[geeks] Phone system suggestions?

[Phil Brutsche]

Nate wrote:
> So day job is moving, and not too long ago added the phone system to
> the list of many things I manage.  It's a Panasonic hybrid system 
> (analog/digital over two wire RJ-11), and maxes out at 96 lines (half
> digital, half analog), but the company could outgrow that (and 
> managing it is a PITA), so it's time to look at something else. Would
> you guys recommend Asterisk?

Asterisk is not appropriate for a business unless you use something like
http://switchvox.com. Besides, the base Asterisk distribution, and even
Asterisk at Home, fails on your first requirement: easy to manage.

For 96 phones, you *are not* going to find something that meets your 3rd
requirement: not crazy expensive. Even with Asterisk you could easily
spend $20k US just for the (Cisco or Polycom) phones.

Could you go used for the base system? Yes, but you really, really don't
want to go there...

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at tux.obix.com