Shoretel VoIP PBX question

[acaeti]

So a small business (~80 employees) I work for on the side is looking at getting a VoIP PBX to replace an aging Lucent Merlin/Magix PBX. This will coincide with a major wiring overhaul and some other stuff. There are a total of 60 phones needed.

Of course they forgot to ask their IT Consultant (me) about anything until just recently. The proposed system is a Shortel based on IP230 phones and two Shoregear 40/8 base units, along with a server to run their voicemail stuff (specs unknown, ye gods!). Quoted price, ~$40,000, without PoE switching.

That seems really high to me, and I back-of-the-napkin calculated a similar Asterisk/Druid system with Polycom phones at ~$25,000.

Anyone with experience with Shoretel and have opinions?

 

[p0lar]

Originally posted by: acaeti
So a small business (~80 employees) I work for on the side is looking at getting a VoIP PBX to replace an aging Lucent Merlin/Magix PBX. This will coincide with a major wiring overhaul and some other stuff. There are a total of 60 phones needed.

Of course they forgot to ask their IT Consultant (me) about anything until just recently. The proposed system is a Shortel based on IP230 phones and two Shoregear 40/8 base units, along with a server to run their voicemail stuff (specs unknown, ye gods!). Quoted price, ~$40,000, without PoE switching.

That seems really high to me, and I back-of-the-napkin calculated a similar Asterisk/Druid system with Polycom phones at ~$25,000.

Anyone with experience with Shoretel and have opinions?

Way out of line. You could easily have a Cisco CallMangler Express + Unity Express (CCME + CUE) setup that is relatively easy to maintain, easy to replace/restore/backup and trunk to other systems (IP or TDM), and well-supported for ~$25k, and that's including the NM-CUE-EC for voicemail, a 3825 IS (*) router and the proper DSPs, which leaves gobs of overhead should you wish to expand in the future. Oh, that also includes 60 phones @ $300 each, which is well beyond what many stations will need. (i.e. some will easily suffice with a 7912, etc..)

You should always have your entire phone system on a PoE switch when dealing with IP-based communications, especially when it is used for 911 or other emergency service dialing. As such, you really shouldn't factor that component into the equation since it is necessary in any circumstance.

* You could also use a Cisco 3725, which is an entirely capable platform as well for CCME. You'll be surprised with which the simplicity is to also add remote PBX extensions in other physical locations, an advantage the Cisco platform clearly has since it is not only simply a PBX, but also a fully-functional router.

 

[dphantom]

I would second p0lar's comments. The 28xx and 38xx IVR routers are excellent boxes on which to run CCM/Unity express. PoE is also a must as indicated and you should be able to get all that for less than the 40K Shoretel is quoting.

I would probably not use a 37XX class router simply because teh x8xx ones are so good for this application.

 

[cmetz]

acaeti, $40k for an 80-phone setup seems high these days. Especially for a VoIP system. I don't know much about ShoreTel, only that they're a smaller player and they originally private labeled Polycom IP 500 phones but now they're not.

Don't go with Call Manager Express and the whole ISR marketing line. If you want to go Cisco VoIP, that might be a totally reasonable option, but get the full blown Call Manager appliance. It's expensive, but if we're already comparing to $40k...

Asterisk is neat but most folks underestimate the man-time costs involved. It is not a mature enterprise-level product.

Also consider AltiGen.