojimbo]

There are about a hundred other questions to ask but in general for your specific size the G450 may be adequate. If you are multi-site or looking for redundancy multiple G450's with both a primary S8300D server and S8300D local survivable processor (LSP) may be required. For higher reliability you would want to purchase the redundant power supply.

Although I'm all for features I like price better. The S8300 has the ability to be provisioned with Communication Manager Messaging co-resident. This keeps the price down. You can "push" your messages as wav files to Exchange using a couple of different third party products. Mutare is very nice but not the only option. Avaya Aura Messaging is another option but now you are talking separate servers and a big price increase.

You definitely want to look at the current "bundled" pricing and look at licensing for 100 users and compare it to upgrade pricing of 101 users (assuming you have 101 licenses on the existing system). Avaya still uses tiered pricing so it is typically cheaper to purchase 101 users versus 100 users. If you currently have DCS/QSIG you would be considered "Enterprise Edition". New licensing as "Standard Edition" would lower your maintenance bill and may actually have a better ROI unless you plan on integrating with an AES server and Unified Communciations. Then the number of users impacts the ROI model. Very complicated pricing structures.

You need to discuss this with your Business Partner. If these questions haven't come up you might want to get a second quote.