Negating IP-Centrex with Asterisk and VMWARE

Nir Simionovich, CEO & Resident Asterisk GuruGreenfield Technologies Ltd.

Israel

Refurb + Asterisk + VMWARE ESXi = Kick Broadsoft!

Nir Simionovich, Chief RedBull ConsumerGreenfield Technologies Ltd.

Israel

/home/nirs/.finger• Professional Open Source evangelist since 1996• Professional Asterisk evangelist since 2002• Professional Asterisk solutions and training provider in Israel since 2007• Author of 2 Packt Publishing’s Asterisk books: AsteriskNOW and AGI Development• Personal gearing: Creating highly scalable Asterisk installations• Largest installation to date: 3500 concurrent channels

/usr/share/man/centrex/what-is• Centrex is a PBX-like service providing switching at the central office instead of at the customer's premises. • Typically, the telephone company owns and manages all the communications equipment and software necessary to implement the Centrex service and then sells various services to the customer.• IP-Centrex aims to converge between the IP telephony world and the Centrex operation model.

/usr/share/man/centrex/why-good• Centrex is a wonderful business model for allowing companies to utilize high-end PBX services, without actually owning the PBX infrastructure.• Allowing companies utilize Centrex resources as they require allow them to grow and expand as required, gradually expanding their investment as required.• Carriers rendering Centrex services can utilize their core resources better, thus, shortening their switching ROI and reducing their switching TCO.• In general, Centrex is good!

/usr/share/man/centrex/classic

/usr/share/man/centrex/pricing• Most IP Centrex platforms are priced according to the following criteria:• Number of users connected to the platform• Number of trunks connected to the platform• Number of concurrent calls available• Number of voicemail boxes• General features and Class-5 features• Voicemail storage and availability

• In other words – you pay for anything and everything!

/home/nirs/i-have-a-centrex-dream• In a perfect Centrex service, the pricing model should be flat rated.• You pay a fixed amount of money each month, regardless of the number of connected phones or users.• The amount paid each month is packaged into a well understood package – that even the moguls can understand!

Enough with the pricingBS – talk to me in

words I can understand!

/home/nirs/i-have-a-centrex-dream• We don’t need elaborate switch partitioning systems to enable Centrex-Like services• We want to allow our customers more control and more features • As technology advances, we want to rapidly deploy these technologies to our customers• We want to keep in track with open-source development, allowing for new features in the core to be reflected ASAP onto our Centrex

/home/nirs/i-have-a-centrex-dream• We don’t need elaborate switch partitioning systems to enable Centrex-Like services• We want to allow our customers more control and more features • As technology advanced, we want to rapidly deploy these technologies to our customers• We want to keep in track with open-source development, allowing for new features in the core to be reflected ASAP onto our Centrex

In other words: I want tolet my customers use Asterisk,

without the complexity ofCentrex management and

over heads!

/root/Documents/rules-of-thumb• Asterisk and FreePBX provide a fully featured office PBX construct – don’t reinvent the wheel• Hardware servers are under utilized – that’s a given• Network connectivity isn’t as expensive as it used to be• VMWARE provides a good solution for bettering your hardware utilization and lowering your TCO

/var/log/warning• VMWARE costs a lot of money for licenses• VMWARE compatible servers cost an arm and a leg• Storage issues for the entire system is an issue• Monitoring the PBX systems is an issue• Is this really economical?

/var/log/resolutions• Use VMWARE ESXi as a start – it’s FREE• Use re-furbished servers – you can pay as low as 300$ for a Dual XEON server (IBM x335 or Intel SR1350)• Monitoring is simple with icinga/nagios and munin• Hosting can be a little tricky, but you can always negotiate a good deal• Or you can always go with al-cheapo dedicated servers from Cari.Net or ServerPronto.Com

/root/Documents/network-layout

/root/Documents/initial-rack-layout• The following setup includes

• 14 IBM x335 server (Dual CPU + Dual HD + 8GB RAM)• 2 IBM x345 servers (Dual CPU + 6xHD + 8GB RAM)• 4 HP Pro-Procurve Switches 10/100 with 2x1GB uplinks

• Total cost of refurbished servers: < 8000$ !• Total cost of hosting per month: < 1300$ (20 Mbps)• Total number of runable VMWARE hosts: 60 – 75• Projected income at 90% utilization:

• PBX hosting : 1800$ per month• Handset hosting (calculated according to 1200 units): 10,800$ per month• Professional services: 5,000$ per month

Makes BusinessSense!

/root/GreenfieldTech/initial-rack-layout• GreenfieldTech currently provides hosted PBX services for a select number of it’s customers• Overall setup had cost less than 2800$ to build• Hosting costs are set at 800$ per month• Total number of hosted PBX systems: 35• Total number of hosted PBX handsets: 450• Total monthly revenue from PBX hosting: ~3500$• Total monthly revenue from pro. Services: ~1500$• ROI reached after 6 months!

You can do it too!

/home/nirs/contact_info• Feel free to contact me at any of the following:

nirs@greenfieldtech.net

http://www.greenfieldtech.nethttp://www.simionovich.comhttp://blog.greenfieldtech.nethttp://www.asterisk.org.il

Greenfieldtech.nir

/home/nirs/questions