Which is the best PBX in the market?

[Jaydee2002]

I am looking for some advice.

We are looking into moving into a new building and as part of the project we need to buy a new PBX. What is the best PBX going around at the moment? are there any we should avoid?
We want a system that is going to be future proof and be easily exandable.

We need a system for arond 450 extensions of which 50 will be call centre agents. We would be interested in some sort of CTI solution as well.

Currently we use an MD110 at BC9 and we have had a look at upgrading to BC11 with solidus. This looks like a good product but I am not sure how it compares to other products.

Can anyone offer some advice or experiances they have had with Lucent definity, Meridian, Siemans Hi-com or anything else they would recommend.

We want somthing fairly state of the art, but we aren't ready to go all the way with VoIP yet. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

JD

 

[europe]

Follow these links, I would go for a Avaya DEFINITY

http://www.bcr.com/bcrmag/2002/04/p62.asp

http://www1.avaya.com/enterprise/solutions/convergence/eclips/

Please let me know if the information that was provided is helpfull.
Edwin Plat
A.K.A. Europe

 

[jeffmoss26]

go for the Inter-Tel AXXESS. the new software, version 6.0 is very advanced. it has a lot of IP and networking features available. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[heyitsthephoneguy]

I've been an Lucent \ Avaya Definity Admin for 4 years now...and it's been the best system I've ever worked on hands down.

 

[Jimcs]

I have been working with the Definity G3 family of pbx's for a lot of years and have had little spurts of experience with other vendors products. Everytime I have one of these little spurts I work very hard at getting the company to switch to the Definity or I switch. The product is very reliable and user friendly.

 

[vaoldschl]

I would suggest the Definity as well but I'm not quite as entrenched as the above. It's reliable in and of itself and Avaya offers scaled reliability options for redundancy, for those with basic telecom know how it's intuitive, the current release will give you the option to go VoIP (I believe it even gives you a couple of licenses so you can play for starters), and it's scalable.

Drawbacks I see with the system mostly stem from the support side of things. Avaya's maintenance plans are overpriced in terms of dollars for service level. My opinion is that Avaya is in the business of selling to customers your size but only interested in directly supporting the larger clients. My experience has been that they farm out day to day support operations to small interconnects who are more accustomed to working on Merlins and Partners.

These things are probably true no matter what vendor you look to for this type of thing and my advice whatever you do is to train a staff member to be your local support.

 

[pansophic]

Asking what the best PBX is on the market, is kind of like asking what the best car is on the market. There is no correct answer.

I have worked on many different PBXs, and all of them have good and bad aspects. If you maintain your own, and you already have experience with the MD110, then you are probably better off sticking with it. I worked on one site where we had an AT&T, InteCom and Rolm system all at the same time. It was difficult to support all of them, and we eventually standardized on the InteCom (probably not the best choice, but at least everyone knew how to work on what we had).

Most PBXs have programming interfaces that are far from intuitive, but now all of them have some GUI Windows application that will front-end for their command line interface, so the learning curve is much shorter for day-to-day moves, adds and changes.

I'd make a list of the things that your system does now that you feel that you must have, and then a wish list of what you'd like it to do. Then shop features. Your CTI application will probably drive your purchase, because all of the switches support user features like hold, forward, conference, etc.

And don't forget the support angle. If you don't maintain your own switch, you will need a local support office that can respond on your schedule.

Good luck!
pansophic

 

[Jaydee2002]

Thanks for the help!

I know the question is not an easy one to answer, however it is interesting to hear different oppinions. I am hearing alot of good things about the DEFINITY and will interested to check this out. However I have to say because of the experiance we have with the MD110, it will need to be somthing pretty special to change.

However we will wait and see........

Thanks again for your comments

JD

 

[executone]

I would check out Inter-Tel:

http://www.inter-tel.com/intertel/R...th=/Public/PublicHomePage&_webrRoot=/intertel

Do not forget Nortel Meridin product line.
Also there is Alcatel;

http://www.alcatel.com

Good Luck!!

