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CISCO
Cisco's (408-526-4000, www. cisco.com) Call Manager is a front-runner in the IP-PBX category, but its 1750, 2600 and 3600 routers are also common choices for third-party gateway, when enabled with FXO and FXS or T1 interfaces. In many cases, a preexisting data router makes the case for adding just such voice components to establish voice WANs.
The VG200, purely for voice, takes the same station and trunk interfaces as voice-enabled 2600 and 3600 routers and gateways, but scales down to a typical four analog ports. It brings analog phones and faxes into Call Manager's system using MGCP or H.323 version 2, and provides local gateway out from Cisco IP phones as well.
INTER-TEL
Inter-tel (480-961-9000, www.inter-tel.com) is another PBX maker, like Mitel and Siemens, betting on SIP and Windows Messenger for presence-informed collaboration/chat/ voice and directory services, and the ubiquity of Windows XP for endpoints.
Inter-tel's SIP server, running on a Win 2000 machine alone or with other Inter-Tel applications, integrates tightly with an Inter-Tel Axxess system through the PBX's inskin IP resource card (IPRC). David Glissmeyer, of ProTel Networks, an Inter-Tel reseller, says, "I can buy 25 user licenses, whatever SIP phones I want (Cisco's work) and any end point I want. The thing I like about Inter-tel is that it's not an all-or-nothing system."
The IPRC can be "chipped," says Glissmeyer, with firmware to run 16 IP or analog devices, or for IP networking between nodes. "We're doing a lot of installs with that now," he says, "setting up VPNs. The Intertel IP phone works beautifully running over the Internet with a G.729 codec. You just basically plug them in. The IP phone includes a four-port switch for daisy-chaining. To use them at a remote location, you ideally, just need two static IDs from your ISP. An additional $5 per static IP address is well worth the money," says Glissmeyer.
Inter-tel also accepts voice signaling through MGCP gateways; it's own four-port MGCP gateway, for...