Hardware/Software recomendations

Asterisk Asterisk General
1

I work at a small company that’s currently using an old (end of life’d) Shoretel phone system and is looking for a cost effective replacement.

Management wants to stay with analog phones (They aren’t keen on VOIP, even though the Shoretel uses a combination of VOIP and analog).

They’re also not completely sold on using Open Source software.

Oh, and they want it in place within a month :laughing:

We currently have 6 POTS lines and ~20 analog extensions but will probably need triple that in the next year.

Given management concerns and the short time line a pre-built system with commercial support would be the ideal solution though I am a senior unix systems/network engineer and could build it myself.

I’m thinking we’d need an Asterisk server plus a couple high-density (12-24 port) analog switches to start with.

I have until Tuesday morning to present the options to management.

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Duane

2

I have good luck with the Rhino Channel banks. You could get one Full FXS (24 analog ports) and one modular unit for your FXO ports and upgrade it as needed. I would also suggest getting a 4 port T1 card as running more than 1 card in a system can cause issues and you already know that there plans to expand so might as well just get it now.

The Rhino works well with Asterisk and its fully supported. There tech support was excellent both pre and post sale. I had one small issue configuring mine and they answered the phone right away and were able to help me get my setup working great.