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The tech industry has been pushing the concept of Open Source PBXs as opposed to commercial systems, claiming more functionality and lower costs. I can’t agree though, I think these articles fail to separate the old generation from the new generation of commercial phone systems.
Commercial phone systems have traditionally been expensive systems with limited features which could only be managed by expensive professionals. But companies like Allworx and Talkswitch make very feature rich, user friendly systems which end-users can manage at a price far less than traditional phone systems like Mitel, Inter-Tel and Avaya.
There are free open source PBXs you can download and install on a PC, but the average small business owner isn’t likely to be able to pull off the installation and management of such system. Long term support is a major issue with free, roll your own PBX systems. We recently replaced two such systems as the original vendor disappeared and no local professionals knew the system and there was no company to back it up for support.
Some business entities do provide commercially supported open source PBX systems, like Digium. The question is are systems are truly better than their closed source counterparts?
Depending on options a Digium Appliance costs $1259-2579 for the system (no phones) and $299-899 for annual support renewals. On the flip side a non-open source VoIP system like the Talkswitch 248vs costs just $1095 for 16 extensions with free phone support and software upgrades for life - no support renewals. For 30 extensions an Allworx is just $2250 and 32 extensions a Talkswitch is just $2190. There’s just no clear purchase cost benefit for small businesses to buy commercial open source PBXs.
Comparing features is always difficult. There are things each system can do which others cannot do, don’t do as easily, or charge extra for. For example I’ve not seen a Digium compatible phone which can do a key system mode or extension monitoring. On the flip side Digium Asterisk can do arbitrary extension numbering while most commercial products have set ranges to keep support easier. All that really matters is if the system you want can do what you need - beyond that the rest is extraneous.
Bottom line is Open Source PBXs aren’t bad, but the tech industry’s love affair with them doesn’t mean its the right product for small businesses.
The Author: Kevin Selkowitz
About: Kevin Selkowitz is the founder and lead consultant for Selkowitz Technology, a Seattle-area small business systems consulting company. We focus on the four major technology needs of small businesses - phone systems, phone and internet service, servers/network infrastructure, and business applications.
This entry was posted by Kevin Selkowitz, on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 9:18 am and is filed under Featured, Telecom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response on the right, or trackback from your own site.
