On Jan 28, 2008 10:53 AM, Edwards, David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Asterisk looks promising and seems to be well supported by the OSS community.
A guy at the local LUG (Linux User Group) put on a demo of Asterisk a year or two ago. I was very impressed. It had features a lot of proprietary systems can only dream about. Full web GUI, including real-time caller ID display and drag-and-drop call transfers. The ability to ring a call at multiple stations, including OPX (mobile phone, etc.) and then transfer the call to the first answered station, or to VM if no answer. Custom routings, greetings, menus based on caller ID (e.g., send important client to all extensions, unknowns to a separate voice mail box, family to personal cell). Integration with SugarCRM, so that customer info is tied in with the call logs, click-to-call functions, etc. The guy demoed it with some Cisco phones along with an ATA gateway connected to a POTS phone, and a couple cell phones. The guy did say there was a moderately steep learning curve -- some quality time with the manual is needed, to learn about how to write call routing tables and the like. So it isn't point-and-drool for non-trivial installations. However, having had to learn how to program various key phone systems, I can say that proprietary systems are the exact same way. Worse, actually -- they don't even want to give you the manuals. As others have said, don't forget to consider your own time and effort in the cost/benefit math. Asterisk is only free if your time is worthless. But then, Cisco/Nortel/etc. have the same problem, and aren't free any which way. I expect *my* ideal approach would be paying an outside consultant to handle initial installation and configuration, and then I would only have to handle ongoing maintenance and changes. And that depends almost entirely on the quality of the consultant/vendor one uses. YMWV (your millage *will* vary). -- Ben ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
