It depends... for a mid-sized organization (multi-site, under ~10,000 users), the Shoretel system is very impressive and priced well. It offers analog and IP phone connectivity, pretty much any trunking you need, and can easily be configured with to eliminate single points of failure.
They've been around for some while - the current offering is 4th generation hardware, but have maintained compatibility with all hardware up till the current software release. They are dropping the oldest hardware with the next revision.
They have very good Outlook integration and Windows desktop integration.
www.shoretel.com
And, while I was trained on them and on other systems, I don't sell or install any IP phone systems these days, so no personal interest. My current employer is using Mitel IP phones (seem to work OK, but no desktop integration / softphone here), and looking at the Cisco phones.
Links:
http://www.shoretel.com
I assume you're interested only on complete turn key solutions, but there is better price performance (and a whole other set of down-sides) in a OpenSource based VOIP system.
Basing your system around Asterisk or OpenPBX and putting together your own hardware package (using standards based phones from any of dozens of manufacturers) and standard WinTel server hardware you can get something with a lot more power at a much lower cost than if you went with a proprietary system.
Of course it's a lot more work.
Depends on what you're looking to use it for. :)
If you already have an existing phone system and are looking to add VoIP, it's often easiest to go with that vendor's solution. For instance, we have an Avaya phone system, and adding VoIP to it was trivial, and makes for a nice, clean solution.
If you're going with an all-new system, I would tend to go Cisco over Avaya or Nortel. Both Avaya and Nortel make it rather difficult to interop with third-party systems; with Cisco, it's pretty simple.
As someone else mentioned, there's always the open-source solution, such as Asterisk or it's for OpenPBX. There are also many vendors that package these solutions up for you - ie, trixbox. If you don't mind the learning curve, these offer the most flexible solutions.
Depends on what you're looking to use it for. :)
If you already have an existing phone system and are looking to add VoIP, it's often easiest to go with that vendor's solution. For instance, we have an Avaya phone system, and adding VoIP to it was trivial, and makes for a nice, clean solution.
If you're going with an all-new system, I would tend to go Cisco over Avaya or Nortel. Both Avaya and Nortel make it rather difficult to interop with third-party systems; with Cisco, it's pretty simple.
As someone else mentioned, there's always the open-source solution, such as Asterisk or it's for OpenPBX. There are also many vendors that package these solutions up for you - ie, trixbox. If you don't mind the learning curve, these offer the most flexible solutions.
Adding to the open source option, you can now get asterisk implemented for you on an appliance [standard Wintel hardware] with the freePBX open source from www.trixbox.org. I think the box runs about $1200 ready to go and will easily manage a small-medium size business load [up to about 250 concurrent calls] with all the feature sets of the big systems from Avaya et al.
There are definitely plusses and minuses to going the astreisk route but our experience has been that the balance is _heavily_ in favor of the benefits.
IP based telephony for quality delivery definitely CISCO call Manager i.e. IPCC Enterprise. However it is very expensive and the design solution of IPCC for a redundant environment is too complex i.e. many dependancy e.g. peripheral gateway, VG, Queue Manager, Admin workstation etc. This solution is recommended in the high quality dependacy environment e.g. remote technical call centres.
Avaya is one of the best competetior for CISCO IPCC cost wise and solution wise. However, Avaya is a traditional TDM based solution. So competing with CISCO in the IP Telephony env. is a little challenging. Avaya is best solution for general call centres and the redundant solution is less expensive as compred to CISCO IPCC.
N.B. ---- The above statements are my own personal statements and not subjected to any legal implication
I implement open source IP telephony solutions for a living so I certainly have my bias here. I have performed implementations for companies with as few as 5 employees and for corporations with 500 employees. Asterisk, OpenSER and other open source telephony platforms are both powerful and affordable. However, just like their proprietary brethren, these systems require planning and expertise to implement properly.
The short of it is that the technology is only about 60% of work associated with a telephony platform change. The softer services of design, training, documentation and the like are as important as the technology you choose.
I hope this is helpful
Links:
http://www.asterisk.org
http://www.openser.org
http://www.sheltonjohns.com
In my opinion if you really want to gain the best solution you need also to consider Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise solution.
It's cost effective and standard-open interface PBX which stands for one of the most worth office-functionality PBX.
