Small Office needs call control - which product

[billmatthews]

I've got a group of 10 users that are going to be split off from a larger company.  Currently they're using Cisco 7970 phones as part of a larger Call Manager v7 environment.

When they move, they'll be completely on their own for all IT services.  They get to keep their phones, but will need a new call processing infrastructure (and voicemail). 

They're going to use analog lines, and have a 1700 router for the gateway if needed.

But for such a small site, I thought Cisco Business Edition 3000 might be a good fit, but it doesn't look like it supports the 7970 phones?  So I guess my next option would be the UC500 platform?

Thanks!

[Chris Deren · Accepted solution]

UC5000 would be fine, but that is essentially CUCM/UCON combo, if you are looking for a smaller footprint then I would suggest Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express with Unity Express which runs on Cisco Router and is quite flexible.

HTH,

Chris

[billmatthews]

Thanks Chris.

We'll have help doing the install, but in terms of day to day administration going forward, are they two products fairly smilar (UC500 vs CUCM Express on a router)?

[Chris Deren]

Not really, UC500 has different GUI from CUCM GUI which has one GUI for phone administration and one for voicemail. I have not worked with UC500 at all, but with CME which by the way is the underlying engine for UC500 I prefer the CLI configuration as it is simply copy/paste. Either way both should be easy to administer.

HTH,

Chris

[paolo bevilacqua]

Actually UC500 strives to deliver all administration under a single GUI, called CCA.

There is also a forum to discuss it under "small voice - business".

[Chris Deren]

Right, that what I tried to say was the difference between it and CME/CUE, perhaps I was not clear, thanks Paolo for clarification.

Chris

[Imran Ul Haq]

Look at having Cisco Configuration Professional installed - and perhaps buy yourself 24 hours of access to the cbt nuggets - ccna voice - the first few videos is all about administering cume and a few at the end of the series about cue.

Regards

[paolo bevilacqua]

If only could dawn to Cisco to unify these GUIs instead of playing feature disparity to its customers and prospects.

[billmatthews]

Thanks guys, great advice all around