pressley's Blog

PBX In A Flash August 12, 2009

As some may have heard,  accountants can be resistant to change.  This is not always a bad thing, except when it comes to old PBX systems.  Ours is currently tipping the age scale at 25 years (ugh!!) and may be teetering on the abyss.  I have been looking far and wide for a replacement system that will accomodate both offices (the Beckley office system is much newer, but what the heck).  I had gotten quotes on one particular system that was VOIP capable, but the most enticing features were only available after paying licensing fees.  These essentially doubled the cost of the system.  We didn’t need all these features; and honestly a majority of the staff wouldn’t use the phone any differently than the current system.  However, the potential benefits were appetizing.

Along comes PBX in a Flash.  By some quirky chain of events,  I “ran” into an individual that provided DSL support to a former employer.  He is now employed elsewhere, but as a side, installs this particular VOIP system.  It is based on the popular open-source, Asterisk PBX.  We have approximately 40 employees, but my friend has this same system running in call centers with upwards of 400 phones and half-a-million calls a month.

I am presently reading up on the system’s installation, operation and administration.  In a nutshell the system requirements are fairly low-key.  The developers recommend a $199 Everex PC; no longer available as of this writing, but I think you get the idea.  The software is available via ISO download.  Analog to digital voice cards are needed to bring in the phone lines.  The phone we have chosen is the Aastra 480i.  Very reasonably priced at approx $160 (includes a 3 year inclusive warranty).

Aastra 480i VOIP phone

Boot the PC to the CD created from the ISO and you end up with a fully functional CentOS Linux server with many other features included.  The feature set included with PBX in a Flash is impressive.  All the expected things are there, DID, voicemail, conferencing, call parking, call forwarding, caller ID, etc, etc.  Calls can be recorded and voice mails can be sent to recipients via email.  A follow-me feature can be configured to forward calls to a number of phones until the recipient is found.  The reporting features are exceptional.  You can report on all sorts of phone stats, including length of call, time on hold, call audit trail, etc.

Hopefully within the next several weeks we will have the system installed and running.  I don’t have any doubts that there will be some bumps in the road as is normal with anything new.  I’ve spoken with some end-users and they are very pleased with the system.