OmniPCX Enterprise is a dauther of OmniPCX 4400 and if You want to have IP telefony only medium is changing - all functionality gained during all years of developing PBX functionality stays - the convergence is on high level.
To get prices You should call one of business parter of Alcatel-Lucent.
Technically I give them high mark.
I have to agree with most people here. Your solution depends on the needs. We use Fonality which is based on the Asterisk solution many mentioned above; however, their solution is coupled with remote support as well. We were originally on a Nortel solution, but ran into difficulty and expansion issues which is what drove us away from them. Cisco and Avaya were just way too costly for our small business needs. Fonality's service and price were much easier to swallow and provide us more expandability, capacity, and features than any of the solutions we looked at from Nortel, Cisco, and Avaya. In addition, after using them for almost a year, I can honestly give them a thumbs up approval (no, I don't work for them nor do I represent them in any way! :)
As a user, I loved using the ShoreTel system when I worked there. I definitely miss it. Great Call Manager, integrated voice and e-mail, easy add-in conference calling, really cool phones. Definitely best suited for the mid-market from 50-3000 nodes. One thing to consider is total cost of ownership. Consider whether the phone system requires a "forklift upgrade," the ease of service, its remote management capability. It's also important to consider the applications you want to run. Does it make the most sense to run them from your computer desktop or from the phone itself? Security, wireless capability and interoperability with other types of phone systems are considerations as well.
Mier Communications and Tolly Group are two excellent testing and evaluation resources for IP telephony systems.
Links:
http://www.shoretel.com
http://www.miercomm.com
http://www.tollygroup.com
As always, your answer is "it depends." When considering things like "what do I have already?" "Do I have to forklift anything? If I have to forklift anything, how much do I get to keep?" "Can I use some or all of the technology I have already purchased?" At this level of the game it boils down to support for the product. Each company will tell you that they are "#1" in just about every category.
First, always serve the customers needs. If you have a Greenfield opportunity, then all three companies are consistent leaders in their own right. A proprietary protocol is "marketecture" that locks you into one vendor or another, so "standards based" is very important. That said, I think you get a better TCO with Avaya and Nortel. More power (options – “in the skin”) with less equipment to manage than Cisco. Also, with Cisco, you have a choice VOIP or VOIP. With Avaya and Nortel, you the option of running VOIP where it makes the most sense. Being able to use the cards from one system to another is quite cost effective!
Texas E911 is using Avaya because of its flexibility as well as a high availability design. It also incorporates a disaster recovery in what known to them as Enterprise Survivable Servers (ESS). Thus, allowing for options for call control when a main location goes down.
Cisco, however, is very forward thinking and has recently purchased Webex - the “leader” in subscription based conferencing. Tune in to see how this will play out. Every one of the "leaders" (you mentioned in your question) uses Webex and have for years! I know that Avaya still uses them even though they have their own "Meeting Exchange" conferencing solution (previously Spectel). Cisco has also designed a platform whereby you can operate room lighting and video conference (called “Telepresence”) controls through a desktop phone (as one of the choices). …VERY cool (a technical term)! Their video solution is very high end and integrates with the Call Manager.
SIP integration is important as well. I know that Avaya has the ability to run the standards based SIP across their platform and can run SIP phones from other vendors like Cisco because it is a standards based protocol. They also conspired with Microsoft to for an IM / IP Phone / Desktop integration. Really, who hasn’t?
We had not even talked about things like Unified Communications, Desktop integration, "Presence," IP Softphones, Contact Center, CRM, etc!
Bottom line:
If there is existing infrastructure, serve the customer first by using what there so they can preserve their very expensive investments.
- Customers who have Avaya - sell Avaya
- Customers who have Nortel - sell Nortel
Greenfield: I give Cisco the edge, though truthfully, you cannot go wrong with any of the 3 (Avaya, Nortel, Cisco).
- Greenfield Contact Center (almost any size) – Avaya or Genesis
I no longer work for Avaya (I have been laid off since October), but I truly believe in their products because I have used them with great success and can share the many end users (large corporations like Continental Airlines) who believe as well. It was my job to be able to assist in “FUD development” for competitive situations with my business partners. I submit to you that they are “one” of the best 3 who make the IP Telephony experience useful and productive.
Is Avaya the best? It depends!
In the end it's up to you to serve your customer as you would have them serve you - do the right thing!
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