Taming the Beast: IP-PBX Management for Cisco, Avaya and Alcatel-Lucent

There are those who remain leery of IP telephony. Nothing you say will convince them that today's IP-PBX systems are as reliable as the good old TDM systems they love.

Then there are those of us who live in reality. IP-PBX products have proven themselves. There's really no need to debate it anymore.

Miercom conducts regular reviews of IP telephony products including IP-PBX systems. Of particular interest we have found, while conducting these reviews, distinct differences in the tools being sold to manage those systems. Since much of that reliability and usefulness we mentioned is grounded in the proper set-up, maintenance and updating of IP-PBX networks, a clunky IP-PBX management product can turn an otherwise great communication array into a dead duck. That's bad enough, but even worse are the inevitable derisive, wise-guy comments from those grizzled old holdouts.

With that in mind, Miercom took a close look at three IP-PBX management products currently available from Cisco, Avaya and Alcatel-Lucent. They all did a great job, but as usual there are some differences.