atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems All IP ESI 600?

Hello - we're looking into installing an all-ip ESI 600 in a new building. Since we're doing everything from scratch we figured IP is the way to go. All the phones themselves will be on a completely seperate network from our typical data network, however there will be some interconnection for management, remote access, etc. Wiring will be cat-6.

Just curious to know if anyone's done an all-ip installation with over 85 phones? If so, was there any sound quality issues? What switches did you use?

Secondly, in regards to sip support (not overly important), have people had success using SIP adapters and/or softphones like Xten with ESI? How about Linksys routers that have the phone ports built in?

Just to clarify, I'm not the installer, but the customer. Our installer is a member of this board and has answered all my questions well, I'm just doing background research now and getting opinions ;-)

I'm a computer guy who's decently versed in VOIP and phone technologies, so feel free to speak geek.

our office system (we are an ESI dealer) is an ESI CS-600 with about 12 phones, all IP on a new and separate network from our data, so it sounds like our configuration is similar to yours. Obviously we don't have the # of phones that you are looking at, but with the networks being separate there is no real reason you would have any quality issues. We have never had a customer or other caller question the sound quality of any call.

We run Netgear switches, and all of the phones are POE.

We have not used the SIP adapters you mentioned or the Linksys routers.

Orion

Since your installer is a board member here it would be a benefit if he/she joined us in this thread.

It appears that you are putting the 600 in place at a new location and from your previous posts it also appears you are leaving a Comdial behind from the previous location. If this is correct when is the projected move in date of the new location?

Just out of curiosity...why are you looking to do all IP Phones?

By separate network I hope you don't mean separate cable runs and switches. All ESI IP phones are VLAN compliant.

ESI's architecture also allows you to physically segment the phones in groups of 24 if desired for traffic management at the hardware layer (e.g one 24 port switch for each IP 24 station port card).

Yes seperate network meaning seperate wiring and switches. Its all new so why not just do a few extra runs now to future proof the building. It eliminates a lot of administrative stuff when it comes to setting vlans on ports, etc.

Bdunne, thats a question I was waiting to get an answer on in regards to the 24 phone thing. I know each card does 24 phones so I asked if it had to be segmented, and if not, do we just connect one jack and the daisy chain/star the switches?

We're looking at all IP since we feel that'll provide the best migration path down the road if we ever upgrade controllers. It also simplifies the wiring end so we can use all cat-6 lines for everything. The vendor did suggest digital in-house but most other systems nowadays are all IP, so if the ESI is advertising it can be done equally as well as digital, why not? We asked for an all-ip proposal to have something to compare with the other vendors' proposals. Another reason is that we may add onto our new building a year after we move in, and if that happens, we'll prob have a second wiring cabinet in the addition. If so, we can just sling extra switching gear to expand rather than a second controller cabinet and/or phone runs back to the main room. (main room is going to be very small!)

To answer the other question, yes we're retiring our 15 yr old Comdial DXP with the move. The system has been great to us save for some bugs here and there but overall I've been pleased with it. To me its got a lot of modern options for as old as it is. If we go with the ESI system our vendor (who still does Comdial) has given us a trade-in value for it.

Jeff

Thank You Jeff for returning to fill in a few blanks. I might suggest you consider the ESI-1000 instead of the ESI-600 since you mentioned the future additional construction. The price difference between the 2 units will be minimal especially when compared to the licensing cost associated with 85 IP phones compared to 85 Digital phones. I'm still a bit fuzzy on that reasoning but I'll chalk it up to your softphone desires.

Until you correct me on this I'm assuming you have done research and pleased with the ESI product and you plan to retain your previous Comdial vendor to handle the physical install. It also appears you have not selected an ESI dealer to purchase the needed equipment from.

I'm not implying that there is anything wrong with that, I am just trying to get the details in order.

The Comdial vendor is also/now an ESI dealer so they would be providing the equipment as well as installing it. To clarify, this is not the only system I'm looking at, just one of them.

We are really not looking at too much more over 100 phones even with the expansion - the expanded building if we do build it could only house about 40 more people I believe, so I think the 600 is within our needs.

I'm noticing the lean towards digital despite being told that the 600 is an IP based and designed system? The way we're looking at it is that IP is the modern way to go, why spend close to six figures on a system thats not using the most modern technology? (Yes I know modern doesn't always mean better either. ;-))

One way I look at it is that with digital, we have to have a chassis to support all the digital cards, then amphenol trunks to patch panels, then patch cables to other patch panels, which connect to the runs. The runs have to be terminated with RJ-11 style connectors and patch panels otherwise we'd need custom phone cables. That means if down the road we want to switch to IP, all those jacks would have to be re-terminated with RJ-45.

If you're going to do all that, why not put the connection end on switches where if need be, especially in our expansion, the switches can be located in seperate places, possibly closer to the endpoints?

If there's good reason to go digital instead of IP (other than price), please let me know, maybe I'm missing something? I'd love for someone to counter what I put here. Again this is a seperate voip network, so no vlaning, daisy-chaining comps to phones, etc.

If you are going to only have ~100 extensions max even after the upgrade why not look at the CS-200 it supports 192 extensions.
As far as the cabling it could be terminated onto Cat 6 jacks with no problems with standard line cords at the jack & patch cords at the patch panel, so the cabling would not be an issue down the road.
Also I just cannot think of a good reason to go IP locally to be honest.

Justin M is correct. RJ11 ends will work in RJ 45 inputs. Cabling is not an issue. Ip phones are easier to move if needed, but a patch panel solution for digital is just as easy. If you are set on IP then we have done fairly big installs with ESI phones and there is no big difference in the functionality of the phones. As far as seperate networks, I do not no if this is possible if you will be using VIP. If so then the local computer has to be able to contanct the ESI server.