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How can Asterix PBX/IP be compared to vendors such as Avalla, Nortel?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. How can Asterix PBX/IP be compared to vendors such as Avalla, Nortel, Cisco, etc? How big Asterix PBX/IP can really grow as to the number of users? voice quality? etc.

A. There is virtually no limit to the number of users that can be supported via Asterisk. That said, Asterisk's scalability is, beyond a certain point, cumbersome. For organizations with the expertise to deal with these issues, this is a trivial matter, more than offset by the dramatic cost savings of this open-source solution. Voice quality is dependent on a number of factors, but all of those being equal, Asterisk will deliver voice quality as good as any other system. Asterisk is a software based solutions require skill in set up and maintanence. But the PBXs are made like commodity and needs minimum skill and expertise to set up and maintanence. As mentioned opensource require high tech support and it is costly. But Asterisk offer features and facility far ahead of any PBX. The scalability, quality etc,, are very good for Asterisk and only you need to add more hardware resources. The development in Asterisk going on for embedded linux etc to make the system simple. I didn't miss the point at all. The level of experience needed to run a PBX is quite a bit less than that needed to put up with the same thing cobbled up on a linux box. All too often those interested in preaching about the 'savings' of things like open source fail to appreciate the entire range of actual costs to the organization. Yes, a place that already has a PBX expert on staff might well also be able to handle the added burden of cobbling up a linux box. But I'd argue that's not common enough to make it a better deal for most companies looking for a brainless-to-operate PBX that just 'works'. You are making a number of assumptions, after the fact, to justify your position. Given those assumptions, your argument is valid. Nevertheless, it remains true that, given staff of adequate skills, Asterisk can be deployed in the PBX role at substantial savings over traditional hardware. Indeed, for the money I'd save over an Avaya system with similar capabilites, I could train my PBX-boy or network admin to expert level on Asterisk, or hire a consultant to do the work, and still have tens of thousands of dollars left over. "Just works" is my yardstick as well, when it comes to systems that are as vital as telephony is to most organizations. Asterisk reached that point some time ago. Set up on proper hardware, by someone who knows what she's doing, it is easily the equal of anthing the traditional PBX vendors have to offer, and exceeds them in many areas.

 


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