Prelim budget question

[a10ecun]

Has anyone come up with an average per user cost for an initial install? We have installed one location and are looking at several others. I am tryin to come up with a number that I can multiply by the number of users at each of our sites to get a ballpark figure for switches and licenses without having to map out versions of call manager and switch types per user\location.

Thanks!

[aspen]

Thats a big moving target.

I have seen some as low as 800 and some as hight as 1300 plus.

The big fators are phone type, network upgrades needed and PCM type.

[Forum]

As a rough estiamte, I've found $1000 a user to be average. This also depends on the switches you use (PoE). Dell's are pretty solid and 1/3 the cost of Cisco's. Of course, if they have a lot of workgroups, or want IP560G (gig to the desktop), then it goes sky high!

So basic average Install (20-75 users) about $1000 per phone 'out the door' (installed, tested, and trained).

Charles

[cburgy]

As a rough estiamte, I've found $1000 a user to be average. This also depends on the switches you use (PoE). Dell's are pretty solid and 1/3 the cost of Cisco's. Of course, if they have a lot of workgroups, or want IP560G (gig to the desktop), then it goes sky high!

So basic average Install (20-75 users) about $1000 per phone 'out the door' (installed, tested, and trained).

Charles

Hm, we've found quite the opposite with Dell's. We have had tremendous problems with multiple customers running Dell switches. Given the mission-critical nature of voice, we now only do Foundry, Procurve and Cisco (if the customer's requirements are Cisco). Just been tons of crazy errors, performance issues, phones acting weird, etc. Only with the dells too (never a hiccup with Procurve and Foundry).

[a10ecun]

Interesting feedback regarding dell switches. I have one site with 14 users up on dell's without any problems. Am getting pricing together (hence the initial post) for another location with 170 employees all running dell switches. Do you see it with a specific line of dell's or does the problem span the entire brand?

[travisbconley]

The switch issues referenced here can crop up with any switch brand depending on several factors. These range from environment to proper setup. The most critical thing to me is looking at your cost versus risk and planning appropiatly. If that means a service contract from Cisco for cisco gear or buying a spare switch or two for dell, hp, or whomever so be it. Just make sure you plan accordingly for the possibility of downtime and do your best to mitigate the impact.

[cburgy]

Interesting feedback regarding dell switches. I have one site with 14 users up on dell's without any problems. Am getting pricing together (hence the initial post) for another location with 170 employees all running dell switches. Do you see it with a specific line of dell's or does the problem span the entire brand?

We've seen it most with the 3400 series (POE switches) but have also had problems with their layer 3 (6224 I believe) switch.

[cburgy]

The switch issues referenced here can crop up with any switch brand depending on several factors. These range from environment to proper setup. The most critical thing to me is looking at your cost versus risk and planning appropiatly. If that means a service contract from Cisco for cisco gear or buying a spare switch or two for dell, hp, or whomever so be it. Just make sure you plan accordingly for the possibility of downtime and do your best to mitigate the impact.

Absolutely.... and, from our experience, it is worth recommending an enterprise solution (and installing) from companies such as Foundry, HP and Cisco. Besides, Dell's support is terrible for enterprise networking (once again, our experience). Just not worth it to most of our customers to risk it... they can justify the additional expense.

[jeremy]

Really? $1000 per user sounds high to me but then again, I'm not an installer. We did a 125 User install for about $71K including Dell PoE switches. 6 560s, 119 230s, 2 T1 switches, SG120 and SG40.

[Forum]

Really? $1000 per user sounds high to me but then again, I'm not an installer. We did a 125 User install for about $71K including Dell PoE switches. 6 560s, 119 230s, 2 T1 switches, SG120 and SG40.

Economies of scale, which is why I said under 75 users. We did a 125 user system, with All gigabit to the desktop, all 560G, 2 sites, I forget how many switches, PTP with Cisco routers, and a few other things for $150k. We did custom scripts, complete install , and training of all employees (live training), etc. It all depends on what the customer wants.