atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems IP Office 500 Embedded Voice Mail vs Pro

Hello since I always end up here via google, I figured I might as well join.

We are moving to a new location and I am in the process of ordering a new phone system.

I have looked at the ESI 100/200
Allworx 6x
Avaya IP Office 500
Panasonic KX-TDA 100

Now I am leaning towards the IP Office 500 since we have been using partner systems for years, and the system seems pretty scalable and incudes a 64 party bridge.

The ESI system is close behind, their conference feature is pretty clunky compaired to the Avaya system, I do think their phones are easier to use though...

But anyway I have a quote for the embedded voice mail vs the pro software for avaya ip Office. I am just having a hard time figuring out what the major differences are.

Our current setup will be

20 5410
1 5420
Dynamic 3Mb PRI

Any information would help me get things together.

I would go for the VM Pro.
The embedded version is very basic.

Embedded is not very usefull for most places. VM Pro is quite a bit more expensive but is a case of "you get what you pay for"

For more info Click here for a voicemail comparison chart

You need another pc to run VMPro, Embedded runs on a card in the IPO.

as of 4.1 you can do a max of 40 AA's on embedded, VMPro is virtually unlimited.

No voicemail to email on embedded.(new to 4.2)
No, dial by name on embedded.
No call recording on embedded
No checking messages with PMP.
No IMS (or UMS on 4.2)

Basically, consider embedded like DOS, and vmpro like windows.

As IPOfficeguy said....you get what you pay for.

The biggest "deal killer" limitation for most people is the max record time on the embedded voicemail.

Given the specs you have listed, the embedded might be what you want if money is an issue. Since you say you are only needing 21 phones you could get by with using the station limited "standard" software. If you want to use VM pro then it would require not only the VMPro license but also the "professional" license which makes the price difference of the two VM options that much larger.

If you plan on adding more phones in the near future and/or more functionality then VM Pro plus the required professional license is probably the best investment.

Oh and to the board!

Oh, and the lastest IPO release offers multi MOH.
Just thought I would throw that in too.

Voice Mail Pro hands down. You won't be sorry.

Thanks for all the info. I was figuring voicemail pro, it will only run about 3000 more when all is said and done.

I knew I joined the right board....Now I need to find the differences between ESI 200 and the IP Office system, both of them come in around the same price with the discounts.

The ESI 200 system seems pretty nice, it just doesn't have conference ability that the ip office has. We do conference calls once a week with about 20 people...Ughh, Its a good thing I have 2 days to make a decision.. Thanks!

So it sounds like if you need to make a conference call with 20 people in the same conference, the ESI won't work very well for you.