[TriLUG] Asterisk for the office

Cristobal Palmer cristobalpalmer at gmail.com
Mon Nov 13 17:17:17 EST 2006


I have a Polycom 501 on my desk. My coworkers have the same phone.
Asterisk plays nice with SIP, so it works fine on that front.

The webmin is a bit clunky, but otherwise it's a great phone. The
speakerphone on it is _fantastic_, and it's cheaper than the
competition.

-CMP

On 11/13/06, Brian Henning <brian at strutmasters.com> wrote:
> I've been in touch with people at CDW, where we buy some of our
> enterprise-grade stuff (when we do buy such things).  They don't seem to
> offer the Cisco 79x0 phones, but their "telephony expert" suggested the
> Polycom 501/601 phones, as units that are reasonably easy to use and
> work well with Asterisk.  Does anyone have comments to make in favor or
> against the Polycom models?
>
> Cheers,
> ~Brian
>
> jonc at nc.rr.com wrote:
> > Brian,
> >
> > Asterisk is definitely enterprise ready but you have identified some of
> > the weak points below. Still, if you have a fairly static phone config
> > and just need basic phone apps, then Asterisk is easily do-able for the
> > average office.
> >
> > Paging is best done using an analog speaker system - which looks to
> > Asterisk like a simple Analog phone line. Other than that, you can use
> > the intercom feature available with Cisco 7940 or 7960 phones and just
> > setup a "conferencing" group that uses the intercom feature on all your
> > phones. It won't work perfectly, but it will work.
> >
> > If you think you need 24 lines then a PRI is the way to go. You'll get
> > CallerID and the cost is much cheaper for the setup and maintenance.
> >
> > If you go with POE switches, that will be more expensive than buying
> > power bricks for each phone, but you will get some nice honking Cisco
> > switching power that will vlan out your Voice traffic from your Data.
> > The cheaper solution is to get a Cisco 2924 XL-EN (that "EN" part is
> > *very* important) and bunch of power bricks. It cost would be about half
> > of that of going with a Cisco 3524-PWR
> >
> > The advantages of VoIP are tremendous, and installation is about half
> > the cost of a traditional service, but... it still ain't cheap.
> >
> > If you guys want an interrum solution (hosted VoIP), then look us up. We
> > would be happy to help you take you guys off your old PBX and move you
> > over to the world of VoIP. And if you need any Asterisk help, let me know.
> >
> > BTW: I've gotten several Kick-butt Asterisk servers from Cerient (Jason
> > Tower). The costs have all been around $2k (plus the Digium hardware),
> > and they would work great as and Enterprise Asterisk server for an
> > office of your size or larger.
> >
> > Jon Carnes
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Brian Henning <brian at strutmasters.com>
> > Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006 12:20 pm
> > Subject: [TriLUG] Asterisk for the office
> > To: TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
> >
> >> Hi Y'all,
> >>   Coming back around to the Asterisk topic again..  Now that we're
> >> looking at the possibility of expanding off-site operations, having
> >> a
> >> completely-VoIP office telephony solution is seeming more and more
> >> prudent.  So I'm looking for some advice from folks who have
> >> deployed
> >> whole-office systems using Asterisk (as well as input from folks
> >> that
> >> have used non-Open-Source software).  I've already thought of the
> >> following points:
> >>
> >> - Need a real butt-kicking server to handle as many as 24 inbound
> >> lines
> >> (using a Digium TDM2400), plus however many inter-office calls may
> >> be
> >> occurring (plus room for expansion).  Right now I'm contemplating a
> >> Core
> >> 2 Extreme-based system.
> >>
> >> - In the absence of intelligent managed switchgear, need separate
> >> switchgear for 100bT for the phones.  Possibly with PoE.
> >>
> >> - Need to have all the features of our existing PBX.  General
> >> call-handling features are a cinch with * dialplan and
> >> applications, but
> >> I'm finding, in particular, the "page" or "intercom" feature seems
> >> to be
> >> more of a challenge in the VoIP world.  Paging ability is essential.
> >>
> >> - Phones need to be simple enough that our folks can use them, but
> >> complex enough to handle things like paging.  I've seen
> >> recommendations
> >> for the Cisco 7960 set.  Price is a consideration, as our initial
> >> investment will be 30 phones.
> >>
> >> I'm also all-ears for other options.  It'd be fantastic in $boss's
> >> eyes,
> >> I'm sure, if we didn't have to abandon the investment we've already
> >> made
> >> in our current Nortel MICS system.  Unfortunately, so far the only
> >> way
> >> I've found to interface the PBX with an Asterisk system is via
> >> analog
> >> adapters.  Icky, because of course then you lose a lot of the PBX
> >> features for the Asterisk users.
> >>
> >> Also, if there's anyone that would like to come visit our facility,
> >> evaluate our current system and our needs and make a quote, I'd be
> >> very
> >> happy to entertain it.
> >>
> >> Thanks a lot!
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> ~Brian
> >> --
> >> ----------------
> >> Brian A. Henning
> >> strutmasters.com
> >> 336.597.2397x238
> >> ----------------
> >> --
> >> TriLUG mailing list        :
> >> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilugTriLUG Organizational
> >> FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> >> TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
> >>
>
> --
> ----------------
> Brian A. Henning
> strutmasters.com
> 336.597.2397x238
> ----------------
> --
> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
>


-- 
Cristobal M. Palmer
UNC-CH SILS Student -- ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer
TriLUG Vice Chair
"There are many roads to enlightenment, and thus many roads back to
the One True Debian" --crimsun



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