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Joined: May 2004
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Timbo Offline OP
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Guys,
need some ammo here....
I have a good customer that has two locations networked together via Pt-to-Pt T1 and is using Vodavi XTS equipment on both ends. In general they like the system and it has been serving them well for about 4 or 5 years now. Both locations utilize a PRI that is terminated at the HQ building now.

Problem is that they just purchased a large building that was up on a bankruptcy sale and all of the internal office equipment was included.
This includes a Cisco phone system with about 70 stations. They plan on moving their HQ office to this new building in about two months. This customers IT director wants to use the Cisco instead of his Vodavi and tie it back to their warehouse/distribution center (the warehouse is not moving).
We don't support cisco phone systems and we really don't want to lose this customer...but I can't really articulate good reasons for this customer to abandon the cisco plan in favor of either keeping his Vodavi XTS or having us install a new system (we handle ESI and Ipitomy). I know there has to be lots of good reasons that moving to that Cisco will be really expensive but I really don't know the "in's and out's" of how the Cisco is implemented and licensed.
Can anyone arm me with some thoughts I can throw into the IT directors head to make him think twice about reusing the 5 year old Cisco he is inheriting? Will he be forced to upgrade it to support the second site that has the Vodavi system now?

Appreciate it....

Timbo

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Tim:

We had a similar situation with a bank where they had all of their branches as nodes with an XTS as the hub in their main office. They decided to replace the hub with Cisco because the vendor swore that he could make it network with the seven existing XTS nodes. That never happened. The branches lost all of their DIDs and centralized voice mail as a result. Their workaround was to forward their DIDs back out and have them ring to each branch via their POTS lines. You can imagine how gracefully that worked.

Your customer will need to be aware that if they do this, they'll also lose this same connectivity back to the original warehouse. They'll probably be able to provide tie lines, but a seamless system like they have now isn't going to happen.

I'd also have to ask how the licensing for the existing Cisco equipment will be handled for the new owner, and more importantly, how much this will cost them.


Ed Vaughn, MBSWWYPBX
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This really has little to do (IMO) with the hardware. It has to do with "Does this customer still want to do business with you?"

Recently a customer of ours moved to a much larger location with existing cabling, existing network, and existing VoIP phone system that was about 5-7 years old. I had a sit-down with the customer, his IT guy and the bookkeeper and said, (in a nutshell) that if he wanted us to continue doing business, he could move his old Nortel system, which we would gladly do, and gladly maintain, or he could purchase (on lease)a VoIP system from us---one that we would be comfortable with, and one that we could support. I told him, that I would not support that existing system. Period.

I did some research on that system and had a lot of ammunition---but I didn't really get to use it. He just said "Get some numbers in front of me on the new system." I did just that. The new system has been in for 2 months. We are looking for a buyer for the older VoIP system.

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Timbo Offline OP
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Thanks guys...
had a meeting with the Customer last Friday and it's a strange situation. They love doing business with us but they are hell-bent on using the Cisco system they purchased with the new bldg. They want us to help them implement and support the Cisco knowing full well that we are not a Cisco dealer. The IT manager is now researching the costs and logistics of getting the Cisco up and running and networked to their warehouse site. Apparently, the customer is planning on purchasing the Cisco "Smart-Net" support agreement and the IT mgr feels this will provide enough Cisco support to us to make it all work!! We are planning on working with them as much as we can with the understanding that we recommended moving their Vodavi XTS...so if the Cisco plan blows up it's not going to be our "baby"!! I am still hopeful that the customer will discover that the upfront and ongoing costs are too expensive to continue with this plan....problem is that they have got the money and are infatuated with Cisco.

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I wish I had seen this post earlier...
Depending on the size of the Cisco CM system and what it is running on, it may be getting close to "upgrade" time.
Our call manager was running on several servers (Call Manager, Voice Mail, Unified Messaging, IPCC) and an older version of Call Manager. Cisco ended support for the version of call manager and the servers.
Long story short - $100K + (plus) to replace servers, upgrade all versions...we are still using the same desktop units. Getting new desktop units was not part of the 100K+.
When the hardware/software is no longer supported by Cisco...you're on your own. That should be reason enough for the IT mgr to re-evaluate. ...good thing they have the money!

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Since all the Communication managers are now all coming from a Data backgrounds they tend to lean toward data solutions and names they are familiar with. This is only going to get worse. Telco is a dinosaur, never mind the features on a telco system will do everything except change the oil on the wife's car.

Cisco is coming at you like a runaway 50 ton truck. I'm a telco dinosaur( pre amphenol connectors)and I see market share for what I'm doing spiraling downward faster and faster.

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Amen to that, brother! But, what sort of idiot client buys their phones from Cisco, a computer company (and a crappy one at that)? Kind of like buying fish from a butcher...

I recently had the misfortune of using brand-new Cisco SIP phones as an enduser on a daily basis: What crepitude! Dropped calls, 'one-ring' incoming calls, low and poor quality audio on voicemail, occasionally, the entire phone bank would either go completely dead or partially dead. This is the wave of the future?


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"But, what sort of idiot client buys their phones from Cisco, a computer company"

The same person that will set in front of a game console for hours on end, that's who. They have grown up and now are our clients. XBOX phone systems are here and our client are familiar with the interface and the names. They have no problem with paying for "licensing" for a feature and never owning anything, it's the world they grew up in.

It's either learn IP or die. Toss your tools away and just plug into the existing network and go for it.


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