Ok, basically, I'm putting together a budget for our move to a new building (across the street ), and one of the things I'll need is a phone switch. Our current Panasonic system is quite lacking in the features. What I was looking at is going with something along the lines of the 3-Com NBX 100. I need something that one person (which will be me) can manage, and this, being network based, looks like exactly that.

Now, the company I worked for previously sold the Cisco Collaboration Suite (formerly WebLine), and I know that Cisco offers switches with a lot more functionality, but we just don't have the budget for something like that.

Anyway, any of you out there have any ideas I should take into consideration, or just basic comments? I tend to value the opinions of the people on this board, so I would rather ask here than call around and talk to sales people that are going to want to talk my ear off.

Do you need a PBX or a star system? That is, are your phone lines going to be multiple POTS lines or one or more T1-type lines?

Edit: Also, personally, I'd be more inclined to go with a phone company's product, like Nortel, Lucent, Siemens/Rolm, etc., rather than with someone like 3Com. Those other companies have a solid track record for near 100% uptime. 3Com, etc. are based in the computer industry, which doesn't have as solid a track record in that area. Of course, you're likely to pay more for a real telecom product. I've often purchased used stuff that works just fine.

And, personally, I've never used a phone system that was as good, from an end-user point-of-view, than the Rolm phones. Never administered one, though, so I don't know how difficult it would be, but I can't imagine it would be any more difficult than any other.

Plus, any of them will be fairly easily networkable. All the telecom ones will work off of a dumb terminal, so just attach that to a serial port on a networked computer and ssh/telnet into it for access.

Being that the building isn't complete yet, that is still up in the air. We currently have POTS lines (6 of them), and since I don't think we'll need many lines (most likely won't go above 12), we'll probably stick to that. However, in the long run, it all depends on cost. We are already getting a full T-1 dedicated for data. I don't think we'd be justified getting another T-1 for phone lines. And, splitting the current one isn't an option.

Of course, I'm no telecomm expert, so feel free to trample all over my words.

Good point about going with a phone company who is already established. I have worked with Nortel and Lucent switches and always found them to be quite easy to administer. Taking the budget into consideration, our size, and predicted growth, I believe we will be sticking to under 50 extensions and no more than 12 outside lines. Which, as far as I've seen, is most certainly on the small side for a Nortel or Lucent switch, and therefore overkill for our application.

Well, most telecom ones are modular, so you could go from having multiple POTS lines to using a T1 by adding or swapping a module. Voice mail is usually implemented the same way. As you can probably tell from my previous post, I'm a little biased against new entrants into the field, as I just don't trust them. On the other hand, I've had very little experience with them, and I could be totally wrong. Also, I think that VoIP is a bad idea, and it seems that most of these new entrants want to head in that direction. So there is some bias there.

However, I imagine that the admin UI for the new ones is probably about a thousand times easier to use than the UIs for any of the older systems. They're mostly still based on the idea that the tech would be controlling the whole thing from a touch-tone phone, and, as such, the commands are more oblique than any Unix system. (That is, for example, ``vi'' for an editing command is the height of clarity as compared to most PBXs' commands.) But again, I could be wrong about that. I know for a fact that Nortel has implemented a Windows UI over the top of their PBXs that translate and execute commands for you after you use a more obvious interface, but it's Windows only, and not inherently networkable, so you'd have to use PC Anywhere or VNC or something to make that work from your desk -- not that that's a horrible option.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd look at real telecom equipment first, including used stuff (most dealers I've used will sell you both new and used), and, then, if the price is prohibitive, or the interface too obscure, then go with the new stuff.

However, if you do go with the new stuff, let me know how it works. I'd be interested in suggesting it if it's as solid as old stuff.

Both Nortel and Lucent make small ones. And they're usually expandable, either by adding an additional cabinet or trading up through your dealer. These systems are still sold in the same manner as mainframes were.

However, I imagine that the admin UI for the new ones is probably about a thousand times easier to use than the UIs for any of the older systems. They're mostly still based on the idea that the tech would be controlling the whole thing from a touch-tone phone, and, as such, the commands are more oblique than any Unix system.

Yes, most (if not all) of the newer systems have a web interface, and/or a full GUI (Java, Windows, etc). And, I wouldn't even mind going with an older, used system because I have worked with them before, and the command line isn't really as annoying as others make it out to be. Reminds me a lot of being on a BBS back in the early 90's .

I do think you're right though. I'll have to seriously look at going with a Lucent or Nortel (used, if I have to). After the work I did with a Lucent a year ago, I quite like the way they work, and was impressed by the features and robustness. Not to mention that it was easy to get CCS working with it. My biggest concern at the moment is to not get myself into more than I can handle. I'm already handling ALL the IT related issues. Now with having to do the telecom side of things as well, I don't want to spread myself too thin. Maybe I'll just include an additional employee in the budget to handle all telecom related issues.

You could hire a temp to do the setup.

And many of the sales forces I've worked with will also include installation and initial configuration with the actual product.