 

[CustomPhoneGuy]

It depends on which Manufacturer you talk to. We are Mitel reps so I say look at the Mitel 3300 ICP for IP and TDM sets or the never destructable SX-2000 for TDM sets. If you have a call center then the Mite is your switch.

Good shopping and Happy Holidays.

Zig

 

[mitelman]

I'm in with Zig about the the Mitel Product. One of the advantages to the Mitel product is that they use an evolutionary platform in that they always allow upgrades in stages, instead of forklift upgrades. For example, if you were to purchase an SX-2000, you could easily throw all your TDM sets onto the MN3300ICP if you ever decided to upgrade to IP.

Also choice depends on were you live. Here in Canada it is usually Mitel or Nortel, amybe because they are home grown. There is some Avaya and NEC, but little else.

Check out Mitel's site

http://www.mitel.com

Simon

 

[acewarlock]

Nortel Meridian1 Options 11c though 81c, you can go from a small unit on the wall to a multi column floor mounted system.

My 2 cents worth

 

[phoneguru]

If price is a real consideration and you are fairly telecom savvy as far as maintneance Fujitsu is no longer making the F9600 but they are being supported by Avaya for a VOIP option to it. You should be able to get a good deal on a used one.

 

[tmisiak]

Do not pass up the IVX128+ system from ESI. This sounds like the best solution for you!!! You can go to

http://www.esi-estech.com

and view it and also find a reseller in your area Good luck...

 

[jerryreeve]

My biggest concern when i was in a position to be getting a phone system was "how often will i be calling the tech out to fix problems?" You can get a good idea from looking at the "mean time between failures" of the phone systems. each systems salesperson will tell you what the MTBF is for their phone system, they will also tell you what the MTBF is for their competitors. I would for the most part be very careful of the data that a salesperson tells me about their product but if you get competitor information from several phone sales people and compare them you will have a pretty good idea of how long it will be between visits from the tech (spell that as money and/or time). JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[CustomPhoneGuy]

Thank you MitelMan! Lets look at stock prices... actually don't look if you plan on buying Nortel or Avaya or Cisco or 3-Com...

Mitel wasn't first to market with IP but I have to say they certainly are shaking up the market place. The MN3300 software load is the same as the SX-2000. Further adding a Video Conferencing Server or the Call Center Server or the ever popular Voice Recognition Software makes this switch a phenominal value. Go to their website:

http://www.mitel.com

Look at those lovely sets... how special.

I have a Call Center going into a Not for Profit in Westport Connecticut consisting of 350 users and 20 work at home agents up and down the East Coast. Their concern was service and how often. Well we also sold them a 5 year maintenance contract so there goes the service aspect. We also trained them in MAC for Mitel! Ask for training for you and your IT/IS crew.

"One of the advantages to the Mitel product is that they use an evolutionary platform in that they always allow upgrades in stages instead of forklift upgrades." Very well stated Mitelman!

Happy Holidays and
Good Luck


Zig Fekete

 

[mitelman]

Hey JD!

Looks like your question got you a lot of answers. I hope that we haven't create too much confusion for you by suggesting our favourite product!


Simon

 

[Jaydee2002]

It certainly is a difficult choice! I am going to see Nortel, today and then Siemens and Avaya tomorrow and Friday. I then have to make the decision for Monday.....( no rush as you can see )

Anyway guys thanks for your help. I have a feeling that it will be a choice between MD110 ( which we already have ) or one of the above products.

For anyone who is interested I will post my choice on here and let you know why I decided to go with that product.


Many thanks,

JD

 

[Jaydee2002]

Ok guys one last quick question!
Siemens have come in with a very very competative price on a HiPAth solution? Nobody has mentioned Siemens HiPath?

Any thoughts?

Also I agree that the definity is an excellant product, but Nortel seem to be offering more for the same or even less cash? Is the meridian 61C a good option? one of my collegues things the Meridian is well crap? I thought it was good and they offered a lot of features, or I have just been given a good sales job?

 

[europe]

For me the DEFINITY is the choice by far... Please let me know if the information that was provided is helpfull.
Edwin Plat
A.K.A. Europe