Looking to buy a new phone system 6 ISDN Channels - 16 extensions.
Which is the better system of these 2?
NEC Aspire v Panasonic KX-TDA30

Also
If I want to use CTI to screen-pop incoming calls with customer details, whats the software availability like?

Thanks a million

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This is an easy one. Aspire all the way. The two are even comparable really. I am surprised the NEC rep didn't show the big differences. I am surprised you didn't look at something besides these 2 systems though. But let me take a guese...you have a limited budget and want a lexus?

well, why pay for the Lexus when a cheaper system will do what I want?

What does the NEC Aspire have over the TDA-30?

Which provides best CTI?

What other system would you recommend?

1) What do you want to do? Do you even know whats available? Did anyone sit down and ask you what your goal was or did you dictate the features you wanted?

2) The Panasonic is more of a key-hybrid. IE it has more key features than pbx. The Aspire has more pbx feature and gets alot bigger.

3) These systems have a life of about 5-7 years. Other systems last much longer and are upgradeable. Also they usually have more features.

I have been on many accounts where I was told what they wanted EXACTLY, they would not listen to what I had to say, then changed their minds AFTER the system was put in wanting XYZ and they only paid for an X, because there is a reason you get what you pay for.

buyer:

What kind of CTI are you going to run? TAPI, Net based TAPI? Telephony server? Unified messanging? All the above?

Coral Tech,

This is the situation.
We want to buy a new phone system with the following features.

Automated Attendant
Caller id
Direct inward dialing
Voicemail

With regards CTI my needs are:
With incoming calls, I want an application that will cross reference the incoming phone number with our customer database and display the customer details on the PC next to the phone.

We have 16 Extensions. We will not need more than 25 in the next 10 years.

I asked 2 different dealers to quote and they are the 2 systems suggested.

I could possibly write the screen pop application myself in VB, if the data was accessible.

What would your advice be?
Thanks

Thats a pretty basic TAPI application (ie microsoft). Basically it's a serial port on the phone connected to the computer running a TAPI compliant driver.

DID..you said you are using 6 ISDN lines. I am not familliar with Ireland's ISDN but if it's like US ISDN you cannot do poor mans DID on BRI unless you get more than 2 SPIDS on the channels..and the only system that I have seen that can seperate these properly is Tadiran (Sprint). If you are using PRI this is no problem. If you are using regular DID channels I don't think you can get caller ID and thats a problem doing screen pops.

I would get VERY specific on how they plan to do what you want and in writing on how it should work. I have seen people lowball then, hit you with an OH by the way.

Good luck!

Coral Tech