by Joe Gleinser
24. April 2010 00:43
If you're not thrilled with the prospect of reading 18 pages of highly detailed cost analysis of VoIP phone systems, let me help. I've digested the attached analysis into a few simple bullet points. The result? Avaya has the lowest Total Cost of Ownership when compared to Shoretel and Cisco. In a world where feature sets and reliability are largely the same, that's a huge difference.
"Avaya’s average three-year cost for this size rollout is lowest, at $827...Avaya costs 36% less than Cisco ($1,296) over three years,"
"Avaya and ShoreTel have the lowest costs in the midsize category." "Cisco and Nortel rollouts are most expensive."
"Savings from SIP trunking – Replacing PRI lines with SIP trunks can save about 40% off the monthly circuit costs."
"Externally provide MACs cost $65 to $400, depending on the city. Internally managed IP telephony MACs cost about $10, based on average telecom salaries."
"Whereas vendors once charged about 10% to 14% for maintenance, those fees now are 16% to 22%."
"When organizations upgrade their LANs, the costs account for 32% to 47% of an overall VOIP project."
Of all of these points the last is perhaps the most important. When the LAN components is that large a piece of your rollout, why are you buying a phone system from a vendor with zero LAN expertise.