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#525898 09/18/07 09:15 AM
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Years ago we considered offering 3 Com solutions. I've lost site of them. I have heard mostly bad but would like more information. I know the phones are proprietary. Are there seat licences associated with adding more extensions, mailboxes and trunks? What the voice quality like?

How does 3 Com stack up to Asterisks? Features...?

Thanks,

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#525899 09/18/07 10:35 AM
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I have no first-hand knowledge of the 3-Com NBX system but what I have heard is that it uses a somewhat-customized version of sip. My understanding is that it uses a few specialized commands in order to maintain a "heartbeat" of phones and that aftermarket phones (Polycom, Snom, etc), after registering, will not work after 5 or 10 minutes (whenever the heartbeat is sent). I haven't confirmed this so take it with a grain of salt.

Version 5.0 and earlier use a highly-customized protocol that was taken from h.323. Dont expect much of anything to work with this.

The 3-com system requires 3-com switches and server gear similar to that of the shoretel system. This has to do with the way that 3com approached system features was to use IP Multicasting for shared line appearances and other messaging functions.

The phones also do not retain any system programming information or software. Every time you plug the phone in it runs it's bootloader then has to redownload the firmware and configuration settings from tftp from the server. While this is a trivial concern for LAN users it presents a problem on large divided networks and roaming internet-based users. The phone will re-provision itself every time it powers up, and if your network is not set-up to adequately provide tftp to the phone, the phone turns into a brick until provisioned instead of running on the last good provisioning. Provisioning also must take place from the actual phone server and cant be placed on another server.

Because of it's use of IP Numbering it is not designed to really co-exist with other IP infrastructure. The scope of this is beyond my ability to look it all back up smile

I do not know how the licensing structure of this system is set-up.

Asterisk is hard to compare to most systems because it has no preprogrammed feature list that it comes with. You make your own features. That being said there are a few things that Asterisk can not be made to readily do.

1) Asterisk v.1.2 (what is considered stable and production-ready) does not support share line apperances. This means that when the boss picks up the phone, the secretary wont see an LED go red. Asterisk v.1.4 does offer support for this feature but it is still undergoing revamps to it's core functionality.

2) Asterisk does not have a Page/Intercom function. Use of certain phones (like Polycom) will allow you to add a sip header that will cause the phone to play a beep then auto-answer on speakerphone. However, there is no group-page feature. The closest I have seen to this is sending all phones an auto-answer sip header then connecting them all to a conference. It doesn't really work well.

3) Asterisk is not pre-programmed, pre-conceptualized, pre-anything. It shows up as a box full of legos (or whatever euphemism you like) and no instructions. You will need to learn how to write dial-plans in order to make it even make a phone ring. There are pre-programmed asterisk distributions out there such as Trixbox and AsteriskNOW but these are primarily targetted at soho and small business, not really something you would use in a medium sized business or larger.

Probably the most noteworthy thing you need to understand about Asterisk is that you are the engineer, programmer, technician, installer, and sales rep. There is no large corporate backing that you can call with T1 issues or hardware problems. You are that person.

The plus-side to asterisk is that it runs on regular network gear, will connect to TDM/SIP/MGCP/H323/IAX/SCCP/Bluetooth, uses standard computer hardware, has no licensing restrictions, and is limited to your ability to program it.

#525900 09/18/07 11:35 PM
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3Com as a company is horrible. Their tech and sales support is horrible, they restructure regularly so your rep changes and the whole relationship was tremendously frustrating. I went through the approval process years ago and was scared to sell an NBX since the support was so lousy.

#525901 09/19/07 03:20 AM
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Upstateny,

Sounds like a similar situation that we had. We met with 3 Com to market their products. There sales and support staff, well, sucked. We could get any sort of help during our "Buying" cycle with them. It sent flags that what would happen if we actually became a dealer. How would we get help?

So is there anything good about the 3Com NBX? What are the upsides? Why would someone consider purchasing (or selling) their products?

#525902 09/23/07 05:29 PM
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I have only worked on 1 3com NBX and found it to be a very poor design.

One thing that I really didn't like was that it is a MAC based system not IP based system. If you want it to be IP based then you have to buy additional equipment.

This may have changed because I have not worked on one in about 2 years.

But I would advise to stay away.


All In One Communications
Mustang, OK
#525903 10/02/07 05:30 AM
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Quote
Originally posted by bestboards:
Years ago we considered offering 3 Com solutions. I've lost site of them. I have heard mostly bad but would like more information. I know the phones are proprietary. Are there seat licences associated with adding more extensions, mailboxes and trunks? What the voice quality like?

How does 3 Com stack up to Asterisks? Features...?

Thanks,

#525904 10/02/07 05:35 AM
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Funny you should ask here is a link to the 3Com Astersik Appliance :

https://www.3com.com/voip/3com_asterisk.html

bty: Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Randy Bell and I'm a Sales Engineer with Digium, The Asterisk Company.

Take Care,

Randy


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