I'm looking at some small business projects and I'm trying to see what the smallest/cheapest routers that will support CME and CUE. These would be for small shops no more then 50-75 people some might be as small as 10. I'd like to find a set-up that gives them Cisco phones, voice mail, and VPN with AD authentication all in one device from Cisco.
If anyone has some preferences I'd love to hear them.
Based on what you indicated in your question I would go with a CME/CUE at each location. Even a 2901 can do CME/CUE and can be licensed at a very small size. You need a little bit bigger (more horsepower) you could go to a 2911 or even bigger with a 2921. They very easily network together if that is part of your requirements. I have not seen where there are many limitations on a CME/CUE provision. there are some rather high level services that they cannot perform but from your question I did not see any standout issues.
Just my opinion after having put in about 40 of them as autonomous branch locations. Not much I cannot do with a CME/CUE.
Isn't that just a drop in server with CUCM on it and a licence package? These are small companies that want Cisco phones or already have them but they will never grow beyond 30-40 employees.
It depends on the business model you are supporting. The 2911 can be setup up for CME and CUE. My initial impression was you have multiple sites of 50-75 people with some being as small as 10. This is more of a Cisco partner question at this point.
Yep, Jaime's advice here. BE6K, drop a branch voice gateway at each location and done. You would find yourself quickly getting out of control if you went with a CME and started expanding. If it was just 50 users only I would say a 2911 with CME/CUE but if you got multiple sites and the potential for growth the BE6K.
Based on what you indicated in your question I would go with a CME/CUE at each location. Even a 2901 can do CME/CUE and can be licensed at a very small size. You need a little bit bigger (more horsepower) you could go to a 2911 or even bigger with a 2921. They very easily network together if that is part of your requirements. I have not seen where there are many limitations on a CME/CUE provision. there are some rather high level services that they cannot perform but from your question I did not see any standout issues.
Just my opinion after having put in about 40 of them as autonomous branch locations. Not much I cannot do with a CME/CUE.
