Reccomended Router for large VOIP based call center

[zkartchner]

I am the network admin for a large VOIP based call center (200 agents on the phone non-stop). I have split the networks into two. Most of the call center agents (150 VOIP users) are connected to a cisco 3900 series router (fiber ISP with a cable modem failover). I have the remaining 50 agents hooked up to a small cisco/linksys home router from a different ISP (cable modem with no failover). The point of these two networks is to have a greater chance of uptime if an ISP or router fails.

I cannot stress how critical up time is here, when the internet is down, we are not taking calls, which means no money coming in, which means I get heavy pressure from the president of the company..... As you can imagine the cisco/linksys home router has issues. That router clearly wasnt designed for 50 users contantly streaming voice and data.

What router would you guys reccomend to upgrade my linksys to? Up time is extremely important. I want something that I never have to worry about going down. Over the last 6 months my cisco 3900 series that we paid $8k for and has only rebooted once, I have been very happy with it. Would you guys suggest forking out the money for a second cisco 3900 series or would I be fine with the cisco 2900 series which is a substantial amount cheaper? ($1500).

Any help would be appreciated!

[Mohamed Sobair]

Hello,

For 50 VOIP Users, I would recommend 2921 Cisco ISR. Of course you need to have it with Data and Voice Licensed, it should be more than sufficient for your requirement.

In the Past, I had many branch offices connecting to our Central Office via VOIP,  and we had no issues at all with this type of platform.

Regards,

Mohamed

[Leo Laohoo]

2921 is a good idea.

Just load it up to the eyeballs in DRAM.

You can load whatever you want third-party CF (up to 16 Gb). 

[shillings]

I cannot stress how critical up time is here

Based upon the above comment, I recommend you find yourself a trusted Cisco partner that can help plan for the long-term and deliver the crucial uptime that your company needs. I know the guys have answered your immediate router query, but ideally your entire solution needs looking at in detail. There might be several single points of failure and the implementation of your existing dual-ISP model seems less than ideal, although to be fair, we don't have all the detail to be sure.

There are some good partners out there and I think that once you commit to working with one you rate highly, then you'll get a lot out of the relationship. In my experience, businesses that work this way (rather than just shopping round for the cheapest quote) get far more out of it and often save more funds in the long run.

A good partner should be able to draw upon Cisco resources to demonstrate what you could be doing with your network over the next 5 years or so.

[Leo Laohoo]

Alright, since Simon's opened up the topic.

Yes, get a reputable Cisco system's integrator.  But this does not mean that you don't form an opinion and get the SI to do all the design and relevant work.

You have to know how you want to do it and let them work their design to as-close-as-possible to your requirement.

If both sites are indeed critical, then you have TWO point-of-failures.  One is your WAN link and the other is your router.

When I used to work for SITA/Equant a decade back, customers' critical sites come in the form of two routers and two WAN links.  Each WAN link goes to two different phone exchanges.  The WAN provider can be a single provider or two different providers.  For complexity, we choose a single provider.