Which solution for small business

[billmatthews]

Hello,

Our office has 30 users (single location).  Right now we use an expensive PBX system provided by a third-party.  We have some Cisco expertise in our company, so we would be comfortable replacing it with a Cisco solution.  

I'm familiar with CUCM v8/9 at customer locations, but that's obviously overkill for us.  I'm not too familar with the smaller products.  In doing some research it looks like we'd be looking at one of three options:

1. SBCS - UC500
2. Cisco Business Edition 6000/7000
3. CME running on a router

Are there any documents that might compare these solutions? I've read the individual data sheets, but still confused about the real-world differences.  Specifically features that may push us to one solution or another.  We just need basic features (voicemail, moh, single number reach).  Our phones are SPA models today, but we would like support for the traditional IP 79xx phones as well.  

Thanks

Bill

[Chris Deren]

Bill,

Why not contact local Cisco GOLD partner for a free solution architecture and discounted quote? They can do all the leg work for you.

If it was me I would compare CME/CUE vs. BE6K, BE6K is simply a marketing term for bundled CUCM/UCXN/IMP/etc on Cisco UCS server which is cost effective and supports up to 1000 users.

Chris

[billmatthews]

Thanks.  I will definitely contact a partner as we move along in the process, but I just wanted to do a little research on my own first. 

Thanks for the explanation -- that helps a lot.  So from a price point of view it sounds like BE6K would be a bit more expensive (since it's CUCM/UCXN vs express versions).  And you wouldn't look at the SBCS?  Is that truly a Cisco product or is it some re-branded Linksys type acquisition?

Thanks!

[Leo Laohoo]

Some routers support ISM module.  This is basically a small hard drive which you can run a VM instance of some selected Cisco softwares.  An example would be a virtual wireless LAN controller or CME.  

[Chris Deren]

Leo,

CME is embedded on IOS and does not require any modules, CUE (voicemail) can run on ISM module.

Chris

[Leo Laohoo]

Thanks for the correction, Chris.  :)

[Irshad Mohammed Hussain]

Go for CME running on a Router, if your Company already has a router ISRG

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Bill,

Just an FYI in addition to the good notes from Chris & Mohammed (+5!)

The UC500 (520,540&560) have been announced as "end of life"

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/unified-communications/unified-communications-500-series-small-business-uc500/eos-eol-notice-listing.html

Cheers!

Rob

[Chris Deren]

+5 Rob for the note on UC500.

Chris

[billmatthews]

Thanks I hadn't caught that, +5

So they claim the replacement product is the BE6K, which is surprising since that's about 20x the cost.