> I know there are people using Asterisk in NZ for that sort of thing. > > 8 POTS extensions (lines?) doesn't seem like a lot for 150 extensions > (1:18.75)
That is extensions, pager modems, dial-out points for consultants, support connections for telemetery systems.. We have a dual channel primary rate with 40 lines enabled on one site, and a secondary feed to a second nortel PBX with a single channel and 8 channels. 2 consoles, and average 180 inbound calls an hour 8:30-5 weekdays. (DDI and pilot) > You are up for a wad going with an OSS solution too really. The handsets are > the killer. At around $250-$300 a handset that's near $40k - assuming you > need handsets. Yeah, dedicated handsets for an PBX are that sort of money anyway, the high spec ones we currently use a few of are over $500. > You'd also want either a highly redundant server or multiple redundant boxes > to handle that many handsets, depending of course on how critical the phone > system is to the business. So there's another $5-$10k You've obviously never seen a Nortel BCM PBX. They are a standard ATX form factor motherboard running embedded NT or Linux with some special cards to handle Codec conversion in hardware and ISDN etc. Nothing flash. It's not until you get up to meridian scale PBX gear from Nortel it has anything that even looks vaguely redundant. Medium sized PBX's (250 or less extensions) seem to be going the PC M/B way. Must save a truck load in development. I think some money perspective is in order. Two current tech proprietary IP solutions I've looked at for this have been in the order of $180-$200k. No pun intended, you're quite often talking telephone numbers when you price phone systems. But, they are important to the function of any business, and as an IT person you can really limit your career if you get the phones wrong! :-) Cheers, Me.
