Asterisk Appliance or do it MYSELF?

Hey all,

I am kind of a noob on this topic, but my boss put me in charge of implementing a VOIP solution for some new internal IP phones. My question is whether I would be better off buying the Asterisk Appliance or simply buying a card and installing it on a box and configuring it myself.

Now I am proficient in Linux and believe I could implement this, though is it smarter to go with the Asterisk Appliance because of the support that comes with it and the fact this is going to be placed in a professional environment. I cannot have it going down every two minutes, this has to be dependable.

As for the requirements of either option. It will need to have 2 to 4 analog lines and 10 to 20 IP phones connected with ability to use extensions and possibly connect to the existing internal phone network.

I am still reading up on all this stuff and googling around, though thanks for any information or experience you can offer.

I’d recommend the Appliance if your using it in a company environment. As good as setting it up on a 1u server with Linux and a Digium card can be, if you want something rock solid and with support when you need it (not off a forums while your co-workers are screaming at you to get their phones up) i’d go for the appliance.

Chris. C.

Thanks for the input. I will consider that as a good reason, though the scalability still worries me.

Running your own box and knowing asterisk would be the best way to go. You also say that you know linux so it should not be an issue for you. However it does take a bit of time to learn the ins and outs of asterisk and VOIP. If you can I would tell you to play with asterisk for a bit and set up a system. The support out there for asterisk is real good. You have this forum, the email lists as well as irc. If you need a quick solution then get the asterisk appliance.