Finance Q&A

Help choosing small office phone system ?

Q. We have a one man physicians office with a 20 year old NEC 6/16 phone system which is on its last legs. We want to replace with a new system incorporating voice mail, automated attendant etc. We don't need a system that is too complicated or confusing. We have 4 lines and 10 extensions. We have had presentations of various small office phone systems including NEC Aspire S, Avaya Partner ACS, Nortel Compact ICS , ESI-IVX56s, and Infinite Mach1. Anyone familiar with these systems?? Any suggestions for other systems?? Some systems are capable of VOIP---is that necessary or desireable??

A. I'm still partial to Panasonic KXT systems for the ability to have single or multi-line sets in the exam rooms. The TAW-848 is going to fit in that $3500-4500 price range and another $1K gets you a couple of cordless phones to roam around the office. I like the VM and integration on the ESI system. The ACS will let you mix single and multi-line sets like the Panasonic. I know nothing about the NEC, but if it's built as well as your old 616 and your vendor gave you good service it might be the ticket. CICS is probably at the top of the price :-). The Infinite is made by??? and what did they do with the last 4 systems they sold in the last 10 years? PS I know who makes/sells Infinite The 4 MD'd systems are Starplus/Starplus Digital/DHS all MD'd since 2/98 or 2/99 to present. They had some sort of excuse of parts....but I think they're pushing Triad and STS this year. The magic of VOIP is when you have multiple office locations to connect together. Without that, a small PABX will do you just fiine. Who's systems and at what prices are you seeing? Voip is often less expensive than traditional Key/PBX systems, and much more flexible, especially if you you a linux system to manage the whole affair. VoIP systems should cost less because most of the software was already written and is free on the internet, if you are a suavy linux/unix aministrator. If you are a windows type, then yes VoIP is just another rip_off courtesy of Redmond_Wa. using google to search with keywords: sip hardware linux: http://www.google.com/search?q=sip+hardware+linux&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8 http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7380 ought to get your whisle wet with anticipation....

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