Richard,
> I agree that I'm suffering from implementation hassles. That was (partly) my
> point, though - to claim equivalence, VoIP should reproduce PBX
> implementation.
I really didn't want to say this directly and I definately want this
statement to be considered a general statement, not referring to your
specific implementation or implementors. It is not the technology at
fault here, it is the fact that the openness attracts cowboy and
corner-cutting implementations. Traditional telephony has many, many
years of experience under its belt and the implementation market is
somewhat closed (i.e. you can't do it without being accredited by the
vendor).
> But out in the corporate real-world, VoIP can't claim equivalence if it
> needs three times the PBX staff for three times the time, plus constant care
> and feeding forever. Set-and-forget is the PBX rule.
The resourcing you use for an implementation is dependent on the value
you expect out of the end product. If you expect to get three times
the value, then there's really no problem having three times the staff
to implement.
Like any serious implementation, a PBX or VoIP installation needs to:
a) use the appropriate product(s),
b) have an appropriate architecture,
c) be correctly sized,
d) have sufficient resilience (redundancy, clustering, whatever), and
e) be appropriately implemented (level of planning, testing, etc)
to meet the business needs.
When all of these are met, then the outcome should be appropriate.
However, when all of these are met, your simple cost justification is
often no longer sound (at least for some organisations with current
products).
There are VoIP systems that can be implemented as set-and-forget (or at
least close to the way some traditional PBXs can). They're just not
the simple, cheap ones.
Our PBX implementation was not a small, simple job. I don't expect
anything different on serious VoIP implementations either.
> [BTW: This refers not to the home user making an Internet call, but to the
> "hey, ditch the PBX and get IP phones instead" pitch.]
Yep.
rik.
--
~ Specialists in IT Infrastructure ~
* Managed Services * Consulting * Product Supply & Support *
Rik Harris The Fulcrum Group of Companies
Chief Technology Officer Level 8, 628 Bourke Street
ph: +61-3-8601-6100 Melbourne VIC 3000
fx: +61-3-8601-6199 Australia
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