This site has a comparison chart which includes Asterisk Business Edition, Fonality, SwitchVOX as well as proprietary solutions. It's not exactly apples to apples and I question the prices they came up with but it's the best I've found so far. They have 2 or 3 other comparison charts and some good whitepapers as well. http://www.voip-news.com/whitepaper/pdf/small-business-cpe-pbx.pdf
_____ From: Byron Pile [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 6:22 PM To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk Once I get a better idea of what the telecom here provides in their contract it might be easier to see what I should include in the Asterisk based system. Is switchvox a proprietary system? Or are they based on Asterisk? They don't mention asterisk on the site anywhere. I've also noticed Digium offers a support service plan. Perhaps this with an estimated initial setup cost would be a good comparison to the telecom offering. I really want to highlight the flexibility and also feature set of Asterisk. Thanks again for your comments! _____ > Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:34:22 -0400 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk > > The bottom line is that you will save money or at the very least, over > the course of a year or two, break even. Considering some proposals I > did on NEC IPK systems several years ago, an eight port conference > bridge card was $5,000, another $5,000 for an eight port VoIP card MGCP, > $3,000 for a four port voicemail card, add some other feature and you > get the point. Also, support contracts were something to the tune of $4 > per port per month, that includes all ports (concurrent voicemail access > + phones + PSTN + conference bridges). So lets say that "whatever" > company has 4 FXO, 16 FXS, and 4 voicemail, that is a total of 24 ports > X $4 = $96/mo X 12mo = $1,152 and that only included very specific limits. > > This is all free in Asterisk. You could purchase a Switchvox (or some > other turnkey) system pretty cheaply, have all of those costly add-on > features included, they offer support via SSH and over the phone, and > with IP, MACs are a breeze. A low level A+ tech can do it, unlike a > traditional system where a telephone guy has to come out with a butt > set, toner, and punch down tool. Most proprietary systems are not > exactly easy to program even in a "Turnkey" solution. > > You have many variables to look at but I think that your paper will be a > very interesting look into a paradigm shift. > > Thanks, > Steve > > Byron Pile wrote: > > I was going to assume that yes, there are Linux people on staff and > > that they could be taken away to set up and support asterisk. But > > because I was comparing it to a turnkey solution that most likely is > > including service as part of the contract, comparing it to a similar > > contract based asterisk setup makes more sense. However, I guess when > > starting this I was hoping to eliminate "license" fees from the open > > source solution, but if I'm using a small company, I think its more > > realistic to assume they don't have a support department ready to > > devote man hours to an asterisk system when they were using a turnkey > > solution before. > > > > Thanks for clarifying the handsets, I was considering using SIP phones > > in the case study, but thought it might be possible to "reuse" some > > existing equipment. This is also a technology upgrade in this case. > > > > I was going to assume that the workers were just as productive as > > before, but the ROI would come mostly from reduction in operating > > costs (hopefully). If they don't have any "linux people" on staff, > > this makes it harder to include some of the open source benefits like, > > fixing bugs, adding features and the other flexibility that Asterisk > > would provide over using the Norstar. > > > > Thanks for the response Steve, I have more research to do obviously! > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk > > Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:59:03 -0500 > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To: [email protected] > > > > For several varying quotes, one could go to www.buyerzone.com > > <http://www.buyerzone.com/> and put in exactly what you > > specified. You will get several vendors proposing different > > systems, prices, and most importantly, service contracts. It does > > cost each vendor about $25 dollars to buy your "lead" so be aware > > that you are costing them money by doing this. Whether or not > > that is ethical, is your decision. I am just pointing out that > > "one could do it". Make sure to include that you need a > > conference bridge that can handle unlimited callers, also > > unlimited voicemail ports, support SIP, and also consider > > scaling. That should freak them out. > > > > > > > > Does "whatever" company have people on staff that know Linux and > > have time to learn and support Asterisk? What is the cost of > > taking them from what they usually would be doing to work on the > > Asterisk system? > > > > > > > > I would suggest going with SIP phones and a four port FXO board. > > You could run both systems side by side until you are ready to cut > > over and then just switch your four POTs lines. > > > > > > > > Most proprietary systems use digital sets so you cannot use a > > mutiport FXS board. I have used proprietary handset gateways such > > as Citel and my person experience was very very poor. > > > > > > > > How much ROI is going to depend on increased worker productivity > > which is fairly hard to figure out and also ongoing average costs > > of MACs (cost of Moves Adds Changes) as well as support contracts. > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > Steve Totaro > > http://www.asteriskhelpdesk.com > > KB3OPB > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of > > *Byron Pile > > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:28 PM > > *To:* [email protected] > > *Subject:* [asterisk-biz] case study on switching to Asterisk > > > > > > > > I thought the biz list was most appropriate for this. Hope I'm not > > wrong! > > > > I'm trying to write a term paper on adopting an open source > > solution over a commercial solution and comparing the cost. > > Specifically if a legacy system is in use already, when will the > > initial investment of hardware for an asterisk based system pay > > off against the licensing fees of a proprietary system. After > > reading a good chunk of the free Asterisk book "Asterisk:The > > Future of Telephony" I think that Asterisk is an excellent topic > > for the paper. > > > > I'm new to telephony stuff so bear with me if my questions are a > > bit dumb, I've tried to do quite a bit of research and reading > > before posting to the mail lists. So my idea was to use the fake > > company "whatever" and they have 15 telephones and are currently > > using a Norstar ICS with 4 incoming lines and 15 internal lines > > and I would like to switch this over to an asterisk based system. > > > > The reason for choosing the Norstar as this is a turnkey solution > > provided by a large local telecom so I will be able to get some > > pricing information for them fairly easily and I think it does > > what a 15 telephone small office might need...I'm open to a better > > suggestion if the Norstar is a poor choice. > > > > My quick questions are...is it possible that the handsets being > > used with a Norstar could be converted and used with the Asterisk > > system? (a bit of asset recovery) > > > > A system consisting of a suitable linux server running Asterisk > > and a Digium TDM2441B PCI Card 16FXS / 4FXO would be a suitable > > replacement and could deliver the same performance/functions as > > the Norstar system? > > > > I'm going to try and be as thorough as possible in assessing the > > costs in switching to this system. The most obvious being some new > > hardware, but also, downtime, training, support costs, contract > > penalties (if there are any) etc....But this is a term paper and a > > highly hypothetical situation. And I know my questions are a bit > > general, but the paper will probably be kept quite general. I hope > > I can learn more about this cool app! > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > Live Search Maps - find all the local information you need, right > > when you need it. Find it! > > <http://maps.live.com/?icid=wlmtag2&FORM=MGAC01> > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > i'm making a difference. Make every IM count for the cause of your > > choice. Join now! > > <http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwme0080000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://im live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=wlmailtagline> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- > > asterisk-biz mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz _____ Your friends are close to you. Keep them that way. <http://spaces.live.com/signup.aspx>
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