asterisk users - Oct 2004 - Performance (Cisco AS5350) or Price (Wildcard TE410P)

I'm looking to build an Asterisk system to place in front of my call 
center switch.  My plan is to eat up 4 PRIs in one office, send to my 
other office and convert back to PRI for my legacy switch.  Voice 
quality is critical,  would I be better off going with a Cisco AS5350 
using hardware DSPs for the g.729 codec or is the Digium g.729 codec 
just as good with enough CPU to throw at it.   The lack of dedicated 
DSP concerns me

Option 1

PSTN PRI -> AS5350 -> (2 x T1) IP(SIP,g.729) -> AS5350 -> PRI ->
PBX

I would have 1 Asterisk server handling SIP, Conference, IVR, Voice 
Mail.  I would purchase a bunch of g.729 codec licenses

Option 2

PSTN PRI -> Asterisk -> (2x T1) IP (IAX2, g.729) -> Asterisk -> PRI
->
PBX

The first Asterisk would handle SIP, Conference, IVR, Voice Mail


If the voice quality of the software g.729 codec is as good as the 
Cisco hardware codec I would *much* rather give my money to Digium, buy 
their hardware and licenses.  If the quality isn't as good I may be 
forced to spend $40k on AS5350s

I'm thinking 2.8 Ghz P-IV HT with 2 GB RAM for each Asterisk server.

-Matt

You don't need to spend anything approaching $40,000 to use a Cisco router
for four PRIs. 

In your evaluation, consider also that the router is more reliable, has a
worldwide service organization behind it, and let's a single PBX handle many
more calls when it's relieved of transcoding (put voicemail on a separate
cluster and one server will handle over 10,000 SIP calls). 

Many people look at initial purchase price instead of TCO. As you know, it's
very expensive to lose 46 calls when a PC fails. 

We prefer not to put more than one T1 in a PC with a card and if we use two
we use separate cards for each T1. Once you architect that way, the router
approach costs about the same at four or more PRIs as I recall the numbers. 

William Boehlke
Signate


-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Matthew
Crocker
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 6:23 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Performance (Cisco AS5350) or Price
(WildcardTE410P)


I'm looking to build an Asterisk system to place in front of my call 
center switch.  My plan is to eat up 4 PRIs in one office, send to my 
other office and convert back to PRI for my legacy switch.  Voice 
quality is critical,  would I be better off going with a Cisco AS5350 
using hardware DSPs for the g.729 codec or is the Digium g.729 codec 
just as good with enough CPU to throw at it.   The lack of dedicated 
DSP concerns me

Option 1

PSTN PRI -> AS5350 -> (2 x T1) IP(SIP,g.729) -> AS5350 -> PRI ->
PBX

I would have 1 Asterisk server handling SIP, Conference, IVR, Voice 
Mail.  I would purchase a bunch of g.729 codec licenses

Option 2

PSTN PRI -> Asterisk -> (2x T1) IP (IAX2, g.729) -> Asterisk -> PRI
->
PBX

The first Asterisk would handle SIP, Conference, IVR, Voice Mail


If the voice quality of the software g.729 codec is as good as the 
Cisco hardware codec I would *much* rather give my money to Digium, buy 
their hardware and licenses.  If the quality isn't as good I may be 
forced to spend $40k on AS5350s

I'm thinking 2.8 Ghz P-IV HT with 2 GB RAM for each Asterisk server.

-Matt

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In our setup we tried to use a 4 Port T1 card in a Compaq
proliant. We had no issues with processor load or dropped
calls but major echo problems. I figured that since I was
using a PRI it was digital and should have no echo
issues....I was wrong. I had just as many problems with my
pri's as I had with fxo ports. I tried everything to clean
it up. Went with a Cisco 5400 and haven't had any issues at
all. The unit works like a champ.  
The unit new with 4 T1 ports is $12K ...where did you get
40K from ?

Another option is to put in an echo can (DITECH) in front of
the digium card. I haven't tested this yet ...

John Bittner
Simlab.net
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf
Of 
> Matthew Crocker
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 9:23 PM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial
Discussion
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Performance (Cisco AS5350) or
Price 
> (WildcardTE410P)
> 
> 
> I'm looking to build an Asterisk system to place in front
of my call 
> center switch.  My plan is to eat up 4 PRIs in one office,
send to my 
> other office and convert back to PRI for my legacy switch.
Voice 
> quality is critical,  would I be better off going with a
Cisco AS5350 
> using hardware DSPs for the g.729 codec or is the Digium
g.729 codec 
> just as good with enough CPU to throw at it.   The lack of
dedicated 
> DSP concerns me
> 
> Option 1
> 
> PSTN PRI -> AS5350 -> (2 x T1) IP(SIP,g.729) -> AS5350 ->
PRI -> PBX
> 
> I would have 1 Asterisk server handling SIP, Conference,
IVR, Voice 
> Mail.  I would purchase a bunch of g.729 codec licenses
> 
> Option 2
> 
> PSTN PRI -> Asterisk -> (2x T1) IP (IAX2, g.729) ->
Asterisk 
> -> PRI -> 
> PBX
> 
> The first Asterisk would handle SIP, Conference, IVR,
Voice Mail
> 
> 
> If the voice quality of the software g.729 codec is as
good as the 
> Cisco hardware codec I would *much* rather give my money
to 
> Digium, buy 
> their hardware and licenses.  If the quality isn't as good
I may be 
> forced to spend $40k on AS5350s
> 
> I'm thinking 2.8 Ghz P-IV HT with 2 GB RAM for each
Asterisk server.
> 
> -Matt
> 
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