Simone wrote:
Hi list,
I am in the process of setting up Asterisk for a new office and since
this is going to be my first "real" installation I'd appreciate some
advice on the hardware from the real world. We will have 8 channels
(still not sure if 4xISDN2 or ISDN30 8 channels, but I will definitely
go for a Digium card with echo hw cancelation) and a DSL 2mbit line (QoS
on the switch and firewall?), to be configured for both traditional and
VoIP usage . I was looking at the Xorcom TS-1 server and I was wondering
if you would recommend it for a 30 employees office or if you'd rather
build it on a "normal" server (would a double PIII 1Ghz be enough), and
also if you could give a suggestion on the phones (we will get an HP
Gbit switch PoE).
Thanks, any hint really appreciated
Would suggest digging around the wiki as there really is a lot of useful
info that would help you.
I don't have any isdn stuff, so can't comment on that.
QoS on the switch in a small office is not likely to do anything useful.
It may help some on the firewall, but it really only impacts outbound
packets, not inbound. A rather inexpensive way around all that is to
simply implement a second dsl link used only for voip.
The size of the * box is more oriented around number of simultaneous
calls and other apps running on the box. E.g., if the 30 employees
never place a call, a 600 mhz processor will be just fine. ;)
As I recall (which leaves accuracy questionable), several people have
implemented a basic * system on old 600 mhz boxes. However, a call
center with lots of call recording functions (etc) and high call volumes
may require the largest/fastest processor money can buy.
There is no magic list comparing sip phone quality, features, etc. Lots
of reasonably good comments on the wiki, but that's about it. Lots of
"opinions", but keep in mind that what one person with soho-only
experience considers good is highly likely to be rated poor by someone
that supports a large corporate environment. Interpretations of
"quality" varies dramatically based on each person's experience level.
An individual in a less developed country might consider a softphone on
a PC high quality (compared to their existing telephony infrastructure),
but another person in a more well developed country would not use a
softphone in production if their life depended on it.
For sip phones, I'd suggest starting with identifying some basic
requirements and go from there. For example, if you don't want to do any
additional cat5 cabling, using a phone with two rj45's (internal
ethernet switch) might be a requirement. Is speakerphone capability
needed? How many extensions are truly needed at each desk? Is intercom
paging required (to individual sip phones)? Is the key system emulation
of a busy lamp field required? Is PoE truly required? If the answer to
just those questions are a mandatory yes, you've just eliminated about
80% of the sip phones on the market.
I'd expect you to find a need for two or three different types of phones
somewhat oriented around high-quality (exec types), medium (average
office worker), and lower quality (break rooms or occasional user).
And, don't overlook the differences between key systems and pbx's. If
your customer is accustomed to an existing key system, they are likely
to be very disappointed with a pbx unless you spend a fair amount of
time up front educating the employees and managing expectations (way
before deployment).
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